What can Freenet do well already?

From the #freenet IRC channel at freenode.net:

toad_1: what can freenet do well already?

  • sharing and retrieving files asynchronously, freemail, IRC2, publishing sites without need of a central server, sharing code repositories

  • I can simply go online, upload a file, send the key to a friend and go offline. the friend can then retrieve the file, even though I am already offline without needing a central server.

  • and nobody can eavesdrop.

  • it might be kinda slow, but it actually makes it easy to publish stuff: via jSite, floghelper and others.

  • floghelper is cool: spam-resistant anonymous blogging without central server

  • and freereader is, too (even though it needs lots of polish): forward RSS feeds into freenet

  • you can actually exchange passwords in a safe way via freemail: anonymous email with an integrated web-interface and imap access.

    • Justus and me coordinated the upload of the social networking site onto my FTP solely over freemail, and I did not have any fear of eavesdropping - different from any other mail I write.

… I think I should store this conversation somewhere

which I hereby did - I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the #freenet channel :)

And if you grew interested, why not install freenet yourself? It only takes a few clicks via webstart and you’re part of the censorship-resistant web.

  1. toad alias Matthew Toseland is the main developer of freenet. He tends to see more of the remaining challenges and fewer of the achievements than me - which is a pretty good trait for someone who builds a system to which we might have to entrust our basic right of free speech if the world goes on like this. From a PR perspective it is a pretty horrible trait, though, because he tends to forget to tell people what freenet can already do well :) ↩

  2. To setup the social networking features of Freenet, have a look at the social networking guide ↩