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1@cindex Philosophy
2@node Philosophy
3@chapter Philosophy
4
5@c NOTE: We should probably re-use some of the images lynX created
6@c for secushare, showing some of the relations and functionalities
7@c of GNUnet.
8The primary goal of the GNUnet project is to provide a reliable, open,
9non-discriminating and censorship-resistant system for information
10exchange. We value free speech above state interests and intellectual
11monopoly. GNUnet's long-term goal is to serve as a development
12platform for the next generation of Internet protocols.
13
14GNUnet is an anarchistic network. Participants are encouraged to
15contribute at least as much resources (storage, bandwidth) to the network
16as they consume, so that their participation does not have a negative
17impact on other users.
18
19@menu
20* Design Principles::
21* Privacy and Anonymity::
22* Practicality::
23@end menu
24
25@cindex Design Principles
26@node Design Principles
27@section Design Principles
28
29These are the GNUnet design principles, in order of importance:
30
31@itemize
32@item GNUnet must be implemented as
33@uref{https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html, Free Software} ---
34This means that you have the four essential freedoms: to run
35the program, to study and change the program in source code form,
36to redistribute exact copies, and to distribute modified versions.
37(@uref{https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html}).
38@item GNUnet must minimize the amount of personally identifiable information exposed.
39@item GNUnet must be fully distributed and resilient to external attacks and rogue participants.
40@item GNUnet must be self-organizing and not depend on administrators or centralized infrastructure.
41@item GNUnet must inform the user which other participants have to be trusted when establishing private communications.
42@item GNUnet must be open and permit new peers to join.
43@item GNUnet must support a diverse range of applications and devices.
44@item GNUnet must use compartmentalization to protect sensitive information.
45@item The GNUnet architecture must be resource efficient.
46@item GNUnet must provide incentives for peers to contribute more resources than they consume.
47@end itemize
48
49
50@cindex Privacy and Anonymity
51@node Privacy and Anonymity
52@section Privacy and Anonymity
53
54The GNUnet protocols minimize the leakage of personally identifiable
55information of participants and do not allow adversaries to control,
56track, monitor or censor users activities. The GNUnet protocols also
57make it as hard as possible to disrupt operations by participating in
58the network with malicious intent.
59
60Analyzing participant's activities becomes more difficult as the
61number of peers and applications that generate traffic on the network
62grows, even if the additional traffic generated is not related to
63anonymous communication. This is one of the reasons why GNUnet is
64developed as a peer-to-peer framework where many applications share
65the lower layers of an increasingly complex protocol stack. The GNUnet
66architecture encourages many different forms of peer-to-peer
67applications.
68
69@cindex Practicality
70@node Practicality
71@section Practicality
72
73Wherever possible GNUnet allows the peer to adjust its operations and
74functionalities to specific use cases. A GNUnet peer running on a
75mobile device with limited battery for example might choose not to
76relay traffic for other participants.
77
78For certain applications like file-sharing GNUnet allows participants
79to trade degrees of anonymity in exchange for increased
80efficiency. However, it is not possible for any user's efficiency
81requirements to compromise the anonymity of any other user.