I have a mobile relay built with small Pi equivalent for protesters in mind. Do a lot of work through nostr:npub16fcy8ynknssdv7s487nh4p2h4vr3aun64lpfea45d7h4sts9jheqevshgh maintain relay access for users behind GFW. Lot of ways to obfuscate it being a relay.
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?
Discussion
Legend, that's also a fantastic idea. Is it set up to broadcast a wifi signal so people nearby can connect, or does it depend on a router?
Yes. Can use it as relay relay where connect 4G or 5G hotspot and make part of a mesh network to also use with MeshTastic communicators. Wanted to make able to build temporary mesh network with multiple. Made with OpenWRT but can use most anything.
😳 I didn't understand most of that but now I know who to talk to when I build my own
For context and reference:
Looks amazing, is it like helium except functional? As I recall helium's economics totally didn't work. I assume this is just a hobbyist network, with no coin attached. What's the bandwidth? Is there routing involved or is it sort of spray and pray replication?
Is very low power for MeshTastic. Can use small low bandwidth LoRa devices. Would work in tandem with nostr relay and lightweight captive portal nostr client. Can use disposable nostr npubs for plausible deniability. With the protestor scenerio had thought connect all nodes via syncthing for video and image dispersal. But this could be improved.