Privacy experts: how, under a hostile regime, would you host a public relay for your country? How would you avoid leaking your location/identity while simultaneously maintaining access for the people near you? Is it possible?
Discussion
Run over Tor and only accept connections over Tor?
I believe that’s how this relay operates: 
Tor really solves a lot of problems doesn't it
Yes that is nostr:npub16fcy8ynknssdv7s487nh4p2h4vr3aun64lpfea45d7h4sts9jheqevshgh Tor relay. It is own relay Tor only and syncs with other clearnet Relayable relay over local network.
Do they know that you’re accessing tor? for example if you are the only one in the building sending requests through it, can they pinpoint?
I think so, unless you use a vpn
This^
I would run Tor over VPN. That way your ISP doesn’t know you’re using Tor, and the Tour entry/guard node doesn’t know your real IP
Best combo I’ve grasped so far
Does your ISP know you're using a VPN though?
I believe so, but this typically less of a risk, because there are various reasons to use VPN. (Whereas Tor is still associated with illicit activity).
But you make a good point - what if VPN is illegal in your jurisdiction?
I believe Tor “bridges” and/or “snowflakes” help with this problem. But it’s beyond my understanding at the moment
Docker or other containerization technologies for isolating the relay. Implement failovers and load balancing. Configure the relay as a middle or bridge relay, not an exit relay. Use DNS over HTTPS or DNS over TLS. Use SELinux.
That is a good question. How hostile the regime becomes? I don't think that is some Tor relay running in North Korea, neither a Nostr relay. I think the answer is beyond technical. I am from Brazil and things are deteriorating really fast here.
I'm thinking worst case scenario, maybe Iran or China. NK is worse than the worst case 😆
What about using AIs to spam the country with false identities (maybe false VPNs?) and obfuscating your identity and the location of the relay?
That would be cool, I'm thinking more defensive
Talked with nostr:nprofile1qqs25hnvelruklp5x8gjkr4yhql9kd2zwcp9ygyq565xrz2s2flczxcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzvuq35amnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wdaexzmn8v4cxjmrv9ejx2aspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfdum2d34c about this today. Running a relay under a hostile regime might be impossible (although apparently Tor is very nearly a silver bullet). But there are other options. Scuttlebutt (Manyverse in particular) has some really nice solutions to this problem — because of how pubs are set up, you can still gossip, even without connecting to the internet, by connecting via LAN (and maybe Bluetooth)?
There are tons of other ways client databases could be shared:
- jsonl exports to a flash drive
- animated QR codes
- I'm sure lots more
I'd love to see/build this eventually to help dissidents in hostile regimes communicate with each other. nostr:nprofile1qqs8d3c64cayj8canmky0jap0c3fekjpzwsthdhx4cthd4my8c5u47spz3mhxue69uhhyumn9ehx7uewwdhkx6tpdsq32amnwvaz7tm9v3jkutnwdaehgu3wd3skueqpzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujucm4wfex2mn59en8j6gvwlazv , you used to work on SSB, do you have any plans to do something like this?
Super interesting and definitely needed
Do you think there is any lack of communication means or information exposure in rusia for instance?
Not trying to discourage you but “building software to let people communicate under hostile regimes” may become useless. People under hostile regimes always communicate. They just accept doing nothing.
Unless you are talking about giving them opportunity to see the latest memes, say, about the nations their hostile regime is committing genocide to (:
The awful truth.
Well, yes, it's illegal to be critical of the government right? Even memes have value, humor is part of satire, which is part of political commentary.
So what are your expectations/goals? Giving people tools for communication in order to solve the problem of oppressing regimes?
Or do you want to let people living under oppressive regimes a bit of happiness in form of memes and let them chill further sponsoring oppressive regimes which will, sooner or later, start wars with their neighbors because oppressive regimes must have wars at some point?
Why not both?
Maybe.
But 1) is most likely useless, given rusia example
And 2) doesn’t seem like something good, does it?
I agree, 2 without 1 is useless. But why give up hope on 1? Christianity (for example) has a long history of enduring hostile regimes and ultimately flipping them.
I’m not giving up hope in that thats why I say that I don’t want to discourage you in trying.
But in case you are happy to not have much exposure to people living under oppressing regimes (btw, I don’t believe in this term, I think people have exactly the govts they want to have) — then I’m sharing my personal experience that it might be useless and those people in fact just like whats going on and 1) is not possible by giving ppl certain freedoms
Ah, I see what you mean, interesting. Possibly true in many cases, but there are aleays minorities and injustice
Not sure how tor solves things. Hostile regimes build great firewalls, China famously has one, Russia now has too. They will just block access to anything outside country. And then anything inside is under their full control bcs every local internet provider has their hardware installed. You could operate at small scale I guess, but will be found and shut down when they finally bother. P2p like SSB could probably work until they learn to detect and block those packets.