The Lighthouse

The lighthouse is FreedomCore’s symbol. It’s not decorative — it maps directly to the architecture.

What a Lighthouse Does

A real lighthouse does three things:

1. It helps you find your way — a signal visible from far away
2. It marks safe passage — you know where the hazards are
3. It doesn’t control the ships — it guides, it doesn’t govern

A FreedomCore lighthouse does the same:

1. Peer discovery — helps devices find each other across the internet
2. Relay — forwards encrypted traffic when direct connections fail
3. Trust anchor — holds the certificate authority for the group

The lighthouse sees who is connecting but never what they’re sending. It guides traffic. It doesn’t control it.

Every Group Runs Their Own

This is the part that matters. A lighthouse is not a FreedomCore server. It’s your server.

A family runs one on a Raspberry Pi in a closet. A law firm runs one on a $5/month VPS. A real estate office runs one on an old laptop.

FreedomCore provides the software. The group provides the hardware. FreedomCore cannot see, access, or interfere with group traffic. If FreedomCore disappeared tomorrow, the lighthouses would keep running.

This is sovereign infrastructure. Not rented. Not managed. Owned.

Public Lighthouses

FreedomCore operates two public lighthouses for bootstrapping and guest access:

• Toronto — for North American connections
• Sydney — for Asia-Pacific connections

These are training wheels. Once a group establishes their own lighthouse, the public ones become unnecessary. Guest access (via browser, zero install) can route through the group’s lighthouse directly.

The Visual

The lighthouse appears throughout FreedomCore:

• The app icon — a shield with a mesh network, the lighthouse’s protection made visible
• The homepage animation — a lighthouse beam sweeping the globe, discovering connections
• The stage indicator — shows the path from lighthouse to edge to ISP to you

It’s a beacon. It says: there’s a group here, they’re real, and they’re ready to connect.

Why Not a Shield? A Lock? A Cloud?

Every security product uses shields and locks. Every cloud product uses clouds. These symbols communicate “we protect you” and “we host you.”

FreedomCore doesn’t protect you — it gives you the tools to protect yourself. FreedomCore doesn’t host you — your group hosts itself.

A lighthouse is the right symbol because it communicates exactly the right relationship: guidance without control, visibility without surveillance, safety without dependence.