vinyl1 ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > As I understand it, FreeNet scatters encrypted fragments of files across > multiple nodes. Each node operator possesses and transmits encrypted > fragments of unknown files.
That's only true for large files. (It's true for all files over 1 MB, and
for *some* files over 256 kB, depending on how they were inserted.)
A typical jpeg image file will be transmitted whole, unless it's quite
high-resolution.
> Unlike the case of the drug courier who says he didn't know what was in the
> box, the node operator cannot find out what is in the box.
I could tell you how to verify whether a given key is in your node or not.
It's not even that complicated. But you have to know the key in advance.
You can't guess the key from an examination of the data store.
So, if I ask you "Is there any bomb-making document in your data store?"
then you may confidently answer "I do not know, and I cannot find out."
(unless, of course, you have seen bomb-making documents in your Freenet
browsing).
But if I ask you "Is file [EMAIL PROTECTED] in your data store?"
then you may only answer "It could be; I have not checked."
> More importantly,
> if the police seize his node, they cannot find out either.
Yes, they can, using the same technique that you would use to discover
whether the Evil Key(tm) is or is not in your data store. But as above,
they must know the key in advance.
> It seems that the most likely person to be held liable is the person who
> first inserted the file into Freenet, and those who subsequently retrieved
> it. They are the parties who can accurately be said to possess an illegal
> file. The design of Freenet has made it hard to find them, but if found
> they can be punished.
Groundless speculation. If someone in power wants you in jail badly
enough, they will just flood the network with illegal content, then
produce a list of the keys for law enforcement. Law enforcement seizes
your node[1], checks each key on their list, and finds a couple of
them in your data store.[2] You're charged with possession of illegal
information, and tried in a court of law.
Your only defense is that you neither requested nor inserted the data
yourself; that you were ignorant of it. You must claim common carrier
status, making yourself the legal equivalent of an ISP whose customers may
download illegal material through your network without your knowledge.
It would be virtually impossible, as far as I can work out, for them to
frame you as the original inserter of the data. (Unless they just rely
on smoke and mirrors to confuse a non-technical jury.) They'd have to
settle for getting you as a mere consumer of the data.
[1] We shall assume for the moment that the person in power is able to get
a search warrant issued, or that your state has sufficiently
convenient laws that they can impound your computer and search it on
suspicion of some crime. The War on Drugs has left many such laws
in effect, to be used against "drug dealers". Oh by the way, even
if you're innocent, they keep your property. Isn't the US great?
[2] This will be easiest for small files, which are transmitted whole.
For regular splitfiles, they would have to find all the pieces of
the file in your node in order to reconstruct it. For FEC splitfiles,
they'd have to find at least 2/3 of the keys. Probabilistic caching,
must as I rant about its damaging effects on my own Freenet inserts,
is designed to help you *not* accumulate all of the component keys
of splitfiles that you download, among other things. The moral of
the story: if you want to frame someone, flood the network with small
images or HTML or ASCII files, not large audio/video files.
--
Greg Wooledge | "Truth belongs to everybody."
[EMAIL PROTECTED] | - The Red Hot Chili Peppers
http://wooledge.org/~greg/ |
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