Alternatives to online censorship

[GreyGeek]

I'm pleased that there is an option to not act as a peer. My bandwidth ($$$$) just won't support it.

A lot of ISP's ToS won't allow it either for residential connections.

[vsmmath]

Kubuntu is great! Best distro I've every run, and I've been running Linux since May of 1998. The site for install instructions on Linux for ZeroNet is here.
The 32 byte RSA key that you'll get when you install ZeroNet is also the "URL" of your own home page. It's IP will be something like "http://127.0.0.1/43110/1HeLLo4uzjaLetFx6NH3PMwFP3qbRbTf3D"
The vertical dots in the upper left corner of the screen, just to the right of "ZeroNet" produces a menu, and one item is "shut ZeroNet down". That will cause a scrolling button to appear in the upper right corner. Click on it to stop the ZeroNet daemon. I also noticed that sometimes the daemon doesn't die when you quit ZeroNet, so I launch KSysmonitor and look for something like "xcmb ..." and end its process. ZeroNet uses port 15441 so if you have a firewall you may want to put both a TCP and UDP hole hole through it with a source of 0.0.0.0/0 and destination of your LAN ISP (mine is 192.168.1.111 because I use my eth0 card's MAC address to create a static local IP address specifically so I can have fixed holes for Minecraft and other apps which have remote connections. My Linksys E2500 wifi router with DD-WRT firmware also has a Linux firewall and I identical hole in it as well. That way, if I take my laptop to another location I still have firewall protection.

The 15441 hole isn't necessary, but the docs says that ZeroNet will run faster with it, and that it does. However, I was never able to get the Tor connection going. It always gave me a Python script error indicating a socket problem, even thought I used the torsocket in the repository and also installed the tor-browser.

Another info bit to notice is that because you become a server for every site you visit your bandwidth may be taxed. There are settings to limit the total bytes down the pipe to 40GB and up the pipe to 40GB, making a total of 80GB per month. Or, you can refuse to serve any sites you visit and keep your bandwidth usage low. The settings are accessed through the configuration link.

Thanks for the information. That is great help. This information is really useful. Thanks once again

[GreyGeek]

A while back I stopped my exploration of alternatives to our current Internet and came to the conclusion that regardless of their clever encryption schemes as P2P networks they were doomed to failure for one simple reason: every one requires an ISP connection. That makes the ISP your gatekeeper and unless you can create a network between computers that doesn't require an ISP you have no hope of a secure, independent peer network. I deleted them from my system.

This article describes how an old threat can bring bitcoin based P2P networks down, and all it takes is a "rogue" ISP. Translation: one that succumbs to the demands of an oppressive government.

Currently, that leaves only a shared wifi connection, which won't get you more than 300' unless you use a Pringles can.

[TWPonKubuntu]

GG, you might look at "mesh" networks. They can benefit from the "Pringles" can but don't strictly need it. More range is better but it can be done with physically close stations spread across a region.

[GreyGeek]

I just checked "mesh" out. Close, but no cigar. Mesh still requires a "backhaul" node to send data back to the Internet via an ISP. What I have in mind is sort of like what one does when they set up an extra wifi modem as a signal extender, which also links to someone else's wifi, etc.


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[TWPonKubuntu]

My understanding of a "mesh" network does not include a link to the "internet". It is a stand-alone network with servers accessible to mesh members. An independent system external to the current "internet"

For instance: https://opensource.com/life/16/5/pittmesh

Does not need an ISP unless the mesh community wants to have access to the greater (lesser) internet.

[GreyGeek]

My understanding of a "mesh" network does not include a link to the "internet". It is a stand-alone network with servers accessible to mesh members. An independent system external to the current "internet"

For instance: https://opensource.com/life/16/5/pittmesh

Does not need an ISP unless the mesh community wants to have access to the greater (lesser) internet.

That's close but in the final analysis "WorkHardPGH" is acting as the ISP, as the map plainly shows. It is the central hub. It they have set up their devices to work as a bridge then any of those nodes could be linked to the Internet through their primary wifi, as you say. I haven't seen a TOS from any ISP that didn't prohibit such sharing using bridges or other devices. WHPGH also must have a "Pringles" can on the top of their building because they are making a connection to nodes on Braddock St, across the river, 3 or 4 miles south east of their location. A connection that far on 240mw requires a high gain highly directional antenna. Probably that Butterfly Antenna they are standing next to in a promo photo.

To be legal the owners of those nodes must be providing their own content and very few people have the ability or knowledge to create such content. As such, a "pittmesh", or any mesh, would be good for communicating with locals it times of emergencies or as gab or coordination activities. I cannot imagine any circumstance in which a prime content provider, like YouTube, Vimeo, Google, NetFlix, etc., would ever attach themselves to a mesh network. Communication speed between two nodes cannot be any faster than the slowest node between them. If node A and C were running 802.11n (150Mbs) but node B was running 802.11b (11Mb/s) then the avg speed will be 11Mb/s for all nodes whose data passes through node B.

Their mesh devices, the AP150 and A150 ($75 & $65 @) are merely low power (63mw out of a possible 250ms) wifi devices with PROMS that contain the software to do the "meshing" (bridging) with other devices with the same PROM software. Your SSID is burned into the device when you order it, meaning the on board PROM will only work using the SSID you specified when you bought it, and only with other pittmesh devices. A normal wifi set up as a bridge for your primary wifi can also be configured to act as a link between another bridge of yours or someone else's bridge or primary wifi. Such connections would work with the standard TCP/IP/HTML protocols.

My Cisco E2500 wifi running DDWRT firmware allows me to set the transmit power at any level I want from 60 to 250mw. I set mine at 65mw because higher powers will burn out the transmitter quicker. 60-75mw will get you about 30-300', assuming no interfering objects. At 240mw I might be able to reach out to 1,000', but I don't need to xmitt more than 30' so 65mw works fine.

PittMesh has been in operation since 2013 and they currently have only 50 connections. That's not many for nearly four years of promotion. No doubt many more have tried but found legal meshing lacking and dropped out.

For transmitting encrypted msgs and data, the keys to which have been hand delivered in the past, mesh networking probably works great to coordinate nearby anarchist, ISIS, Black Panthers, Marxists or other rabble rouser plans and spread indoctrination.

When I was in grad school in the 1960s Berkeley's Marxists were in full riot. They didn't have twitter or facebook or instagram but they did have "underground radio", literally. They knew the authorities & the FCC would be monitoring clandestine FM or AM radio transmissions. So, they applied the output of their 250 Watt RF amplifiers to dipoles buried in the ground and listeners attached the antenna inputs of their radio receivers to similar dipoles buried in the ground. Slightly below 550 AM, IIRC. The police never caught on to how the Berkeley revolutionaries, who truly believed they were starting the "Revolution" that would overthrow our Constitutional government, were able to so rapidly coordinate their activities and avoid or evade the police. Much later, one of the techies associated with that began working for Pacifica Radio, another Marxist outlet which started on the North West coast. He designed and published specs for miniature FM radio transmitters so others could start clandestine FM radio stations that transmitted with higher powers than 250Mw and/or transmitted farther than 1,000' (I forget what the exact distance in the FCC regs is).

EDIT:
Found these FFC regs:

FCC Power Output Rules

Unfortunately there are power restrictions (laws) when using WiFi that if exceeded could land you in jail. The FCC limits your total power output using a sliding scale. The scale starts at 30dBm of amplification power while using a 6dBi directional antenna. Then for every 1dBm you drop in amplification power you can increase the power of your directional antenna by 3dBi.

Using a larger point-to-point antenna, your beam pattern will cover less area and cause less interference for others. This is why the FCC allows this sliding scale.

30dBm is equal to 1 Watt.

Distance comparisons for various dBi settings:
https://www.geckoandfly.com/10213/wi...ge-comparison/

[TWPonKubuntu]

So what is your intent? P2P has the same disadvantage, ie. it can be linked to the "internet".

I see this as a personal choice of the members for the network, do they want it to have an ISP moderated connection to the "Internet" or do they want to only be P2P between members of the peer group? They can have one or the other without a large difference in hardware...

If the concern is having a central hub which behaves as if it were an ISP, then just don't do that. Peer-to-peer means higher wireless bandwidth and maybe slower response, but perhaps more freedom...

I'm not disagreeing with you, but I'm not clear on what it is you want from such a system.

[GreyGeek]

P2P without a commercial backbone and the attendant snooping and regulatory control.

I've come to the conclusion that such a network is not possible under present circumstances and may be impossible to establish in future circumstances. So, I've given up the search.

[Snowhog]

One could resort to F2F (Face 2 Face) communications.

[TWPonKubuntu]

"SneakerNet Lives!"

I have a pair of tested and proven sneakers which I am willing to donate for further research.

GG. What prompted you to conclude that it "is not possible"...? I can see some problems relating to security (people will be a weak link)...

Do you see hardware problems? Like a lack of suitable devices or something else?

[GreyGeek]

One could resort to F2F (Face 2 Face) communications.

Probably not in public places, or if you have a smartphone nearby that hasn't had the battery removed, and with long distance eaves dropping technology (IfraRed or microwaves, or even your smart TV.

Solution? Covertly write what you want your respondent to know on thin tissue, hand it to him, and after he reads it dissolve it in a glass of water or eat it. I've tried but I can't seem to master the Vulcan mind meld.

[GreyGeek]

...

GG. What prompted you to conclude that it "is not possible"...? I can see some problems relating to security (people will be a weak link)...

Do you see hardware problems? Like a lack of suitable devices or something else?

Take a mental survey of the folks who live within, say, 1,000' of where you live. How many of them have the knowledge or ability to set up a wifi bridge? Not enough to establish a mesh. Since 2013 PittMesh has been able to link only 50 sites. 50 in 3 1/2 years. Their network is so sparse it reminded me of the Berkeley Marxist protesters of the 1960s and their "underground radio". (They don't need an underground radio any more, their progeny have gained control of the major news networks.)

Not only that, FCC has improved detection technology and triangulation is a LOT faster than it was 60 years ago. You stationary wifi base and or bridge can give your location away from a much greater distance than it can communicate with. If TPTB didn't want your mesh in operation it wouldn't take them but a few minutes to shut it down, either by SWAT raid, or by a focused EMP targeted to your device. Your wifi transceiver won't work if the receive part is burned out.

If you revert to QRP radios in moving vehicles the FCC, or whomever, will merely use your signal to track you. We have become prisoners of our own technology.

That's why I don't care about P2P networks any more. There is no point to them.

[TWPonKubuntu]

GG; what you say makes sense, sadly...

If I limit myself to 1000', the number of techy people is probably less than 10. I know of only one for certain. If I were to use the "cantenna", I could probably get to about 2000', line of sight only. With repeaters, it becomes limited only by the number of sites which could be maintained and powered. Still not a large number...

Truthfully, my main usage for such a system is more for a EOTW scenario, and I really would not like to remain in my suburban location at that time.

[GreyGeek]

GG; what you say makes sense, sadly...

Truthfully, my main usage for such a system is more for a EOTW scenario, and I really would not like to remain in my suburban location at that time.

There is more than one EOTW scenario. One kind of EOTW is taking place in Venezuela right now. A member of this forum from there said he has lost 10Kg over the last year, and that was 6 months ago. I haven't seen him on this forum in a while, so he has probably lost his Internet connection. That scenario has stretched on for so long that it I suspect that it has exhausted all emergency food, energy or barter supplies for most people. Only the Marxist leadership and their cronies & thugs are eating well. The ordinary people have gone beyond eating their pets and the local bird and rodent supply. I've read reports that all the animals in the areas surrounding major cities and towns have been swept clean, ditto for wild animals. I suspect that fish have been cleaned out of most bodies of water. In every location human populations are too great to be sustained by wildlife alone. Now the people have nothing to lose and are beginning to risk their lives for food by facing armed thugs working for the Marxist leadership. So much for the "worker's paradise".

In a similar situation Americans would not fair any better. Millions will leave the cities thinking they will find food and shelter "out in the country", only to find that it has neither in quantities that will allow more than a fraction of the population to survive. Most will die of diseases in their drinking water. The leadership and the wealthy have already stocked up their bunkers and islands with several years of food, fuel, weapons, ammo and necessities. Many have stocked up their "bug out" locations and created small fortresses to protect themselves and their own from ANY intruders, as every person will be seen as a threat to their own resources. Most, however, are NOT prepared to live in the 18th century because most do not have a team of oxen, plows, a supply of wrought iron, a blacksmith forge, wood working tools, seeds for next year's crops, bows & arrows, etc... All of which will be required when the stocks of gasoline & kerosene are exhausted, the electrical generator breaks, the lights burn out, they run out of ammo, Iodine, antibiotics (IF they are any good against modern super bugs) .... Most have not thought completely through how they are going to survive without our modern conveniences.

At the most my wife has a one month supply of necessary heart medicines. Then she dies. Most folks beyond 65 yrs old won't survive any kind of EOTW scenario. One episode of Atrial Fibrillation with tachycardia and the odds of survival without beta blockers to bring the heart back under control will be life threatening. Watching your prostate? Why bother? What could you do? Not a happy scenario.

Another EOTW scenario that seems favored by the delusional, fat, spoiled child dictating lives in North Korea is that of a nuclear Holocaust. That idiot must think hiding underground in his fully stocked and shielded bunker he will be immune to nuclear radiation. That bunker will become his tomb.

What are people afraid of? Death and dying, something they can't avoid, no matter how long they live.

I don't worry about it. I've read the book. The man on the white horse wins!