Build Date: Wed Nov 12 11:20:10 2025 UTC
Sorry to be such an annoying prick.
-- Paul Vortex
Get in on the Ground Floor of FREEDOM
2000-02-24 13:16:53
Ever wish you could go back to 1991 and get in on the ground floor of the World Wide Web? Well you CAN'T. It's not gonna happen. But what CAN happen, right now, is for you to get in on the start of FREENET. Freenet! Can you smell the freedom!?
Now, far be it from me to GIVE UP on Freedom on the World Wide Web. Fuck that! Despite the hassles, the endless lawsuits, the cease-and-desist orders, the fucking MPAA and RIAA, the ubiquitous advertising, the evil legislation, the patents, the domain-name squabbles, etc., etc., etc., it's still OUR WEB. We built this city on Rock and Roll, is what I'm trying to say. There's way too much good going on here to write the whole World Wide Squirrel off as a lost cause.
But STILL... STILL... wouldn't it be COOL to have a NEW WEB where the mistakes of the past can be rectified? Where the legal shenanigans of some bumblefuck DA in Asswipe, FL can't destroy years of publishing and acres of information? Where it's NOT NECESSARILY the guys with the most LAWYERS who win?Where, in fact, the lawyers COULDN'T EVEN FIND the people they want to sue, in the first place?
Well, people, that's starting to happen. There's a new project out there called FREENET, that's intended to start a NEW SYSTEM of World-Wide-Squirrel publishing, without all the hassles of the current one. It's kind of a mix of Usenet, the Web, and a RAID disk system, all fudged up into a super-crypto wet dream.
Freenet is a web of servers running the Freenet software. The software is currently written in Java, but there's an open protocol, so new implementations are bound to come out. Documents are held in the system AS A TOTAL, and not on any one server. Documents are located, not by the server they live on (like HTTP urls, i.e., "http://www.pigdog.org/index.html") but by a unique key ("Pigdog Journal Index"). And there's widespread encryption of data built in from the get-go, so that on-the-wire reading of other people's fetches is probably going to be difficult.
Tracking of usage is difficult, also, since no one server owns a document. And the requests that are used to download a document are the same as the ones that servers use to slosh the docs around between themselves, so it's like, who will know?
You should download the Freenet software IMMEDIATELY and start using it! It's great! There's not that much stuff on the Freenet right now, but who know? Soon, you should be able to get Pigdog Journal on there. Whoopee, and all that! Go check out the Freenet NOW! This is your ground floor opportunity!
T O P S T O R I E S
California Glory Hole attracts huge crowds
A glory hole at Napa's Lake Berryessa is drawing huge crowds. According to Chris Lee, the general manager for the Solano County Water Agency, the glory hole hasn't been active since 2019, and only restarted operations on Feb 4. (More...)
Republican State Senator busted after soliciting a teenage girl
Republican State Senator Justin Eichorn of Minnesota was arrested for soliciting a teen girl on Monday just hours after he introduced a bill proposing "Trump derangement syndrome" (TDS) as a form of mental illness. (More...)
Parents claim measles is not that bad after having only one child die
The parents of a Texas girl who died from the measles are defending their decision not to vaccinate their daughter. "She says they would still say 'Don't do the shots,'" an unidentified translator for the parents said. "They think it’s not as bad as the media is making it out to be." (More...)
Delusional rich man tries to fire town staff
"I'm mayor now" said write-in mayoral candidate and founder of Pirate’s Booty Snacks Robert Ehrlich after losing the election for Mayor of Sea Cliff, NY. Then he tried to take over the Village Hall and fire everyone. (More...)
Musk claims Xitter security is staffed by idiots
Earlier this month Xitter experienced a massive outage. In an interview, Musk told Fox Business that he believes the attack came from "IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area." (More...)
The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Ideas have taken horrifying shape and rooted into our modern reality. (More...)
C L A S S I C P I G D O G
This was an old standby back in my poor college days. Back then the goal was to get butt fucking wasted for as little money as possible. The problem was we hated dirt cheap beer - and some weekends, even Henry's was far more lucre then we could scratch together. So we invented Red. (More...)
Place the Lighter on the Ground and Let Us See Your Hands
So I have been thinking on this whole flag burning issue and all the things it could imply. Now a lot of people right now are saying that there are more important issues at stake and something so trivial is a waste of time. Believing such is really losing sight of some very key changes happening in our nation right now. Being a strict conservative, and currently serving in Iraq, I was surprised to find that I am actually appalled that the House approved a ban on flag burning. (More...)
40 Acres, a Mule, and a Crummy 90-Second Spot on Weekend Update
Consider the plight of the Black Man. The Black Man on "Saturday Night Live," I mean. Has there ever been a more pathetic thing than a token unredeemed for 28 years? Where is the NAACP when you really need them? (More...)
It’s election night. My wife and I are holed-up in this hotel that my political party has rented out for the evening. Outside, people are being violently beaten for whom they voted for. Is this South Africa? Perhaps we’re in Haiti or some Southern state during the 60’s. Of all the places where this sort of thing happens, it’s mind-boggling that we are in Portland, Maine. (More...)
"Gee, I wish I was older."
"So do I." (More...)
Report from Spiritual Machines
Arkuat gives you the inside scoop on the "Spiritual Machines" panel and conclave. Wacky excitement ensues! (More...)
