Editing Free-net (section)

{{Short description|Type of community-based online service}}
{{other uses|Freenet (disambiguation)}}
[[File:FreePort Software banner.png|thumb|right|Welcome banner for a Free-Net bulletin board system, 1994]]
A '''free-net''' was originally a [[computer system]] or network that provided public access to digital resources and community information, including personal communications, through [[modem]] dialup via the [[public switched telephone network]]. The concept originated in the health sciences to provide online help for medical patients.<ref name="Smith2018">{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/cleveland-free-net-the-cheap-way-dial-up-users-got-online/ |title=The Tale of the Free-Net, the Cheap Way Dial-Up Users Got Online |last=Smith |first=Ernie |date=2018-01-20 |website=Motherboard |publisher=Vice |access-date=2018-01-31}}</ref><ref name="Melissa1985">{{cite magazine |last=Calvo |first=Melissa |date=1985-12-09 |title=MDs Practive Medical Arts Electronically |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bi8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17 |magazine=InfoWorld |volume=7 |issue=49 |page=17 |issn=0199-6649 |access-date=2018-01-31}}</ref> With the development of the [[Internet]] free-net systems became the first to offer limited [[Internet access]] to the general public to support the non-profit community work.  The [[Cleveland Free-Net]] (''cleveland.freenet.edu''), founded in 1986, was the pioneering community network of this kind in the world.<ref name="Ishida2005">{{cite conference |title=World Digital Cities: Beyond Heterogeneity |first=Toru |last=Ishida |year=2005 |conference=Third International Digital Cities Workshop |editor1-last=van den Besselaar |editor1-first=Peter |editor2-last=Koizumi |editor2-first=Satoshi |series=Information Systems and Applications |volume=3081 |book-title=Digital Cities III. Information Technologies for Social Capital: Cross-cultural Perspectives |publisher=Springer-Verlag |location=Berlin |isbn=978-3-540-25971-8 |page=190}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Cleveland Freenet|url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-freenet|accessdate=6 March 2021|date=2002}}</ref>

Any person with a personal computer, or through access from public terminal in libraries, could register for accounts on a free-net, and was assigned an [[email address]]. Other services often included [[Usenet]] [[newsgroup]]s, [[chat room]]s, [[IRC]], [[telnet]], and archives of community information, delivered either with text-based [[Gopher (protocol)|Gopher]] software or later the [[World-Wide Web]]. 

The word mark '''Free-Net''' was a registered [[trademark]] of the [[National Public Telecomputing Network]] (NPTN), founded in 1989 by Tom Grundner at [[Case Western Reserve University]]. NPTN was a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing and developing, free, public access, digital information and communication services for the general public.<ref name="NPTN1991">{{cite web |url=http://old.cni.org/docs/infopols/NPTN.html |title=The National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) |last=Grundner |first=T.M. |date=August 4, 1991 |website=Coalition for Networked Information |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113113331/http://old.cni.org/docs/infopols/NPTN.html |archive-date=2017-01-13 |quote=<small>If the core beliefs of the National Public Telecomputing Network were to be summarized in one sentence, it would be this: We believe that everyone in a society has a right to access the primary information resources of that society via the best means available.</small>}}</ref> It closed operations in 1996, filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.<ref name="Connors1996">{{cite web |url=http://www.en.com:80/users/dsieg/zz-nptn.htm |title=Goodbye to the National Public Telecomputing Network |last=Connors |first=Tim |date=September 24, 1996 |publisher=National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961225015814/http://www.en.com/users/dsieg/zz-nptn.htm |archive-date=December 25, 1996 |quote=<small>I regret to report that the National Public Telecomputing Network will soon be closing its doors permanently.  On September 17, 1996, NPTN filed for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.</small> |url-status=live}}</ref> However, prior use of the term created some conflicts.<ref name="USPTO">{{cite web |url=http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4801:x5t925.2.2 |title=Word Mark: FREE-NET |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=August 2, 1988 |website=Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) |publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201192903/http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4801:x5t925.2.2 |archive-date=February 1, 2018}} [http://www.flora.ca/russell/ncf/free-net-tm.html Alt URL]</ref> NPTN distributed the software package ''FreePort'', developed at Case Western Reserve, that was used and licensed by many of the free-net sites.

The Internet [[domain name]] ''freenet.org'' was first registered by the Greater Detroit Free-Net (detroit.freenet.org), a non-profit community system in Detroit, MI, and a member of the NPTN.  The Greater Detroit Free-Net provided other subdomains to several free-net systems during its operation from 1993 to approximately 2001.

Unlike commercial [[Internet service provider]]s, free-nets originally provided direct terminal-based dialup, instead of other networked connections, such as [[Point-to-Point Protocol]] (PPP). The development of Internet access with cheaper and faster connections, and the advent of the [[World-Wide Web]] made the original free-net community concept obsolete.

A number of free-nets, including the original Cleveland Free-Net, have shut down or changed their focus.  Free-nets have always been locally governed, so interpretation of their mission to remove barriers to access and provide a forum for community information, as well as services offered, can vary widely.  As text-based Internet became less popular, some of the original free-nets have made available PPP dialup and more recently DSL services, as a revenue generating mechanism, with some now transitioning into the [[Wireless community network|community wireless movement]].

Several free-net systems continue under new mission statements.  [[Rochester Free-Net]] ([[Rochester, New York]]), for instance, focuses on hosting community service organizations (over 500 to date) as well as seminars about Internet use to the community at no charge. [[Austin FreeNet]] ([[Austin, Texas]]) now provides technology training and access to residents of the city, "fostering skills that enable people to succeed in a digital age."<ref name="Austin">{{cite web |url=http://austinfree.net/about-2/ |title=About Us: Austin Free-Net |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Basic Computer Training and IT Services |publisher=Austin Free-Net |access-date=2018-01-31 |quote=<small>We exist to provide technology training and access to the community, fostering skills that enable people to succeed in a digital age.</small>}}</ref>