\documentclass[11pt]{article} \usepackage{graphicx} \usepackage{geometry} \title{\huge \bf Grow Your Own Network} \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{We envision a world where communities build, maintain, and own their own share of the global computer network. Free networks, when properly engineered, offer their users both a greater say in the governance of their network, and more privacy in their communications. Being your own service provider is the only way to make sure that your service provider treats you right. We call this the principle of digital self-determination, and have designed, prototyped and test deployed a suite of network appliances that will facilitate the realization of this principle.} \\ \\ The free software community has developed a wide variety of software components to address various network related challenges. The Free Network Foundation, working with members of the community, is looking to take those components and deliver a turnkey, self-administered networking solution that will allow for cascading self-governance on local, regional and global scales. \\ \\ Paired with a cooperative network management suite and integrated cryptosystem, our tools will allow for the rapid, simple construction of cooperative autonomous systems, with end-to-end encryption enabled by default. \\ \\ The entire suite is designed to be deployed using the principle of emergence — meaning that it can be organized in a way that is bottom-up, top-down or middle-out. We call the network appliances FreedomNode, FreedomTower, and FreedomLink. The management suite is called AutoNOC, and the transparent cryptosystem is AutoTunnel. \\ \\ In addition to radically increasing network resilience, reducing the price of connectivity, and making networks more responsive to the needs of their participants, free network architectures will allow for groundbreaking localized applications of network technology. The uses of this technology are myriad, and the need is ubiquitous – anywhere in the world, the capacity for self-reliance and self-determination would be enhanced by the emergence of a free network. Inverting the power structure of our networks is bound to take a while, and we are still in the very beginning, but no idea holds greater liberating potential than this: computer networks should be funded, built, and maintained by those that use them. \end{document}