There are different options for browsing the web anonymously, accessing the Deep Web, and preserving privacy. One of those alternatives that we can find is Freenet . Like TOR, it is a decentralized information distribution network. Let’s see what it consists of and what advantages we can obtain compared to browsing with our common browser.
What is Freenet
This is not new, as Freenet has been around for 20 years. We are facing a project initially created to provide freedom and privacy on the web . Its creator was Ian Clarke and its objective was to provide the community with an algorithm-based tool that would allow interconnecting nodes and provide a system that did not need centralized control.
Basically what I was looking for was that users could browse as if they were on the World Wide Web, but completely anonymously. It is a P2P network in which only the users who are part of it intervene.
With Freenet we are facing open source software . As we say, the main initial objective was to offer freedom. We already know that the Internet is a very broad platform, available to everyone equally, but not everyone can navigate in the same way. In certain countries there is censorship and they cannot interact in the same way.
This decentralized network gives users the ability to share information completely anonymously. Users share bandwidth and memory as a data store.
We cannot navigate beyond the content that is integrated into this network. We can find forums to share ideas, information, visit sites hosted here, etc.
Why is it very difficult to track users? Connections are routed through alternate nodes . This makes knowing the identity of a user, knowing who is really behind something, almost impossible. This is what provides anonymity and privacy when using this network.
Keep in mind that every time someone shares a file on the network, it is inserted. That is, if a user uploads a document, whatever it is, and later disconnects, we can continue downloading it. We see that there are differences with respect to P2P download programs in which if the user who contributes those files disconnects, we will not be able to download it.
How to use Freenet
The first thing we have to do to start using Freenet is to download it from its official website. We will see that it is available for Windows, Linux and macOS .
Keep in mind that when you download it, it will probably ask us to install Java , if we do not have it on the system. In addition, we must also know that when running Freenet it will start the browser that we have by default. It may be interesting that we change the default browser for another that we do not use and thus be able to test it without affecting the main one.
When we start it for the first time, a start screen will appear as in the image above. We will see that by default it opens in an incognito window in the case of Chrome. We have to choose the level of security that interests us.
The next step is to choose the storage space we want. It is recommended that it be between 1 and 20 GB. By default it allocates 10 GB of space.
Also, as we see in the image, it will ask us to put what our connection is like. It is important that Freenet does not use more than half that we have contracted.
Once inside we will see an image like the one shown above. Different options appear to navigate Freenet, exchange files, view the status of the connection or perform a diagnosis, as well as a configuration section.
At the bottom, where they indicate the version we are using, we will see two buttons to turn off or restart Freenet.
We can also move through the different sections and find options such as Freemail . This allows us to communicate through this network completely anonymously.
In short, Freenet is a simple alternative to TOR that we can use. It gives us privacy and anonymity. We have seen that it has different tools such as e-mail, also instant messaging and other services. We can install it on Windows, macOS and Linux in a quick and easy way.