Freenode has very recently been under DDoS attack[1] and has been dealing with them for at least a year or more[2]. It seems likely that they're getting the same government treatment as Quakenet. Given that Freenode hosts channels for many open source projects, these attacks aren't just annoying bystanders, they're potentially affecting the progress of our technology.
[1] http://blog.freenode.net/2014/02/turbulence/
[2] http://blog.freenode.net/2013/05/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ug...