A free-net was originally a computer system or network that provided public access to digital resources and community information, including personal communications, through modem dialup via the

public switched telephone network The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides Communications infrastructure, infrastructure and services for public Telecommunications, telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that ...

. The concept originated in the health sciences to provide online help for medical patients. With the development of the Internet free-net systems became the first to offer limited

Internet access Internet access is the ability of individuals and organizations to connect to the Internet using computer terminals, computers, and other devices; and to access services such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet access is sold by Internet ...

to the general public to support the non-profit community work. The

Cleveland Free-Net Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

(''cleveland.freenet.edu''), founded in 1986, was the pioneering community network of this kind in the world. Any person with a personal computer, or through access from public terminal in libraries, could register for accounts on a free-net, and was assigned an email address. Other services often included Usenet newsgroups, chat rooms, IRC, telnet, and archives of community information, delivered either with text-based Gopher software or later the World-Wide Web. The word mark Free-Net was a registered trademark of the

National Public Telecomputing Network National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

(NPTN), founded in 1989 by Tom Grundner at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

. NPTN was a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing and developing, free, public access, digital information and communication services for the general public. It closed operations in 1996, filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. However, prior use of the term created some conflicts. NPTN distributed the software package ''FreePort'', developed at Case Western Reserve, that was used and licensed by many of the free-net sites. The Internet domain name ''freenet.org'' was first registered by the Greater Detroit Free-Net (detroit.freenet.org), a non-profit community system in Detroit, MI, and a member of the NPTN. The Greater Detroit Free-Net provided other subdomains to several free-net systems during its operation from 1993 to approximately 2001. Unlike commercial Internet service providers, free-nets originally provided direct terminal-based dialup, instead of other networked connections, such as Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP). The development of Internet access with cheaper and faster connections, and the advent of the World-Wide Web made the original free-net community concept obsolete. A number of free-nets, including the original Cleveland Free-Net, have shut down or changed their focus. Free-nets have always been locally governed, so interpretation of their mission to remove barriers to access and provide a forum for community information, as well as services offered, can vary widely. As text-based Internet became less popular, some of the original free-nets have made available PPP dialup and more recently DSL services, as a revenue generating mechanism, with some now transitioning into the community wireless movement. Several free-net systems continue under new mission statements.

Rochester Free-Net Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom * Rochester, Kent **City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area **History of Rochester, Kent **HM Prison R ...

( Rochester, New York), for instance, focuses on hosting community service organizations (over 500 to date) as well as seminars about Internet use to the community at no charge.

Austin FreeNet Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

( Austin, Texas) now provides technology training and access to residents of the city, "fostering skills that enable people to succeed in a digital age."

References

External links

* {{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050508122305/http://www.vcn.bc.ca/sig/comm-nets/bluebook/ , date=May 8, 2005 , title=The NPTN Blue Book, 1993 – A manual on how to create a free-net and also describes the history of community networking.
Freenets & Community Networks
– International list of freenets
ISPbargains.com
– A comprehensive updated list of free dial-up Internet service providers.
Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG Archive #1
- The

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

Special Interest Group (SIG) Archive is one of the only collections of preserved content from the Cleveland Free-Net.
Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG Archive #2
- An alternate version of the Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG archive.
Cleveland Free-Net tribute website
- A website designed to look like the Cleveland Free-Net that provides history of the system and its users. Bulletin board systems Internet service providers Community networks Web 1.0

See also

References

External links