One proposal is to build some complicated IP management network. Yuck! A primary problem is one freenet user locating another freenet user and keeping the connection live during AP changes. I believe that if this problem can be resolved the other types of connections (ie fixed IP) go away. How about a 'rendevous server'. A well known address where two users can present a 'key' to the server and when they click you open a connection. (this might be a good place for e-cash micro-mints) IP Anonymizers would be one place to start. You connect up and get your IP washed. Then you present a key to the server. It looks for an identical key(s) and build a bridge between those users. An end-to-end anonymous connection. The anonymizing layer is a bell, it's not critical. A simple IP proxy will work. This is also a good place to demonstrate the utility of a 'wrapper' around this connection with respect to moving from one node to another. As you move out of one zone into another, your IP changes. So, your system would re-connect to the above server, be anonymized and hence making it's real IP irrelevant (even if it wasn't anonymized the next step makes the actual IP moot) - all automatically. It presents a key, finds a waiting connection open and gets connected back up. The rendevous server sits patiently waiting (until some watchdog barks) for new connections and holding the old half of your connection open and waiting. In particular it looks at each half of a connection and asks (Did_they_drop_the_line? || Did_we_get_norm_close?) before it closes the resource. Otherwise it attempts to keep the connection open and in a wait state until somebody else connects up. It would be reasonable to run such a server on the AP. With respect to automation of finding other proxies and presenting keys, this could be done by having it broadcast a Proxy_alive_kicking? packet. It would then, at a users request, broadcast out to those proxies trying to find out if they have a matching key as presented by the user. If so, then the proxy servers could make a connection between themselves and bridge the users logical connection request (ie presenting a key). -- ____________________________________________________________________ natsugusa ya...tsuwamonodomo ga...yume no ato summer grass...those mighty warriors'...dream-tracks Matsuo Basho The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------