What is Freenet?
Freenet is an application software download free Windows (x32, 64 bit) that lets you anonymously share files, browse and publish “freesites” which are web sites accessible only through the program and chat on forums, without fear of censorship. It is a decentralized network that puts the power of decision-making in the hands of the users, allowing for a more secure system.
Overview
Developed by Ian Clarke at the University of Edinburgh in 1999, Freenet is a distributed information storage and retrieval system designed to protect privacy and freedom of speech. Data is stored in chunks on many different computers on the network, with a duplicate copy of each file kept on each node.
The network uses a complex topology, allowing documents to be sent from one node to another by passing through the "neighbors" of each node along the way. This is intended to deter attacks by providing substantial anonymity.
Aside from this, it is also supposed to be scalable and efficient. This is achieved through the use of heuristic driven routing algorithms.
Currently only publishing and fetching is supported, although a newer version (0.7) is expected to include such features as broadcast streams, passive requests, and anonymous channels to particular nodes. These will help to improve scalability and security in future versions.