AN Irish software designer has been attacked by security experts for developing a programme that will allow internet users to share files anonymously.

Ian Clarke, from Navan, Co Meath, will launch a new version of his Freenet system within months, making the sharing of digital information untraceable by the authorities, and making detection of piracy by corporations and governments more difficult.

While Clarke says he wants to promote free speech, security specialists are warning that the software will be abused by terrorists, paedophiles and computer hackers. Conor Flynn, technical director of Rits, an Irish information security company, says Freenet will be used for “malevolent and malicious purposes” and Clarke knows that.

“The Freenet system group say it’s for sharing information and they can’t help it if people abuse it. They know damn well that it will be,” Flynn said. “The ability to remain anonymous while surfing the web is dangerous. Internet protocol addresses and connection details have been used by police in many prosecutions. With systems like Freenet, the police would no longer be able to get information like that and the question is why?”

Flynn argues that Clarke’s invention is not like turning off caller ID on a mobile phone. “If you ring someone anonymously, at least the phone company has the information,” he said. “But with this technology nobody has a clue what you did or when you did it. Freenet is about destroying that data. It uses heavy encryption to disguise the user and that can only be for malicious purposes.”

The Senate Commerce Committee in America recently called on the US government to legislate against such technology because terrorists might employ it. Though his aim is to aid dissidents in countries where computer traffic is monitored by government, Clarke accepts that his innovation will bring security concerns.

“I think that these groups already have all the tools they need, even without Freenet,” he said. “But even if this weren’t the case, the benefits of Freenet far outweigh the disadvantages, just as the benefits of free speech far outweigh its disadvantages.”

The programmer says that his software will permit the anonymous publication and consumption of information on the internet, making it impossible for governments, especially repressive regimes, to restrict the flow of information. “My hope is that it will be more difficult for undemocratic countries to censor their citizens’ access to information through the internet,” he said.

An early version of Freenet is in use in countries such as China, allowing the free distribution of information despite government censorship. The programme is also used in countries, including America, to distribute censored information such as Church of Scientology documents. According to a New York Times article last week, the programme has already been downloaded by more than 2m people.

New so-called “darknet” technologies, such as Freenet, also make record companies’ detection of music file-sharing more difficult. A US Supreme Court ruling has effectively closed down sites allowing illegal downloading of music. Napster, the first peer-to-peer music sharing service, was shut down by court order, after several major recording companies filed lawsuits, and another file-sharing site, Grokster, was the subject of the Supreme Court ruling in June.

Clarke says that, as his system was not developed for downloading tracks, it should be within the law. “Freenet’s goal is not to permit copyright infringement, although this may be an inevitable consequence of our goals,” said the former double-winner of the Irish Young Scientist of the Year competition.

“We are aware of no laws either in Britain or America which prohibit the creation of software like Freenet.”

Clarke, a former pupil of Dundalk grammar school, Co Louth, now lives in Edinburgh and is employed by a music recommendation website. He is developing the system for free.

“Freenet is a non-profit project and my involvement is purely on a voluntary basis,” Clarke said.

“We do accept donations through our website, and use these to pay one developer to work full-time on the project.”

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