“This is an age, Ian Clarke says, when copyright laws and
freedom of speech cannot coexist. One of them has to go. And, if he
has anything to say about it, freedom of speech won’t be the
one.”
“Clarke is the founder and project director for Freenet, an
open-source content exchange project that many are calling the next
Napster, or even the indestructible Napster, because of its ability
to function as a place to swap MP3 music files undetected.”
“Freenet has an offshoot, Espra.net, that is intended to
function like a more secure Napster. But in Clarke’s mind, Freenet
stands for much more than just swapping music. It’s more than just
swapping the documents, films and images that also can be exchanged
over the online platform. If anything, Freenet is the online
manifestation of Clarke’s deeply libertarian political
viewpoint.”
“In the simplest terms possible,” Clarke says, “Freenet attempts
to permit true freedom of speech. Copyright law attempts to prevent
communication in some circumstances. And therefore, in order for
Freenet to do its job successfully, it must prevent enforcement of
copyright law.”