6 ms·

I stay away from it because chunks of the data is hosted on your local machine, and it could potentially contain very unsavory data. Sure it's encrypted but try

by Yuioup 5y ago

I stay away from it because chunks of the data is hosted on your local machine, and it could potentially contain very unsavory data. Sure it's encrypted but try to explain that to your local law enforcement.

fsflover 5y ago
> Sure it's encrypted but try to explain that to your local law enforcement. But how will they read it if even you can't?
- not_m_anissimov 5y ago
  They know what they're looking for. If they know the file locators they can find any matching chunks and decrypt them. It gets worse, if someone connects to you and requests a file from you, good chance your node will cache the chunks in that file. Freenet is a probable-cause paradise.
- __MatrixMan__ 5y ago
  They might've purchased a decryption key from some dark corner of the internet and after failing to trace the money to the bad-guy they're now hoping to track him down by IP address. Probably it would surface in court that you're not the bad guy they're after, but who knows what kind of bad things they'll do to you in the meantime.
  - snvzz 5y ago
    They might own the legendary key that turns your seemingly random data into very illegal data. plot twist: It's an one-time pad to xor your data against. (and of course, they wouldn't generate it from XORing your data against illegal data...)
    - Infernal 5y ago
      Well this is a terrifying idea. Is this a hypothetical or do we know of an instance where such a “key” was invented?
      - hda2 5y ago
        In around 1900 i think. It's simple for anyone to create an xor "key" for anything.
        Infernal 5y ago
        I phrased my comment poorly. Do we know of a case where cops or prosecutors have actually faked such a “key”? If so, it’s terrifying that you could have any encrypted data, with cops and their invented xor “keys” claiming your data is whatever they want it to be.
        ArneBab 5y ago
        Or that you could have unencrypted data, that cops could xor into illegal data. I bet you’re just using those unencrypted images to hide evil stuff with steganography! We found illegal content by xoring our totally not invented xor "keys" with the noise in your JPEGs!
        swebs 5y ago
        I don't know of any widespread consumer encryption tools that use a one time pad. For comparison, a standard RSA key is 4kb.
      - aaa_____ 5y ago
        Most cop-tech is just plausible-deniability for jury who are not tech-aware. Dogs, polygraphs, informational pre-crime tools.
- giyokun 5y ago
  But how good is a phone call.... if you cannot speak.
gjs278 5y ago
dumbass detected
cgtzczykldpq 5y ago
Freenet does not give you the decryption keys to the data you host, you don't know what you're hosting, hence you're not responsible for what it could be decrypted to. And even if law enforcement could successfully convince a court that you're doing something illegal by hosting data which you cannot look into: They couldn't first acquire the necessary search warrant because they couldn't prove that you are the one who is hosting the particular piece of illegal data: Freenet's routing algorithm is anonymized, both the people who retrieve data and the people who store it are anonymous. (Disclaimer: The security of the anonymization depends on how you've configured Freenet. In the less secure modes a well-funded attacker can de-anonymize you.) So if law enforcement knows a certain file is evil then they cannot easily find out the IP addresses of the people who store it, and the people who store it don't know that they are doing so. Hence it is censorship-resistant :)
- lr4444lr 5y ago
  ...hence you're not responsible for what it could be decrypted to. You do NOT want your defense in court to rest on convincing a judge or jury of this.
  - cgtzczykldpq 5y ago
    So we must shut down all hotels because they all unknowingly hosted some illegal activities in their rooms, e.g. if someone met a prostitute there? In fact we cannot have people rent out condos or houses anymore either because illegal stuff will happen there and the owner is responsible even if they don't know! Also we need to shut down all ISPs because at some point in time illegal data was cached on their machines during transit!?
    - JohnWhigham 5y ago
      That's just the reality of the world today. Anything regarding crimes on the Internet, it's almost always the defendant being guilty until proven innocent, especially against cops/DAs with a dearth of technical knowledge. You may be innocent, but you'll be spending tens of thousands of dollars and a chunk of your life agonizing over it before "justice" is realized.
red-Freenet-I2P 5y ago
Aaron Jones (a cop) literally gave an introduction to his local Linux Usergroup to Freenet explaining what it is and how much he loves it. You can find that on the Freenet Project's website. You're only going to have a few encrypted chunks of a given file in your datastore, you don't know what the file chunks are when put together or the key used to decrypt it. Information is neutral on Freenet. You would NOT get in trouble just for running a Freenet node in any sane/ free country in the world. If you go out of your way to use Freenet for something illegal, that's another matter entirely. If you're paranoid, just use a VPN or install it to a VPS and SSH into it.

by Yuioup 5y ago

fsflover 5y ago

> Sure it's encrypted but try to explain that to your local law enforcement. But how will they read it if even you can't?

not_m_anissimov 5y ago
They know what they're looking for. If they know the file locators they can find any matching chunks and decrypt them. It gets worse, if someone connects to you and requests a file from you, good chance your node will cache the chunks in that file. Freenet is a probable-cause paradise.
__MatrixMan__ 5y ago
They might've purchased a decryption key from some dark corner of the internet and after failing to trace the money to the bad-guy they're now hoping to track him down by IP address. Probably it would surface in court that you're not the bad guy they're after, but who knows what kind of bad things they'll do to you in the meantime.
- snvzz 5y ago
  They might own the legendary key that turns your seemingly random data into very illegal data. plot twist: It's an one-time pad to xor your data against. (and of course, they wouldn't generate it from XORing your data against illegal data...)
  - Infernal 5y ago
    Well this is a terrifying idea. Is this a hypothetical or do we know of an instance where such a “key” was invented?
    - hda2 5y ago
      In around 1900 i think. It's simple for anyone to create an xor "key" for anything.
      - Infernal 5y ago
        I phrased my comment poorly. Do we know of a case where cops or prosecutors have actually faked such a “key”? If so, it’s terrifying that you could have any encrypted data, with cops and their invented xor “keys” claiming your data is whatever they want it to be.
        ArneBab 5y ago
        Or that you could have unencrypted data, that cops could xor into illegal data. I bet you’re just using those unencrypted images to hide evil stuff with steganography! We found illegal content by xoring our totally not invented xor "keys" with the noise in your JPEGs!
        swebs 5y ago
        I don't know of any widespread consumer encryption tools that use a one time pad. For comparison, a standard RSA key is 4kb.
    - aaa_____ 5y ago
      Most cop-tech is just plausible-deniability for jury who are not tech-aware. Dogs, polygraphs, informational pre-crime tools.
giyokun 5y ago
But how good is a phone call.... if you cannot speak.

gjs278 5y ago

dumbass detected

cgtzczykldpq 5y ago

Freenet does not give you the decryption keys to the data you host, you don't know what you're hosting, hence you're not responsible for what it could be decrypted to. And even if law enforcement could successfully convince a court that you're doing something illegal by hosting data which you cannot look into: They couldn't first acquire the necessary search warrant because they couldn't prove that you are the one who is hosting the particular piece of illegal data: Freenet's routing algorithm is anonymized, both the people who retrieve data and the people who store it are anonymous. (Disclaimer: The security of the anonymization depends on how you've configured Freenet. In the less secure modes a well-funded attacker can de-anonymize you.) So if law enforcement knows a certain file is evil then they cannot easily find out the IP addresses of the people who store it, and the people who store it don't know that they are doing so. Hence it is censorship-resistant :)

lr4444lr 5y ago
...hence you're not responsible for what it could be decrypted to. You do NOT want your defense in court to rest on convincing a judge or jury of this.
- cgtzczykldpq 5y ago
  So we must shut down all hotels because they all unknowingly hosted some illegal activities in their rooms, e.g. if someone met a prostitute there? In fact we cannot have people rent out condos or houses anymore either because illegal stuff will happen there and the owner is responsible even if they don't know! Also we need to shut down all ISPs because at some point in time illegal data was cached on their machines during transit!?
  - JohnWhigham 5y ago
    That's just the reality of the world today. Anything regarding crimes on the Internet, it's almost always the defendant being guilty until proven innocent, especially against cops/DAs with a dearth of technical knowledge. You may be innocent, but you'll be spending tens of thousands of dollars and a chunk of your life agonizing over it before "justice" is realized.

red-Freenet-I2P 5y ago

Aaron Jones (a cop) literally gave an introduction to his local Linux Usergroup to Freenet explaining what it is and how much he loves it. You can find that on the Freenet Project's website. You're only going to have a few encrypted chunks of a given file in your datastore, you don't know what the file chunks are when put together or the key used to decrypt it. Information is neutral on Freenet. You would NOT get in trouble just for running a Freenet node in any sane/ free country in the world. If you go out of your way to use Freenet for something illegal, that's another matter entirely. If you're paranoid, just use a VPN or install it to a VPS and SSH into it.