Please excuse the untidiness of the online help.
This page is machine-generated from the FreeWeb Help File.
FreeWeb is a software suite
which creates an alternative World Wide Web.
What for?
What's wrong with the mainstream Web?
Because there are many
problems with the mainstream Web, and many situations when use of the
mainstream Web can endanger yourself and others.
For instance, on the
mainstream web,
This is where FreeWeb
comes in.
FreeWeb creates an
alternative "Top-level Internet Domain", called ".free".
Users with FreeWeb software installed can browse and publish websites on .free
with complete anonymity.
Also, once a website is
published on .free, it can't be taken down by anyone except the
site's original publisher.
For example, Peter
Wright (an ex-MI5 agent and author of the book "Spycatcher"),
could put up a website at www.spycatcher.free,
and it would be impossible to prove conclusively that it came from him. More,
once such website is up, it's not possible for any government to take it down.
At this early alpha stage,
FreeWeb only runs on Intel-based Windows systems, including:
It's unknown at this stage
whether FreeWeb will work on the new Windows XP plaform (but there's no
reason to suspect it won't).
Down the track, though,
it's likely that FreeWeb will be ported to other platforms, such as:
To use FreeWeb, you will
need
Please don't attempt to
install or use FreeWeb until you've got Freenet up and running.
To download and set up
Freenet, visit www.freenetproject.org/quickguide
Please make sure that
Fproxy is listening on port 8081.
To browse FreeWeb sites:
To publish sites to
FreeWeb:
To schedule your sites to
update automatically:
Try these websites:
FreeWeb configuration is
fairly simple.
Mostly, you just need to
tell FreeWeb how to access Freenet on your system, and tell your Web browser
how to access FreeWeb.
Basically, FreeWeb needs to
know:
Where Freenet is installed
on your system (usually C:\Program Files\Freenet).
How to communicate with 'FProxy', the Freenet Web Interface.
Also, your Web browser
needs to be configured to use a proxy server. Unless you change this setting in
FreeWeb, you should set your web server to use the proxy address 127.0.0.1
and the port 8888.
The following sections will
take you through setting up FreeWeb Agent and FreeWeb Publisher
#Configuring
Your Browser
To surf FreeWeb websites,
you need to set up your browser to use FreeWeb Agent as a proxy server.
If you are already using a
proxy server, you can set up FreeWeb Agent to forward mainstream web requests
to this proxy - so that you put FreeWeb Agent into your 'proxy chain'.
Follow these steps to
configure Internet Explorer version 5 to use FreeWeb.
Note that the menus may be a little different for earlier versions.
Once you've done this, then
your browser will be ready to surf the FreeWeb.
At this point, you should
put a shortcut to FreeWeb Agent in your Start Menu/Programs/Startup
menu, so that FreeWeb Agent automatically runs on system startup.
Follow these steps to set
up your Netscape Navigator browser to surf FreeWeb.
Note - these instructions are valid for Netscape v4.72. Other versions may
require different commands.
At this point, you are
ready to start surfing FreeWeb.
In its default state (after
installing), most people won't have to install FreeWeb Agent.
You only need to change
FreeWeb Agent's settings if you connect to the internet with a proxy server, or
if you want your browser to access FreeWeb on a port other than the default 8888.
If you need to use an
external proxy server, you can simply run FreeWeb Agent, then right-click on
the butterfly icon in the system tray.
When you choose 'Settings'
from the menu, you'll get a dialog box which will enable you to set up FreeWeb
to use your external proxy.
Click the
‘settings’ button in FreeWeb Publisher.
It should
be pretty self-explanatory
FreeWeb Publisher is the
program you use to publish websites on FreeWeb.
Publishing FreeWeb sites is
very simple - all you need to do is:
Prepare your website in a
local directory (folder) on your local machine
Browse your website locally to make sure it looks the way you want it
Run FreeWeb Publisher
Tell FreeWeb where the website directory is
Tell FreeWeb to upload the website
However, once a day, you'll
need to run FreeWeb Publisher to 'refresh' your website. If you fail to do this,
then your website won't be visible anymore.
More information appears in
later sections.
#Creating Your Website
FreeWeb websites are pretty
similar to mainstream websites, except for some important differences:
When creating links to
other files on your website, make sure you use "relative pathnames".
This is just good website authoring technique, however.
Before you upload your
website to FreeWeb, you should test it thoroughly.
That's because once you've published it, you can only update it once a day.
So if there are any mistakes, you'll be stuck with them for up to 24 hours.
If you're not already
aware, it's easy to test a website without having to upload it.
All you need to do is:
If your website passes these
test when surfing it on your hard disk, it should be ready to publish.
Basically, you can choose
any domain name you like, as long as:
Try to keep the domain name
as short as possible, for convenience of people surfing your site.
Subdomains are ok - as far
as FreeWeb is concerned, the '.' is just another character.
What does this mean?
If you want to register the domain "mp3.free", and someone
else has already claimed it, you can easily register the sub-domain "punk.mp3.free".
This is different to the mainstream web, where owning "mp3.free"
stops others from using subdomains without your permission.
When you've decided on a
domain name, try to surf on that domain in FreeWeb.
For example, if you want to
put up a website "www.palestine.free",
then try that address in your browser first.
If a website comes up,
you'll need to choose another domain.
But if you get a 'page not found', then that domain is yours to claim.
Huh??
If you publish a site as,
say, "www.nazi.free", then
FreeWeb Publisher will strip off the "www" at the start, and publish
the site as "nazi.free".
Similarly, if you're
surfing FreeWeb, and you type in the address "www.communist.free", then FreeWeb
agent will try to fetch the site "communist.free".
When you've typed in a
domain name, and pointed to a valid directory, click on OK to close the
"Add A Site" dialog.
When you do this, then
FreeWeb Publisher will first check that the domain name you've chosen is
available. This may take up to 4 minutes, so be patient.
If the domain is already
registered, FreeWeb Publisher will tell you so, and you'll have to choose
another.
But if the domain is
available, then FreeWeb Publisher will claim it, which will take up to 4
minutes.
But once the domain is
successfully registered, your site will appear in the 'Sites List' window. When
it first appears, its status will show as "stale", which means that
you haven't yet done your round of daily updates.
Provided you've chosen a
domain that's not already registered, and you've pointed to a valid site
directory,
When you run FreeWeb
Publisher, you'll see a white window within the Publisher dialog box.
This window lists the sites
you have defined on FreeWeb. If you haven't published any sites yet, the window
will of course be empty.
The next step in publishing
a website is to add it to your sites list.
Quite simply, all you need to do is click on "Add A Site",
enter the domain name, and key in 'or browse to' the directory where the site's
files reside.
Note - if the site directory you choose
doesn't contain a file called 'index.html' at the top level, FreeWeb
Publisher will not accept it.
When you put FreeWeb on
your system, you are installing two separate programs:
FreeWeb Agent is a tiny proxy server which relays
mainstream web addresses (eg www.yahoo.com)
out to the mainstream web, but translates and relays FreeWeb addresses (eg www.activist.free) to Freenet.
FreeWeb Publisher is a program which registers
FreeWeb domains (such as www.fbi-corruption.free).
It also gives you the simplest way to upload websites on you hard disk onto
FreeWeb.
FreeWeb doesn't use HTTP,
the mainstream Web protocol.
Instead, FreeWeb uses
Freenet, a revolutionary Peer to Peer networking protocol.
So what's the
difference?
With the mainstream Web, a
web address (such as www.yahoo.com) is
mapped to a single computer. A system of 'registries' (called DNS) lays out a
map which enables such web addresses to be forwarded to the one computer which
hosts the desired website.
But with FreeWeb, web
addresses (such as www.anarchy.free) are
mapped into Freenet 'keys', which are used to retrieve information from
Freenet. FreeWeb works with Freenet keys completely in the background, and
gives you a totally web-based view of Freenet.
Why Freenet?
Freenet is the ideal
infrastructure for an anonymous Web.
Some of the features of Freenet include:
Information is not stored
at a single location - it is stored on several different computers all over the
world.
Freenet is based on a Peer to Peer architecture, and doesn't depend on a
central server.
Information is always stored on Freenet in an encrypted form.
Once information is stored to Freenet, it is virtually impossible to determine
exactly where it is stored. Any attempt to determine its location results in
such information proliferating further around the world.
Once information is written to Freenet, it can't be deleted.
Due to the encryption used, not even operators of Freenet node computers can
determine what Freenet information is stored on their system.
In its present form,
Freenet requires more technical skill and tinkering than most people are
willing to accommodate. One reviewer called Freenet "the foundations of a
castle".
FreeWeb is a Freenet Client
Program, or a program which uses the Freenet protocol to provide an
easy-to-use service, and allows people to use a familiar paradigm - the 'World
Wide Web' - for accessing Freenet.
FreeWeb uses FreeNet to
implement a rudimentary DNS for the 'pirate' domain ".free".
Basically, FreeWeb Agent is
a stripped-down web proxy server.
When it gets mainstream web
requests from a browser, it simply forwards the request out to the mainstream
web.
But when it gets a FreeWeb
URL (eg www.riaa-sucks.free), it
knows that it has to get that page from Freenet, and goes through the following
steps:
Therefore, as far as the
browser is concerned, there actually 'is' a new anarchic domain called '.free'.
FreeWeb Publisher is a bit
more intricate.
It keeps records of all
directories and domains published to Freenet.
Amongst the site records, a timestamp is kept of when easch site was last
uploaded to Freenet.
Therefore, if a site hasn't
changed since it was last uploaded, FreeWeb won't try to upload it again.
As for the upload process,
this is handled transparently in the background by Freenet developer Mr Bad’s
wonderful ‘freenetmirror’ program.
All sites published on
FreeWeb can be accessed without the FreeWeb software, because they exist in the
standard DBR-MSK format.
For instance, the site ‘www.freeweb.free’, can be accessed with the Freenet
URI:
freenet:MSK@SSK@AqJIVm8oexZif-AjvjJNo8woUBQQAgE/freeweb//
To find out the
‘traditional’ Freenet URI corresponding to your site, simply double-click on
that site in FreeWeb Publisher (or right-click on the site and select
‘Properties’).
If you're quite experienced
with raw Freenet, then it's likely you'll love FreeWeb or hate it.
If you hate it, then just
pretend it doesn't exist, and it won't bother you.
But if you love it, then
get involved - start creating content, reporting bugs, suggesting improvements
etc.
Is there any way to
trace a published website back to me?
Could be, but it's pretty
damn difficult.
1) The authorities would first have to suspect that it's you who published the
site.
2) They would have to be able to break Freenet's encryption.
3) They'd have to serve court orders on your ISP and/or phone company, and
install packet-logging hardware in your ISP or phone line
Also, as Freenet becomes
more popular, and Freenet traffic levels increase, it will become increasingly
difficult to tell between your site map updates and other Freenet-related traffic.
With all these obstacles,
it would be far easier for authorities to physically break into your home (with
or without a warrant) and sieze your computer. But if you have your entire
Freenet store, plus FreeWeb sites, on an encrypted virtual disk, and your
system is set to unmount such disk upon any trace of unauthorised activity,
this will prove very difficult too.
Is there any way to
trace my surfing activities on FreeWeb?
The easiest way to do this
is for someone to get their hands physically on your computer. Unfortunately,
Windows leaves all kinds of traces of your activities. Deleting your cache and
history folder isn't enough - there will still be traces.
What you need is a good
thorough cleanup program like Evidence Eliminator.
Also, make sure to regularly "shred" all free space on your hard
drive.
Why do I have to update
my site each day?
Because of the security
within Freenet, security which protects your privacy and stops others from
deleting your files, it is not possible to change a file you've uploaded.
Therefore, when you upload
a website, it gets today's date stuck onto it. That's the only way there is at
present to facilitate changing content on Freenet.
Future versions of FreeWeb
will make the 'daily update' ritual unnecessary, by providing for "today
plus yesterday plus first day of month plus first day of year"
timestamping scheme.
What happens if I don't
update my site?
Quite simply, you site
won't be visible.
In future versions, FreeWeb Agent will be smart enough to search for earlier versions
of the site. But for now, if a site hasn't been updated today, it just don't
exist.
When's the best time to
upload a new site?
Anytime.
When's the best version
to update my site?
As soon as possible after
midnight GMT, which is:
Midnight in London
10am in Australia
Noon in New Zealand
4pm Pacific Standard Time (USA west coast)
7pm Atlantic Standard Time (USA east coast)
Why are you using GMT
time?
Because if sites are
stamped with local time, then there will be a delay before anyone in earlier
timezones can access your site. For instance, the old Javascript date-based
redirection meant that users in Australia and New Zealand were constantly
having to manually edit Freenet URLs and key in yesterday's date.
How do I take down a
website I've published?
Stop doing the daily
updates.
Your site will be invisible from tomorrow.
Eventually, the domain registration for your site will expire from Freenet.
FreeWeb Agent has an inbuilt anonymity filter, to protect you against material in FreeWeb sites which may breach your anonymity.
Why is
this necessary?
Because
some malicious website publishers may embed web bugs, or security-breaching
Javascript, into their web pages.
For
instance, a web page you visit within FreeWeb may include an image from the
mainstream web. If so, your browser will automatically request that image.
On
receiving such an image request, the mainstream web server at the other end
will log your IP address, your browser, operating system, and the address of
the FreeWeb site you were visiting.
Particularly
malicious code can even find cookies on your system containing personal
information about you, and send such information to the server as well.
Therefore,
when you first use FreeWeb Agent, it will be set by default to block all access
to the mainstream Web. You will have to explicitly disable this filter to be
able to surf the mainstream Web.
However,
this filter is easy to turn on and off. All you have to do is double-click on
the FreeWeb tray icon, or right-click and choose ‘settings’.
Also, you
can set the filter to off by default. But please take care to turn the
filter back on when you are surfing FreeWeb.
You can be guaranteed that while the filter is on,
no details of your FreeWeb surfing activity can possibly be sent elsewhere. This safety lies in the fact that, while your
browser is set to use FreeWeb as a proxy, FreeWeb will have control of all your
browser’s access to the mainstream Web.
#Accessing
FreeWeb via 'FreeGates'
What's a 'FreeGate'?
A FreeGate is
someone else's computer system which allows other non-FreeWeb computers to use
it as a FreeWeb Gateway.
For instance, if you know
someone with FreeWeb installed, and their system is mapped to the address somesystem.cjb.net,
and they have fproxy set up to listen for requests on port 8081, and
their firewall isn't blocking external connections coming in to port 8888, then
you can set up your own browser to use the proxy somesystem.cjb.net:8888.
That way, you won't even need
FreeWeb or Freenet software on your own system to be able to surf FreeWeb
(although you do need FreeWeb and Freenet installed to be able to publish
FreeWeb sites).
However, the wisdom of
allowing your computer to be used as a FreeGate by all and sundry may be
questionable. For example, if someone downloads any illegal material from
FreeWeb using your system as a gateway, then you can be held accountable the
same as if you were personally hosting such material - this can make you liable
for potentially serious civil and criminal penalties.
For this reason, to protect
you legally, the alpha version of FreeWeb Agent is set up to refuse all
connections not originating from within one's local machine. Future versions
will stay that way (unless overwhelming user demand results in a feature which
allows one to deliberately set one's computer as a 'FreeGate').
Watch out for Web Bugs
At present, FreeWeb isn't
able to coexist with the FProxy filter, so you'll need to have this switched
off while you're using FreeWeb.
Future versions of FreeWeb
will be able to work through the filter.
#The DNS Utility
Doesn’t Work
Sorry, but
that’s something that will be fixed in the next release.
To work
around the problem, edit the ‘fwgetdns.ini’ file in FreeWeb install directory,
and make sure that you’ve got serverAddress set correctly to point to
your own Freenet node.
FreeWeb is dedicated to all people throughout history who
have ever suffered as a result of expressing an opinion.
FreeWeb is also dedicated to Amnesty International (www.amnesty.org) for your constant labours
in bringing respite to prisoners of conscience.
Last but not least, FreeWeb is also dedicated to the Free
Software Foundation, GNU (www.gnu.org) and
other advocates of freely available software
Thanks are due to:
Ian Clarke, Freenet
architect and project founder, for your visionary concept of a truly free
network, and your courage as you daily put yourself on the line with the world
media and internet community
All other Freenet
developers, (http://sourceforge.net/projects/freenet)
for sharing Ian’s vision, and for your loving unpaid labour and technical skill
without which Freenet would not have developed as quickly as it has. Thanks
also for tolerating my naïve questions and random rantings on the Freenet
mailing lists, and for your supportive answers to my questions.
‘Mr Bad’, (www.pigdog.org) Freenet developer and Pigdog
Journal publisher, for your excellent freenetmirror
program, the engine used by FreeWeb for uploading and refreshing of sites.
Nitallica (www.nitallica.com), Phrozen Crew graphic
designer, and acclaimed “Phenomenal Woman of the Web”, for your inspired
artwork, and your kind support of the FreeWeb project.
Electronic Freedom
Frontier (www.eff.org), for your
ongoing diligence and courageous actions against those who would undermine the
basic human right of privacy and free expression
Electronic Privacy
Information Centre (www.epic.org) for
empowering the global internet community to defend their freedom and privacy.
Credits:
FreeWeb was designed and implemented in C++ by David McNab.
Stunning graphic design provided by Nitallica.
At this early alpha stage,
it's very likely that FreeWeb will have some bugs.
Depending on your system
configuration, it's even possible that FreeWeb won't even run on your system,
or do anything at all. (That's what alpha testing is for - to purge out all
'show-stopper' issues before going to Beta release).
Interference with
Hotmail Access
If you access your Hotmail
account via Outlook Express, then you won't be able to do so while Internet
Explorer is set up to use FreeWeb. This is because, as a proxy server, FreeWeb
Agent is very basic, and can't handle HTTP Mail access.
There are five possible
workarounds for this:
Sorry about this, but it may take me
a little while to fix this.
If you find any more bugs,
or want to suggest new features, or just want to express your appreciation
and/or loathing of FreeWeb, then please email me: david@rebirthing.co.nz
Turn off Freenet FProxy
Filter
If you use FreeWeb’s
anonymity filter, you won’t need the Freenet Fproxy filter at all
You would be advised to turn the Fproxy filter off.
Version 0.1a alpha
# what-is-freeweb
# system-requirements
# quickstart-for-power-users
# surfing-freeweb-sites
# sample-websites-on-freeweb
# configuring-freeweb-intro
# configuring-your-browser
# configuring-internet-explorer
# configuring-netscape
# configuring-freeweb-agent
# configuring-freeweb-publisher
# using-freeweb-publisher
# creating-your-website
# testing-your-website
# choose-a-domain-name
# www-is-insignificant
# adding-your-website-and-domain
# your-sites-list
# components-of-freeweb
# how-does-freenet-work
# how-does-freenet-actually-work
# for-seasoned-freenet-users
# frequently-asked-questions
# freeweb-anonymity-filter
# accessing-freeweb-via-freegates
# security-issues
# dns-utility-wont-work
# credits-and-acknowledgements
# bugs-and-known-issues
# log-of-changes
# things-to-do