Editing Hyphanet (section)

==History==
The origin of Freenet can be traced to Ian Clarke's student project at the [[University of Edinburgh]], which he completed as a graduation requirement in the summer of 1999.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/10/business/cyberspace-programmers-confront-copyright-laws.html| title = Cyberspace Programmers Confront Copyright Laws| first = John| last = Markoff| work = [[The New York Times]]| date = 10 May 2000| access-date = 19 February 2017| archive-date = 17 February 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170217084607/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/10/business/cyberspace-programmers-confront-copyright-laws.html| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1216486.stm | work=BBC News | title=Coders prepare son of Napster | date=12 March 2001 | access-date=1 June 2014 | archive-date=4 January 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104024058/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1216486.stm | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/12/19/internet.freedom/index.html?iref=allsearch | publisher=CNN | title=Fighting for free speech on the Net | date=19 December 2005 | access-date=1 June 2014 | archive-date=2 June 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140602200717/http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/12/19/internet.freedom/index.html?iref=allsearch | url-status=live }}</ref> Ian Clarke's resulting unpublished report "A distributed decentralized information storage and retrieval system" (1999) provided foundation for the seminal paper written in collaboration with other researchers, "Freenet: A Distributed Anonymous Information Storage and Retrieval System" (2001).<ref>Ian Clarke. [https://freenetproject.org/papers/ddisrs.pdf A distributed decentralised information storage and retrieval system] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316102156/https://freenetproject.org/papers/ddisrs.pdf |date=16 March 2012 }}. Unpublished report, Division of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, 1999.</ref><ref name="Freenet: A Distributed Anonymous Information Storage and Retrieval System">Ian Clarke, Oskar Sandberg, Brandon Wiley, and Theodore W. Hong. [https://www.cs.cornell.edu/People/egs/615/freenet.pdf Freenet: A Distributed Anonymous Information Storage and Retrieval System] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404062238/http://www.cs.cornell.edu/people/egs/615/freenet.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030330213648/http://www.cs.cornell.edu/people/egs/615/freenet.pdf |archive-date=2003-03-30 |url-status=live |date=4 April 2015 }}. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Designing Privacy Enhancing Technologies: Design Issues in Anonymity and Unobservability. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 2001, p. 46-66.</ref> According to [[CiteSeer]], it became one of the most frequently cited [[computer science]] articles in 2002.<ref>{{cite conference |conference=International Workshop on Design Issues in Anonymity and Unobservability |book-title=Designing Privacy Enhancing Technologies |title=Freenet: A Distributed Anonymous Information Storage and Retrieval System |first1=Ian |last1=Clarke |first2=Oskar |last2=Sandberg |first3=Brandon |last3=Wiley |first4=Theodore W. |last4=Hong |date=28 February 2001 |publisher=Springer-Verlag |pages=46–66 |isbn=978-3-540-41724-8 |doi=10.1007/3-540-44702-4_4 |url=http://www.facweb.iitkgp.ac.in/~niloy/COURSE/Autumn2010/UC/Resource/freenet1-big.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603205950/http://www.facweb.iitkgp.ac.in/~niloy/COURSE/Autumn2010/UC/Resource/freenet1-big.pdf |archive-date=3 June 2023 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

Freenet can provide anonymity on the Internet by storing small encrypted snippets of content distributed on the computers of its users and connecting only through intermediate computers which pass on requests for content and sending them back without knowing the contents of the full file. This is similar to how [[Router (computing)|routers]] on the Internet route [[Network packet|packets]] without knowing anything about files{{px2}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}except Freenet has caching, a layer of strong encryption, and no reliance on [[Centralized computing|centralized structures]].<ref name="Freenet: A Distributed Anonymous Information Storage and Retrieval System" /> This allows users to publish anonymously or retrieve various kinds of information.<ref name="Peers in a Client/Server World, 2005" />{{rp|152}}

===Release history===
[[File:freenet darknet.png|thumb|The Freenet 0.7 darknet peers list.]]
Freenet has been under continuous development since 2000.

Freenet 0.7, released on 8 May 2008, is a major re-write incorporating a number of fundamental changes. The most fundamental change is support for [[darknet]] operation. Version 0.7 offered two modes of operation: a mode in which it connects only to friends, and an opennet-mode in which it connects to any other Freenet user. Both modes can be run simultaneously. When a user switches to pure darknet operation, Freenet becomes very difficult to detect from the outside. The [[transport layer]] created for the darknet mode allows communication over restricted routes as commonly found in [[mesh networking|mesh networks]], as long as these connections follow a [[Small-world network|small-world]] structure.<ref>Singh, Munindar P. The Practical Handbook of Internet Computing. Boca Raton, Fl.: Chapman & Hall, 2005.</ref>{{rp|815–816}} Other modifications include switching from [[Transmission Control Protocol|TCP]] to [[User Datagram Protocol|UDP]], which allows [[UDP hole punching]] along with faster transmission of messages between peers in the network.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ihlenfeld|first1=Jens|title=Freenet 0.7 soll globales Darknet schaffen|url=http://www.golem.de/0604/44448.html|access-date=17 September 2015|publisher=Golem|date=4 April 2006|archive-date=5 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005170034/http://www.golem.de/0604/44448.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Freenet 0.7.5, released on 12 June 2009, offers a variety of improvements over 0.7.  These include reduced memory usage, faster insert and retrieval of content, significant improvements to the FProxy web interface used for browsing freesites, and a large number of smaller bugfixes, performance enhancements, and usability improvements.  Version 0.7.5 also shipped with a new version of the Windows installer.<ref>[https://freenetproject.org/news.html#freenet-0-7-5-released release information for Freenet 0.7.5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129011927/https://freenetproject.org/news.html#freenet-0-7-5-released |date=29 November 2014 }}, last accessed 17 September 2015</ref>

As of build 1226, released on 30 July 2009, features that have been written include significant security improvements against both attackers acting on the network and physical seizure of the computer running the node.<ref>[https://freenetproject.org/news.html#build1226 release information for Freenet build 1226] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129011927/https://freenetproject.org/news.html#build1226 |date=29 November 2014 }}, last accessed 17 September 2015</ref>

As of build 1468, released on 11 July 2015, the Freenet core stopped using the [[db4o]] database and laid the foundation for an efficient interface to the Web of Trust plugin which provides spam resistance.<ref>[https://freenetproject.org/news.html#20150711-1468-release Freenet 1468 release notes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129011927/https://freenetproject.org/news.html#20150711-1468-release |date=29 November 2014 }} 2015</ref>

Freenet has always been free software, but until 2011 it required users to install [[Java (software platform)|Java]]. This problem was solved by making Freenet compatible with [[OpenJDK]], a free and open source implementation of the Java Platform.

On 11 February 2015, Freenet received the SUMA-Award for "protection against total surveillance".<ref name=suma_award>[http://suma-awards.de/en/index.html SUMA Award] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150320201527/http://suma-awards.de/en/index.html |date=20 March 2015 }}, 11 February 2015.</ref><ref name=suma_award_recording>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZpsBSPsHDI recording of the SUMA Award Ceremony 2015] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905121823/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZpsBSPsHDI&app=desktop |date=5 September 2015 }}, published on 14 April 2015.</ref><ref name=suma_award_heise>[http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/SUMA-Award-fuer-das-Freenet-Project-2548577.html SUMA Award für das Freenet Projekt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924152732/http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/SUMA-Award-fuer-das-Freenet-Project-2548577.html |date=24 September 2015 }} Jo Bager in Heise online, 2015</ref>