2022-09-27 05:51:15 +00:00
|
|
|
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
|
|
|
|
\usepackage{graphicx}
|
|
|
|
\usepackage{geometry}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\title{\huge \bf Free Network Definition}
|
|
|
|
\date{}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\newcommand{\statement}[1]{\textbf{#1} \medskip}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\begin{document}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\begin{figure}[t]
|
|
|
|
\centering
|
|
|
|
\includegraphics[scale=0.4]{thefnf-logo.png}
|
|
|
|
\end{figure}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\maketitle
|
|
|
|
\thispagestyle{empty}
|
|
|
|
\pagestyle{empty}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\statement{The fundamental dialectic of our struggle is this: will we be
|
|
|
|
enslaved by our technology, or liberated by it? It was in cognizance of this
|
|
|
|
notion, and in service to our collective freedom that the Free Software
|
|
|
|
Movement was born. It is in this spirit that we aim here to define exactly
|
|
|
|
what it means to say that a network is free. We hope that the existence of
|
|
|
|
this definition will help illuminate the path to a more just world.}
|
|
|
|
\\
|
|
|
|
\\
|
|
|
|
Our intention is to build communications systems that are owned by the people
|
|
|
|
that use them, that allow participants to own their own data, and that use
|
|
|
|
end-to-end encryption and cryptographic trust mechanisms to assure privacy. We
|
|
|
|
call such systems `free networks' and they are characterized by the following
|
|
|
|
five freedoms:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\begin{itemize}
|
|
|
|
\item \textbf{Freedom 0) \\
|
|
|
|
The freedom to participate in the network.}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Freedom 0 regards your right to organize cooperative networks. Conventional
|
|
|
|
networks are characterized by a distinction between provider and user. This
|
|
|
|
mode of organization encourages network operation in the service of
|
|
|
|
self-interest. The provider builds and owns the infrastructure, and the user
|
|
|
|
pays for access. In a free network, however, nodes connect to one another,
|
|
|
|
rather than to a single, monolithic provider. By nature of its design, a free
|
|
|
|
network is owned by those that make use of it. Participants act as providers
|
|
|
|
and users as the same time, and growth is auto-distributed by treating any
|
|
|
|
profits as investment. In this way, those that join the network are able to
|
|
|
|
become owners. This mode of organization encourages network operation in the
|
|
|
|
service of the common good.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\newpage
|
|
|
|
\item \textbf{Freedom 1) \\
|
|
|
|
The freedom to determine where one's bits are stored.}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Freedom 1 regards your right to own the material stores of your data.
|
|
|
|
Conventional networks encourage (if not force) their participants to store
|
|
|
|
their data in machines which are under the administrative auspices of an
|
|
|
|
external service provider or host. Most folks are not able to serve data from
|
|
|
|
their homes. Participants ought to be free to store their own data (so that
|
|
|
|
it is under their care) without sacrificing their ability to publish it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\item \textbf{Freedom 2) \\
|
|
|
|
The freedom to determine the parties with whom one's bits are shared.}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Freedom 2 regards your right to control access to your data. Data mining and
|
|
|
|
the monetization of sharing has become common practice. Participants should
|
|
|
|
be free to choose those with whom they would like to share a given piece of
|
|
|
|
information. Only someone who owns their own data can fully exercise this
|
|
|
|
freedom, but it is an issue regardless of where the relevant bits are stored.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\item \textbf{Freedom 3) \\
|
|
|
|
The freedom to transmit bits to one's peers without the prospect of
|
|
|
|
interference, interception or censorship.}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Freedom 3 regards the right to speak freely with your peers. Information
|
|
|
|
flows in conventional networks are routinely and intentionally intercepted,
|
|
|
|
obstructed, and censored. This is done at the behest of corporate and state
|
|
|
|
actors around the world. In a free network, private communications should
|
|
|
|
remain unexamined from the time they enter the network until the time they
|
|
|
|
reach their destination.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\item \textbf{Freedom 4) \\
|
|
|
|
The freedom to maintain anonymity, or to present a unique, trusted
|
|
|
|
identity.}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Freedom 4 regards your right to construct your own identity There is
|
|
|
|
increasing pressure to forbid anonymity, and yet trustworthy communications
|
|
|
|
remain rare. While it is essential to liberty that individuals be able to
|
|
|
|
remain anonymous in the online public sphere, it is also essential that they
|
|
|
|
be able to construct and maintain persistent, verifiable identities. Such
|
|
|
|
identities might bear a legal name, a common name, or an avatar that masks
|
|
|
|
one's corporeal self -- individuals could have many such identities, and
|
|
|
|
switch between them at will. Clear delineation between anonymous,
|
|
|
|
pseudonymous, and onymous actors would enable all of us to better asses the
|
|
|
|
trustworthiness of others on the network.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\end{itemize}
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
\end{document}
|