Chaos Magnet

Ian Clarke on Freenet and his decision to leave the USA

Years ago, I was part of Mojo Nation, a network that provided a decentralized system of file storage. The idea was interesting, with users getting "tokens" for providing either bandwidth or storage, or whatever. The interesting part was that there was no way to tell what information was being stored on your system. Each document was broken up into pieces, and multiple copies of each piece were distributed over multiple machines. Kind of like an anti-censorship version of the internet, where any one node could be taken down and not effect the integrity of the available data. Overall, I liked the concept, though I was uncomfortable with the idea that I might be inadvertantly providing access to child pornography. Eventually the network collapsed -- or at least I think it did -- and I stopped thinking about it.

But freedom's on my mind a lot lately. I'd never looked into it, but apparently FreeNet is a lot like it, as a distributed system that stymies censorship. But now its founder, Ian Clarke is leaving the USA. Why?

Several reasons really. Firstly, because the work I am doing now doesn't really require me to be in any particular location, I could probably work from the North Pole if I had a fast Internet connection. Secondly, because I don't like living in a country where, as a non-citizen, I am considered less deserving of justice than American citizens. Thirdly, because I feel that the direction intellectual property is being taken in this country, such as with the DMCA and software patents, make innovation much more difficult and risky here, particularly in the P2P space. There are many things I like about the US, but it just doesn't make sense to be here any more.

Thing is, freedom is an elusive thing. Let's go back to my original problem with Mojo Nation for a moment. What about the idea that criminal activities can take place on such a system, or even child pornography? Clarke:

Free speech doesn't exist if people are only free to say what you consider to be decent or true. Few would tolerate the mandatory installation of police cameras in private homes, even though it could prevent all forms of child abuse, and domestic violence. Are those that might oppose such a scheme to be considered advocates of child abuse? The rationale behind Freenet is discussed in more detail on our philosophy page.

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