Alternatives to online censorship

[Snowhog]

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

[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.

[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]

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]

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]

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.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[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]

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.

[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]

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.

[TWPonKubuntu]

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

[GreyGeek]

Thank you, this is awesome. I was just browsing. I will visit the above site now.

For the fun of it I installed Chrome to-day. I do not have anything to communicate with my daughter if I do not use WhatsApp. She has Hangout. From the time I downloaded Kubuntu I am exploring and reinstalling......etc. Enjoying Kubuntu really. I love this OS.

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.

[vsmmath]

http://zeronet.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Thank you, this is awesome. I was just browsing. I will visit the above site now.

For the fun of it I installed Chrome to-day. I do not have anything to communicate with my daughter if I do not use WhatsApp. She has Hangout. From the time I downloaded Kubuntu I am exploring and reinstalling......etc. Enjoying Kubuntu really. I love this OS.

[GreyGeek]

http://zeronet.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

[vsmmath]

ZeoNet