Association Lorraine Data Network

Association Lorraine Data Network (LDN) was a French non-profit association and associative Internet service provider (FAI associatif) based in Nancy, in the Lorraine region. It described itself as an association for the defence of a free, neutral and decentralized Internet, and its main means of action was to operate as a public, local and associative Internet access provider. LDN was a founding member of the Fédération French Data Network (FFDN), a federation grouping more than twenty associative ISPs across France. LDN offered services to its members, including a VPN service that established an encrypted tunnel between the user's device and an LDN server, providing a neutral, unfiltered and secure Internet connection with fixed IPv6 (/48 block) and IPv4 addresses, usable with the Brique Internet. It also offered an "adhérent pack" of miscellaneous services such as turnkey email and secondary DNS, and white-label ADSL lines through FDN. Access to services was reserved for members who accepted the association's statutes and internal rules. The association also ran workshops, conferences, stands and debates to promote its vision of the Internet. LDN operated an open recursive DNS server, which was closed on 2 June 2022 following the decision to dissolve the association, with the service effectively shut down on 25 August 2022 and the associated IP addresses to be reallocated. The dissolution was decided at an Extraordinary General Assembly (AGE) held on 30 September 2023 in Nancy, and the association announced its dissolution on 1 October 2023, thanking members for 13 years of Internet reappropriation, discussions, conferences, learning, discoveries, friendships, struggles and life. The website ldn-fai.net remained online as an archive of the association's activities. As a small, human-scale ISP, LDN emphasized that "an subscriber must not become a number" and sought to remain close to its members, adapting services to their needs. Its history is closely tied to that of French Data Network (FDN), founded on 2 June 1992, the oldest Internet access provider in France, which encouraged the creation of local associations based on its own model across France. LDN was one of these local initiatives, and its dissolution in 2023 marked the end of a 13-year experiment in associative Internet access in Lorraine.

Association Lorraine Data Network (LDN) was a French associative Internet service provider based in Nancy, Lorraine. It emerged from the model of French Data Network (FDN), founded on 2 June 1992, which was the oldest Internet access provider in France and an association defending freedoms on the Internet. FDN, fearing that growth in its ADSL subscriber base would make it impossible to maintain its convictions, decided to encourage local initiatives based on its own model throughout France, with at least one association per region. LDN was one of these local associations, founded around 2010 (the association announced its dissolution in 2023 after "13 years" of activity). LDN was a founding member of the Fédération French Data Network (FFDN), which groups more than twenty associative ISPs in France. Its main means of action was to be a public, local and associative ISP. It offered its members VPN services with fixed IPv6 and IPv4 addresses, an adhérent pack including email and secondary DNS, and white-label ADSL lines through FDN. It also operated an open recursive DNS server. Access to services was reserved for members who accepted the statutes and internal rules. The association presented its vision of the Internet at regional events through stands, debates, conferences and workshops. In 2022, following a decision to dissolve the association, LDN announced the closure of its open recursive DNS service for 2 June 2022; the service was effectively closed on 25 August 2022, and the associated IP addresses were to be reallocated to other organizations. The dissolution was formalized at an Extraordinary General Assembly (AGE) held on 30 September 2023 at Le Geyser, 11 grand rue, Nancy, with an audio bridge for remote participation. On 1 October 2023, LDN announced that the association was now dissolved, thanking members for 13 years of Internet reappropriation, discussions, conferences, learning, discoveries, friendships, struggles and life. The website ldn-fai.net remained online as an archive.

• Association Lorraine Data Network founded (approximate, based on 13 years of activity before 2023 dissolution).

• Announcement of closure of LDN open recursive DNS service for 2 June 2022.

• LDN recursive DNS service effectively closed.

• Extraordinary General Assembly (AGE) held in Nancy to decide dissolution.

• Association LDN announced its dissolution after 13 years.

Associative, local, human-scale ISP defending a free, neutral and decentralized Internet.

• VPN service

  Encrypted tunnel between user device and LDN server, providing neutral, unfiltered and secure Internet access with fixed IPv6 (/48) and IPv4 addresses, usable with the Brique Internet. Price between 6€ and 10€ per month.

• Adhérent pack

  Set of miscellaneous services including turnkey email and secondary DNS, included in membership.

• ADSL line

  White-label ADSL through FDN, subject to eligibility test.

• Open recursive DNS server

  Public recursive DNS resolver, closed on 2 June 2022 and effectively shut down on 25 August 2022.

1. 1Lorraine Data Networkldn-fai.net
2. 2Histoire : Lorraine Data Networkldn-fai.net
3. 3Services de l’association : Lorraine Data Networkldn-fai.net
4. 4Fermeture du services DNS récursif LDN : Lorraine Data Networkldn-fai.net
5. 5Association Lorraine Data Networkwikidata.org