Freedom Box Foundation Wants Plug Servers For All

An anonymous reader writes "From the NYTimes.com article: 'A Columbia law professor in Manhattan, Eben Moglen, [is] putting together a shopping list to rebuild the Internet — this time, without governments and big companies able to watch every twitch of our fingers. ... Put free software into the little plug server in the wall, and you would have a Freedom Box that would decentralize information and power, Mr. Moglen said. This month, he created the Freedom Box Foundation to organize the software.'"

Comments

The plan

[Sarten-X]

1. Make a bunch of tiny servers.
2. ???
3. Freedom!

Re:"Running a server" in violation of AUP

[tepples]

You can run a server with any ISP, but you can't use this server for BUSINESS if you have a residential plan

That's not what the acceptable use policies that I've read state. From Comcast Xfinity Internet AUP:

prohibited uses and activities include, but are not limited to, using the Service, Customer Equipment, or the Comcast Equipment, either individually or in combination with one another, to: [...] use or run dedicated, stand-alone equipment or servers from the Premises that provide network content or any other services to anyone outside of your Premises local area network (“Premises LAN”), also commonly referred to as public services or servers. Examples of prohibited equipment and servers include, but are not limited to, e-mail, Web hosting, file sharing, and proxy services and servers;

From Verizon DSL and FiOS Internet AUP:

You also may not exceed the bandwidth usage limitations that Verizon may establish from time to time for the Service, or use the Service to host any type of server.

Re:err. what.

[sjvn]

Here's my fuller story on what Moglen and company have in mind:

Freedom Box: Freeing the Internet one Server at a time
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/freedom-box-freeing-the-internet-one-server-at-a-time/698

The short version is that the idea is to make it possible for you to use the Internet as freely and privately as possible no matter what restrictions governments, businesses or ISPs have in mind.

It still won't help if your government does an Egypt and pulls the plug, but short of that, it has real possibilities.

Steven

Re:"Running a server" in violation of AUP

[c6gunner]

Yes. I tried running a home server. And all I got was this lousy service cancellation.

Re:"Running a server" in violation of AUP

[grub]

"We see you're running a ping server and have updated you to Business Class."