Law Prof Urges Work on ‘Freedom Box’ to Decentralize the Internet

Columbia Law School professor Eben Moglen is promoting a project to decentralize the Internet—and neutralize the ability of any government to order it shut down.

Moglen tells the New York Times that the project will require “cheap, small, low-power plug servers” that are the size of a cellphone charger, and free software that is easy to use. Together they are a “Freedom Box” that can decentralize information and power, he said.

“The current forms of social network communication, despite their enormous current value for politics, are also intensely dangerous to use,” Moglen told the newspaper. “They are too centralized; they are too vulnerable to state retaliation and control.”