Editing Ends and Means (section)

==Vision==
A description of the architecture and applications of the Free Network, from its component hardware and software, to its commerical, political, and social upshot.

===Material Peer-to-peer===
The most salient feature of the Free Network architecture is its ability to enable communications that are ''materially'' rather than ''logically'' peer-to-peer. In [[logical peer-to-peer]], the pattern of value exchange is peer-to-peer, but the pattern of information exchange is not. This is what we have today with, for example, [http://p2pfoundation.net/Bittorrent BitTorrent] or [http://p2pfoundation.net/Gnutella GNUtella], [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Freenet Freenet Project] or [https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/I2p I2p]. Value moves from peer to peer, but the information itself passes through an intermediary (the Internet Service Provider). We are not truly engaging in peer-exchange when we involve a paid, third-party provider for bit moving. Such activity fits the peer-to-peer model only at the level of the application layer, a logical overlay, the very highest layer of the network stack.


What the Free Network enables is a radical departure from such a shallow model, towards a model that is peer-to-peer from the ground up. This means that everything from the physical medium of transmission (radio waves), to the pattern of exchange (social networking), is based on horizontal peering. Neighbors talking to neighbors directly, or via other neighbors, eventually without the need for paid bit-transit.

===The Five Freedoms===
The idea of [[#Material_Peer-to-peer|material peer-to-peer]] captures this notion, but it does little to explain its far-reaching and appreciable benefits. We summarize these benefits in what we call the [[Free network definition|five freedoms]]: [[access]], [[transmission]], [[storage]], [[authentication]], and [[consignment]].

====Access====
The first freedom is access - In a Free Network, constituents would pay only the actual cost of owning and operating their share of the network. Buy and power a FreedomNode, and you become part of the Free Network - contribute to your local co-op, and make the economies of scale work to your benefit. Compare this to today's environment, where network 'consumers' pay the costs of access, plus a hefty margin, in order to lease a line that is owned by a corporation.

====Transmission====
The second freedom is transmission - this is the ability to send bits from peer-to-peer without the prospect of interference, interception, or censorship. The Free Network achieves this aim through the use of cryptographic best practices, and by eliminating the network chokepoints where packet inspection is likely to occur.

====Storage====
The third freedom is storage - the FreedomBox allows people to run their own network services, such as social networking, telephony, and web hosting, and thereby enables them to maintain posession of those bits. Due to the fact that the FreedomBox is in the posession of its owner, gaining access to its contents would require a warrant or subpoena. This is not the case in the current network environment, where bits pertaining to our private lives are scattered and held in various data centers around the world.

====Authentication====
The fourth freedom is authentication - people ought to be able to maintian an identity that is verified as authentic by others. This technology is called a 'Web of Trust,' and is built into the freedom-enabling software stack at a low level. Just as important, however, as the ability to present a verified identity, is the ability to present a pseudonym, or to remain anonymous entirely. The Free Network will make the authentication spectrum easily intelligible to its constituents, and clearly indicate whether a given session is onymous, pseudonymous, or anonymous.

====Consignment====
The fifth and final freedom is consignment - the ability to perform exacting mechanisms of access control. In large part, this is about making it easy to see and manipulate individual privacy settings, yet it is also contingent upon storing one's data locally. When people own their own data, and are able to decide exactly who can access it, bit consignment becomes a willing, rather than unwitting action.

===Overview===
The Free Network is not just a leap forward - it is also a survival strategy. The current hierarchical network model will not scale to meet the demand of an increasingly networked world. The obvious fix is to keep local traffic local, and that is something that can only happen efficiently on a network that enables material peer-to-peer.


The Free Network will offer a richer network experience at a fraction of the price, and in so doing provide a technological platform for a new wave of innovation. It will enable communities to leverage the economies of scale, driving down the price of network access while increasing network resilience, and reducing our susceptibility to interception and censorship. It will allow us to meet the surging global demand for network access, and ensure that no one ever again goes hungry for knowledge.


The Free Network is unlike what has come before - it is the people's network, owned at once by all and none. The technology to build this network exists. At this point, it is a matter of making it possible for all to participate, through integration, optimization, and packaging.

The fundamental technology that underpins the Free Network is that of the [[mesh network]]. A mesh network is one in which nodes pass messages directly to one another, rather than through a central hub. This type of network topology is ''horizontal'' and ''decentralized'', meaning that no node is a [[single point of failure]]. Mesh networks are ''self-healing'', meaning that the network has the capability of routing around a node that fails.


The concept of the mesh network is not new - in fact, the original premise, and promise of the Internet was of a wire-line implementation of mesh principles. We view the Free Network as a harkening back to those original principles of distribution and resilience from which the network of networks was born. From the perspective of telecommunications companies and Internet service providers, at the level of the [[backbone]], the Internet ''is'' a mesh network. The problem lies in the fact that Telcos and ISPs have themselves become points of centralization and control. By implementing a network [[access layer]] which is hierarchical, companies such as [[Verizon]], [[Comcast]], and [[AT&T]] have gained the ability to route packets through centralized hubs, and inspect those packets in the process. The Free Network represents a departure from that model, and a return to an Internet that is controlled by no one and every one at the same time.


As we proceed, keep in mind that the global communications network is a construction of immense scope and complexity. For any initiative with the aim of bettering that network to be successful, it must rely upon the principle of [[emergence]]. That is, the desired changes must come about in a manner that is gradual and organic. What follows is a description of our ends, but not our means. A feasible means of achieving such an end is described in detail in section 3 of this document.


Wireless implementations of the mesh topology have evolved over the course of the last two decades, from a theoretical and experimental novelty, to a field-tested and battle-hardened production technology. Metropolitan-scale wireless mesh networks exist in several European cities, and smaller networks are in operation around the world. The proposed architecture of the Free Network uses the wireless mesh as a design element, but expands upon and improves the idea.


Our innovation is called [[fractal mesh]], and consists in the application and interconnection of mesh networks at different scales. A neighborhood mesh of a few thousand nodes (what we call a [[neighborhood network]]) is connected to other neigborhood networks in a regional, [[backhaul]] mesh. This regional network is then connected to other regional networks via a global mesh of [[fiber-optic]] and [[satellite]] routes.


In a Free Network, the people become their own Internet service provider. Instead of paying profit to those that own the infrastructure, they themself are the owner. One recieves access to the network in exchange for agreeing to provide access to others. This is possible using current technology, but it is exceedingly difficult. Our aim is to specify standards for the interoperability of free networks, and to produce networking solutions that assist people in the construction of such networks. In order to achieve these ends, we will build a reference implementation, which can be copied, modified, and improved upon.

Of paramount concern in the implementation and integration of the technologies referenced in this document is their accessibility to all users. The clearest path to a freer network is to take those freedom-enabling technologies that exist today, and make it possible for anyone to use them. That's where the ''FreedomBox'' comes in.


===Components===
[[FreedomBox]] is a distribution of the operating system [[Debian]], which will turn a headless, small-form computer into a smart router and personal server. With sensible defaults, a dead-simple [[user interface]], and plug-and-play functionality, it will make it easy for anyone to secure, [[anonymization|anonymize]], and [[encryption|encrypt]] their communications. More than that, though, it will make it simple for anyone to participate in a neighborhood mesh network.


The reference hardware for the FreedomBox project is Marvell Technologies' [[DreamPlug]]. The DreamPlug has an ARM CPU running at 1.2GHz, 2GB of flash memory, 512MB of RAM, two ethernet ports, and a single 2.4GHz radio. All that needs to be added in order to use this rig as a node in the Free Network is a pair of 5GHz radios. We call this setup - a DreamPlug running FreedomBox with the additional radios, a ''FreedomNode'' or ''FNode'' for short. The total bill of materials for an FNode could be as low as $150, if we procured contracts with original equipment manufacturers. The 2.4Ghz radio would be used to distribute connectivity to client devices inside the home or business, and the 5GHz radios would be used to communicate with nearby FNodes and the neighborhood [[FreedomTower]].


An ''FTower'' is owned and operated cooperatively by a neighborhood network, roughly the size of a census tract. It has several 5GHz radios for communicating with FNodes, and 3650MHz radios for long-range links to other FTowers. It is important for the FTower to be visible to a significant portion of the neighborhood network. Line of sight dramatically improves the quality of radio communications links.


Within any group of 200-300 FreedomTowers would be a single [[FreedomLink]], serving a population of up to a million, connecting them to an Internet backbone. The ''FLink'' would communicate with the towers over 3650MHz, and maintain a mutihomed fiber connection to the Internet Protocol core. It would, again, be owned and operated by the community, allowing them to participate in the actual Internet by speaking [[BGP]] to other networks.


With community-owned fiber and satellite routes between FLinks, the picture is complete, and the constituents of the Free Network would be able to purchase network access at cost.


This may sound like no small feat, and that's certainly true, but the Free Network Movement has a truly practicable plan for making this vision a reality. Our strategic vision is explained in detail in Section 4 of this document.