Build Date: Sat Sep 5 01:50:23 2026 UTC
In conclusion, you're all gay and I hate rock and roll.
-- Mr. Bad
Life After Napster
2001-02-23 23:20:20
By setting up a central server to act as a gateway to the service, Napster set itself up as a big fat target for the music industry. To provide free music, you need to be able to hide in plain sight. To be reachable, but not have an address. To be known, and yet anonymous. Enter Espra...
"Espra is an open source file-sharing client. It uses a decentralized architecture and has no central point of failure like Napster or similar systems."
FreeNet is a distributed, decentralized, anonymous information storage and retrieval system. Espra is a Freenet client that allows people to share catalogs of music with each other. Since it's based on Freenet, the service it provides is distributed, decentralized, and anonymous.
FreeNet has found its Killer App.
From the Freenet web site: "Unlike the Web, information on Freenet is not stored at fixed locations or subject to any kind of centralized control. Freenet is a single world-wide information store that stores, caches, and distributes the information based on demand. This allows Freenet to be more efficient at some functions than the Web, and also allows information to be published and read without fear of censorship because individual documents cannot be traced to their source or even to where they are physically stored."
If you've been looking for a reason to check out Freenet, this is it. If you've been looking for an excuse to set up a Freenet server, now you have one. If you've been meaning to find out more about Freenet but haven't had the time, now is your chance to take the time to find out more.
Go Freenet! Go Espra!

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