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ZeroKnowledge's Freedom Server Code Available

Posted by michael on from the happy-valentine's-day dept.

hey writes: "The Register reports that Zero Knowledge's Freedom Network source code is now available." This seems to be part of CodeCon, which is now underway in San Francisco. You can't use the code for commercial gain, but I could see a non-profit network springing up...

13 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. from the happy-valentine's-day dept. ??? by cperciva · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is someone a couple days late?

    Or is the idea that people would use ZKS to send anonymous and untraceable Valentines?

    --
    Tarsnap: Online backups for the truly paranoid
  2. More hysteria kills software by coupland · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sorry, but despite the article it appears terrorism is once again eliminating freedoms internally. I used this service for a long time to dodge predatory advertisers and to avoid unsolicited contact. While Sep. 11th needs to be remembered vividly, people also need to remember that the basis of the American Constitution is that no external threat can strip one of their freedoms. This has been sadly missing of late but please don't forget that the precepts of democracy are Freedom, Tolerance, and and Equality. None can be abandoned due to an attack, in fact they are more sacred than ever...

    1. Re:More hysteria kills software by Chiasmus_ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Dude... the point here is that they've open-sourced the software.

      Though the *company* may be unable to continue its anonymizing service in the wake of Sep. 11th, the people involved understood that their ideal could be fully realized simply by dumping the code on whoever wants to maintain it.

      They may not make a pile of money this way, but, hey, did anyone really expect that this idea would rake in the cash in the first place? Anyone trying something like this must have some ulterior motive (see Neal Stevenson's Avi for a fictional counterpart).

      --
      "Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
  3. Proposal by Guido69 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Perfect. Now if I can just get this up and running, I can anonymously ask Kathleen to marry me. 'Taco won't have a clue who's stealing his girl! Bwaahahahah.

    --
    - If we aren't supposed to eat animals, then why are they made out of meat? - Steven Wright
  4. The article saith... by polymath69 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The article saith,
    The main tarballs is a 12.5MB download, PGP encrypted with the "traditional magic words" (one of which is a big bird).

    OK, it is cool that Zero Knowledge is making this available. But what are the "traditional magic words"? And how would that work, anyway, with PGP? A passphrase usually unlocks only a private key, which, erm, we don't have, as far as I know.

    River Phoenix? Open Sesame Street?

    --

    --
    I don't want to rule the world... I just want to be in charge of mayonnaise.
    1. Re:The article saith... by karlm · · Score: 3, Informative
      And how would that work, anyway, with PGP? A passphrase usually unlocks only a private key, which, erm, we don't have, as far as I know.

      Symetrically encrypted messages. An md5 sum of the passphrase is ussed to encrypt the session key and this is symetrically encrypted session key is sent just like an asymetricically encrypted session key at the beginning of the message.(Hopefully the session key encryption uses the same cipher as the message. Failing that 3DES. but it's been a little while since I've read the OpenPGP spec.)

      --
      Copyright Violation:"theft, piracy"::Anti-Trust Violation:"thermonuclear price terrorism"<-Overly dramatic language.
    2. Re:The article saith... by lcracker · · Score: 4, Informative

      "squeamish ossifrage", sans quotes

  5. Re:Open Services? by Chiasmus_ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think one of the reasons that open source works so well is that people *can* make money under most licenses.

    Really, how many venture capitalists would even *glance* at Linux if the GPL included a provision saying "Don't even think about redistributing this code in some hardware you're trying to sell. This is educational stuff only."

    Remember: something can't exactly be considered free (as in speech) if it tells you exactly how you're required to use it. From a law-abiding corporation's perspective, what's the difference between something you can't use and something you're not allowed to use?

    --
    "Beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
  6. Uh, yeah, right. by base3 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    but I could see a non-profit network springing up...

    Because I'm certain there are lots of volunteers out there that want to donate their bandwidth to the cause of having their door kicked down and family forced face down on the floor at gunpoint because someone used their Freedom server to threaten the POTUS, exchange kiddie porn with an FBI agent, or (horror of horrors) download a non-rights-managed piece of music and that person was the lucky person to be the exit server for the traffic.

    These servers simply cannot be run successfully by individuals with the potential legal problems of relatively honest use, much less malicious use. And after 9/11, I doubt very many ISPs would be able to weather the storm, either.

    --
    One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
    1. Re:Uh, yeah, right. by wurp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Uh, yeah, right. I mean, really, right. There are people out there who want to donate their bandwidth to the cause of free anonymous speech, and if that means someone might see some ugliness that could result in us testing some of the more oppressive aspects of recent turns of law in court, so be it.

      If you're not willing to stand up for your beliefs, at least don't mock those who are.

  7. Files deleted by rdl · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Either Bram or Len abused the hosting which was provided to codecon on the basis of "information about CodeCon, text-only" to host large files of non-open-source software. I have removed the files, please get them from a mirror.

    Anyone who gets free service and then abuses the terms of service under which that service is provided really has little right to complain when their access is permanently deleted.

    Paying customers are certainly welcome to use their full available bandwidth. CodeCon is hosted for free, as it was originally an idea a few of us on OPN were discussing and originally organizing.

  8. Re:The article saith...it's an adventure! by farrellj · · Score: 3, Funny

    The obvious magic word to me is:

    XYZZY

    (The world spins around, and you find ourself in front of small house, there are pgp keys and a lantern on the ground by your feet)

    ttyl
    Farrell

    --
    CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
  9. Freedom Source Mirror and New CodeCon URL! by lowy · · Score: 4, Informative

    CodeCon is being broadcast live from the DNA Lounge over streaming video.

    They just announced Ryan at HavenCo has changed the password to the codecon.org server and conference organizers can no longer log in. They have setup a New Server for CodeCon which has updated info on the conference.

    The source to the Freedom Network servers linked from this new server is now at Linux Fund. Yeah!