# Freenet: A decentralized alternative to world wide web

Source: https://freenet.org
Kiwi News: https://news.kiwistand.com/stories/Freenet-A-decentralized-alternative-to-world-wide-web?index=0x671eff427b0def0fff13bc36a7f01fcbb0ce026676f4344dadb42615c1c8ae8ba8fae9fe
Submitted by freeatnet.eth on 2024-10-28 UTC, 7 upvotes, 2 comments

## Summary

Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for apps that no company controls, and its apps cannot be taken down, do not track users, and need no servers. The article recommends River, a group chat app that the article compares to Signal or WhatsApp but without a central intermediary. The browser version of River uses a peer run by Freenet, while installing your own peer on Windows, macOS or Linux takes a few seconds and keeps data on your own hardware. Freenet is built by a small team funded through grants and donations, and donations can also issue a Ghost Key, an anonymous identity that works across Freenet apps.

## Article

Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for apps that no company controls. Your computer becomes part of a global network, and the apps running on it can’t be taken down, don’t track you, and need no servers behind them.

The one to try first is River, group chat that feels like Signal or WhatsApp with nobody in the middle.

For Users

Freenet apps run in your browser and look like normal websites, but they can’t be taken down, don’t track you, and run peer-to-peer, not on the cloud. The easiest place to start is River, decentralized group chat with no company in the middle.

Try River in your browser →

Learn about River →

For Supporters

Freenet is built by a small team, funded through grants and donations. Donating can also issue you a Ghost Key, an anonymous identity that works across Freenet apps.

Support Freenet →

Get a Ghost Key →

How Freenet Works

Peers form a small-world network organized by location on a ring. Messages find their destination in just a few hops, scaling efficiently to millions of peers, no servers required.

## Comments

**tim**: freenet by freeatnet. Btw in Germany there is also Freenet, which is an internet provider (which isn‘t free as in „free beer“)

**misha**: In Netherlands we had XS4ALL, one of the first internetproviders from 1993 born from the hackers club Hack-Tic. It was then bought by KPN (initially Dutch government public telephone company)in 1998. It remained as independent sister company being quite activist and tech savvy. But 2021 KPN suddenly dissolved the brand name and the company. There was a revolt and we (I was part of the founding members) crowdsourced a new provider Freedom Internet! 

Anyway free internet, as in freedom, also needs to start at the provider level, access needs to be liberated - access for all indeed. Long story short, lol, really looking forward to what Freenet is going to bring us!