Subnostr

Yes, this is all fine if you're prepping in advance.

1) The problem is most govt ensure pulling the internet is a sudden jolt.

Which is where, should you download Bitchat and switch off all Location and Bluetooth perms, and only switch them on if and when an internet-takedoen happens, it might work well.

2) The problem is IP and location might not be the only trackers. Bluetooth is also a tracker in itself since it emits signals. How does any #FreedomTech app overcome that problem, is that we want to know?

Bill Cypher 3d ago

Even if you practice ideal opsec possible given the permissions, the range of bitchat is maybe the length of a city block in ideal conditions. I think that is more of a false sense of security than a useful tool. LoRA blows that range out of the water and there is elevated repeater infrastructure in a lot of places, but still most people hear no one on their meshtastic node and ultimately it just goes in a drawer to be forgotten.

You can't fully. If you transmit wirelessly a motivated attacker can foxhunt you. Listeners are all safe from being triangulated which helps.

There are scales of trackable though. Precise location uploaded to the internet to data brokers r us is easier for the state than being forced to come out and foxhunt you personally. Also pay attention to the difference between broadcast type transmissions and handshake type transmissions. A ham radio can be on and never transmit. Many can have transmit disabled to prevent accidents. A Bluetooth, cell, or wifi device always transmits looking for peers the moment you turn it on.

If you need a level of opsec for a threat model where being personally hunted is an issue... Scheduled short checkins from random locations at random times. This is a broadcast not a conversation because of the safety of listeners. A ham foxhunt on 2m takes 2 hours or so depending, pros with better resources will be faster. You need to be able to complete transmission, tear down, and be gone before they can locate and get to you. You also need to be truly random. Keep in mind that from first key-down they have a rough idea of your location that gets more precise over time. Also they have travel time to get to the location they triangulated. This means that not getting caught doesn't mean they didn't know where you were. The implication here is that your random locations can't add up to drawing a 5 mile circle around your base. They also can't repeat because the hunters can stage teams close to known previous transmission sites.

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Discussion

Pana - The Refuge Network State 3d ago

This is awesome, thanks!

Any chance you can go on a similar rant sometime about what this could look like for masses/groups of people? 😅

Example scenario: group of activists or degens + their frens + family = small community of people, with some normies and some degens sprinkled in

Objective: Just comms? 💬

How do they merely communicate with each other without being tracked by the govt/state/insurgent entities?

Buying everyone ham radios 📻 is seeming like quite the uphill task just yet, but agree it will make life easy.

Bill Cypher 3d ago

HF is expensive and high skill. Probably best reserved for long range needs. City to city or to get out of the country. This will have to be handled by a dedicated comms guy with skills and knowledge. It isn't like becoming a nuclear physicist but don't expect someone to pick it up and go like a blister pack walkie talkie.

Even for HT style Ham radios are usually expensive and always more complicated. Unless you have ham repeaters they are probably an unnecessary barrier to entry.

Blister pack radios in FRS, GMRS, or MURS are much easier because they are channelized and cheaper than all but baofengs or other Chinese ham radios. FRS and GMRS share frequencies which makes them interoperable. A carefully chosen ham HT can talk and listen on all 3 of those.

Most radios for FRS, GMRS, and MURS will say they offer thousands of "privacy" channels using DCS or CTCSS. That is a lie, disable those tones completely. Those settings deafen you to people who aren't running the same code but by turning it off you can hear everyone no matter what code they use.

All of those are broadcast style services that never transmit unless you key the transmitter. You can listen forever and never have your location triangulated.

Even with those you lose the convenience of phones. Carefully planned transmissions of information coded using manual encryption techniques, think numbers stations, is going to offer the best privacy.

At a certain level of insurgent type situation you have to break the modern always connected bidirectionally mindset. People in the know will broadcast limited critical information to many silent listeners after careful planning only.

Threats are everywhere. The question is what is the oppositions skill and dedication to finding you personally. No amount of care will make you invincible. Remember the Israeli icom supply chain attack?

Pana - The Refuge Network State 2d ago

Totally. Thanks for this man, will dig in, look up a bunch of terms, take some notes, then look up some of the more easier to buy devices and see if we can buy around 5 devices for a certain radius of frens and fam to start with.

The Israeli pager attack was so simple it was cruelly genius, typical Mossad - effective with gross disregard for life. Then they also let in smartphones into Gaza while they were starving people, so they could replicate the same with all the phones sent in.

Reading your comment I was reminded of the Episode Metalhead from Black Mirror S4E5. That robo dog that is a smaller, sleeker, more lethal and efficient version of Boston Dynamics 'Spot' dog gave me the shudders then, as it does now. Though the efficiency of that device, with the denoting into trackers and such - insane and genius.

Tough times a-coming. We should all be prepping.

When you get some time, you could write the same info you've added in all the comments here, throw em into an editor LLM and publish a #Nostr note on " #FreedomTech for n00bs - what to do when your Nation State takes down your internet" kinda thing. Would be very helpful!

#TheMoreYouKnow #PrivacyRefuge #TechnofeudalRefuge