Networking

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Computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections are made up of telecommunication network technologies based on physically wired, optical, and wireless radio-frequency methods that may be arranged in a variety of network topologies.

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Are there war-resistant networks citizens can join? (programming.dev)

submitted 1 week ago by onlinepersona@programming.dev to c/networking@programming.dev

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The European Union is slowly waking up to the fact that the US might not continue protecting it (a Republican senator introducing a bill to exit NATO, a new security direction talking about breaking up the EU) and the possibility of a Russian invasion. Multiple military and civilian facilities reporting drone sightings, Polish railway tracks being sabotaged, Portugal and Spain losing electricity for multiple hours, Russian submarines and warships along the EU coasts, severing fiber connections between Sweden and central Europe, the list goes on and on.

Obviously infrastructure will be attacked and communication cannot depend on Starlink, services from US tech companies, nor be centralised.

So, which networks (from software to hardware), can citizens join to bolster their communication in case of war? Meshtastic? Meshcore? Jami? Briar? Freifunk? What exists? What can work? Which limitations are there?

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[–] hereforawhile@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There are really two categories to "war resistance". Did this war completely knock out the internet? Then your limited to satalite, meshtastic, physical radio tech.Maybe jack dorseys bitchat would work since everyone will already have the hardware to build the network out.

If you have internet...then Tor, I2P, and other overlay networks will remain very resilant and allow you to communicate over any distance...that's what it was made for.

Severing fiber connections between Sweden and central Europe won't matter to Tor. It's whole job is to make secret unblockable tunnels.

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago

I wouldn't count satellite as a viable option for citizens during a war, especially if it's under US/foreign control (a possible enemy).

Meshtastic seems to be very vulnerable to misconfigurations that can knock out all nodes in an area by flooding them. All it needs is 2 nodes with MQTT enabled and nobody can communicate.

Jack Dorsey has alpha software and just rewrote another app. Plus, he's from the USA so his stuff shouldn't be trusted. Briar and other apps already exist. Maybe even Jami could work. The problem is that those are only the range of WiFi or Bluetooth. For communication in a city/town/village,that might be OK, but intercity communication won't be possible. Is there no meshnet tech that has greater range than WiFi and can carry more than text (I.e not meshtastic)?