"... I don’t think I fully understand exactly what the FreedomBox does ..." It's about control of your sever logs & anonymity. If you control your own server

"... I don’t think I fully understand exactly what the FreedomBox does ..." It's about control of your sever logs & anonymity. If you control your own server & sever logs you control who can see them. This pre-supposes you have anonymous access to the Internet. If someone wants to legally gain access, they have to get a subpoena. You can't control logs and to a lesser extent your anonymity if you are a "client".