One person I admire greatly is Ian Clarke, the founder and architect of Freenet — the most sophisticated and open distributed network. In an interview in news.com, Ian talks about 9/11’s impact on Freenet, and the greater need for this type of technology today.
When asked the question:
What effect has Sept. 11 had on your drive for online anonymity? Are there more concerns today that Freenet could be used for terrorists’ or other lawbreakers’ activities, and has the project itself felt any official pressure because of it?
Ian responds with:
Well, since Freenet is a publication mechanism, the only way that terrorists could really use it would be to share information with the general public, such as why they must resort to terrorism. Personally, I think this is a good thing. I grew up in Ireland, parts of which have suffered from terrorism for most of my youth. One thing that taught me was that the only way to resolve issues such as terrorism is to understand the other point of view. Simply dismissing people as “evil” won’t do anything to resolve the problem.
Found thanks to link at Boing Boing