Have you heard of the Freedom Box? It's the brainchild of professor Eben Moglen of the Columbia University School of Law in New York.
In February 2010, Moglen addressed a regular meeting of the Internet Society in New York. In his talk – video of which is available widely over the net, including here – Moglen discussed the security dangers of the current model of the Internet. Centralized servers maintain information about us plus logs that compile histories of our activities, Moglen points out. These servers are typically under corporate control and the user information on them is routinely used – misused – by their owners.
This is a dangerous computing model, Moglen says. And it's a bad deal for users. Free Web-hosting (as offered by Facebook and other social-networking sites) and e-mail (as offered by Google and other hosts) isn't really free: It's offered in exchange for full-time spying. Users have ceded control of vast amounts of their personal information without intending to, nor understanding the consequences.
Targeted advertising is just the beginning. Moglen cites a research project that found it was possible to identify closeted gay users on Facebook. The task was relatively easy, Moglen explains. And he warns that this kind of data-mining is just the tip of the iceberg.
The solution, Moglen says, is the Freedom Box – a small, inexpensive Web server that you plug into the wall and forget about. The Freedom Box handles your mail and file transfer and commercial transactions and social networking without exposing you to external servers whose sponsors may not have your best interests at heart. Such a server could be the size of a cell-phone charger, Moglen speculates, and sell for $30 or so once the devices are made in production quantities.
The software component of the Freedom Box is free, of course. A project to create and assemble the required software is under way at the FreedomBox Foundation. The software is based on Debian GNU/Linux plus readily accessible free-software components. The foundation's tech lead is Bdale Garbee, former project leader of Debian.
You don't need me to tell you that the current state of Internet security is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Check out the Freedom Box. Get involved by contributing money or code or ideas. It's good stuff.
Web recommendation: Why do software-development superstars have such primitive Web sites? I recommended Charles Petzold's site in a recent blog post despite its lackluster layout and 1990s-style design. Now I find that I need to point you to the personal site of free-software legend Richard Stallman, whose accomplishments as an Internet pioneer and political activist are too numerous to list here. Stallman is a little strident and a little paranoid for my tastes, but he is that rare individual, a certified idealist. And he has literally changed the world. His Web page is a cornucopia of thoughtful writing despite its bare-bones plain-text appearance. You'll find it here: http://stallman.org/. J.D. says check it out.
J.D. Hildebrand has written hundreds of articles for dozens of publications and online communities dedicated to software development. He recently relocated to a small town outside Belgrade – stop by if your travels take you through Serbia.