Freenet guarantees the confidentiality, anonymity, and authenticity of the data it manages on various levels:

• Freenet encrypts files on uploading and does not decrypt them until downloaded – the files stored on a node are thus invisible to the operator. This allows the operator to plausibly deny any knowledge of the files.
• Nodes use encrypted communications – no external third party can discover who requests a key or stores its data.
• Freenet pads files to fixed size packages – the file size and the number of data packages exchanged do not allow any conclusions on the file content or the path the data takes through the network.
• Each node only sees its immediate neighbors – no node can tell whether an incoming request originated with the neighbor node that was the immediate source or whether the request is simply being forwarded.
• When a user requests a file, Freenet copies the file multiple times en route through the network – if a participant switches off his node, this does not necessarily mean that the data stored on it will be lost.
• Nodes can be configured to connect only to specific nodes, such as nodes run by friends and acquaintances – this means that only trusted persons learn that a participant actually runs a node. A network comprising trust-based connections is referred to as a darknet by the Freenet community.