CodeCon Source code for ZeroKnowledge Systems' discontinued anonymous Internet service has leaked onto the Web, apparently with the blessing of ZKS' Chief Scientist Ian Goldberg.

The announcement was made on Goldberg's behalf at the CodeCon conference by Len Sassaman, co-organizer of the three day grassroots P2P and crypto conference.

Until early last October, Freedom Network offered anonymous web surfing and email with a comprehensive, belt-and-braces approach to anonymity involving dedicated servers, tricky routing tactics and the generation of noise traffic. All packets were encrypted. ZKS discontinued the service but denied that the decision was a consequence of the post-September 11 hysteria.

"Right now there simply isn't enough market buy-in on the premium services to justify the network's operating costs....support for the Freedom network offering was removed from the client code base well before the recent tragedies of September 11," wrote (http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=22261&cid=2388977) Goldberg.

According to the README, "Zero-Knowledge is releasing this code under an RSAREF style license, to encourage academic research and other non-commercial use." Other licenses are respected, and the release is entirely unsupported.

The main tarball is a 12.5MB download, PGP-encrypted with the "traditional magic word" (actually two, one of which is a big bird). You can find it here (http://www.codecon.org/goodies/freedom)

The CodeCon conference is a revelation: lots of cool hacks, and not an overweight pundit or sociologist in sight. It continues through 'til Sunday at the DNA Lounge, and is being webcast if you can't attend in person. We'll post a report of the first day's proceedings tomorrow. ®

Related Link

CodeCon 2002 (http://www.codecon.org)

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