It is very interesting to reveal more info regarding outer net. I don’t know my doubt is relevant here but just out of curiosity, Can we track the users of outer net like we do in internet connections by IP address? Or the peoples can anonymously use it for illegal purpose like the anti socials for their illegal activities
No, users cannot be tracked; but no, users cannot use the Internet via Outernet. Nor can they choose the content being broadcast. This is a one way communcations mode, similar to talk radio using hypertext markup language instead of loudmouthed white men.
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Anyway OUTERNET will replace internet in all aspects like email and instant messages websites etc. So anybody can communicate without revealing their identity? Anybody can broadcast their views without revealing their identity even if it is containing harmful data affecting other’s social life?
No chance whatsoever.
What ideas do you have about the operational security of your potential users in a censored country?
You might assume a user might be severely punished when caught accessing “forbidden” information from outernet.
In a tightly controlled country it might be difficult to safely buy equipment, get a specific app or software package. Not every Joe has the knowledge to “tinker” with hard- and software.
How do you want to prevent jamming of the signals? If a specific frequency is used, it’s very cheap to jam. Jamming wifi in a city might cause uproar amongst the “normal” users, but in a rual area not many people might notice it.
What measures do you want to implement to “authenticate” the broadcast as “genuine”? It can be easy to forge your content. Receiving wrong information can harm users. It can be easy to inject malicious code, a call home script.
How do you protect the user trying to contact you with a proposal to air webpage X? Sending an SMS / email in a tightly controlled country to outernet is a dead giveaway for a knock on the door by law enforcement.
if this will be one way communication, then there will be some kind of collision??? and the quality of the speed of outernet will typicaly be slow, which also mean that it will take a lot of time to download data from outernet.
then what kind of security outernet will provide to its users??? if it is one way communication , then some kind confidentiality and authentication may be required.
Any collision won’t have meaning in this context, and only be interference. There would be no confidentiality nor authientication, there is no need. The data is simply broadcast, and the receiving wifi devices simply receivers of that data.
From what I understand the network will only be one way at first. In the future it may become [fingers crossed] bi directional. For security it is going to be the same game all of mankind has been playing since the beginning. People will defend and people will attack. Your best hope is to make the community stronger and educate each other. Right now using the internet is what it is. You have several ways to protect your self. As the Outernet grows protocols, software and other measures will develop to reflect this. Right now the major concern in my opinion would be ‘how can the end user validate/authenticate’ that the information received is genuine and unchanged. Hopefully there will be something similar to comparing the MD5hash or SHA1SUM.
Respectfully ~
Funklebits
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That is unlikely using the current Outernet model. Google Loon will have a greater likelyhood of true bi-directional communications than low earth orbit cubesats. Just broadcasting wifi compatible signals from a cubesate several hundred miles above your intended receiver is a technical hurdle.
Outernet is not going to be a global police force trying to bring justice to all, I can guarantee that. Our primary concern is bringing information to people, not smuggling it. This may indirectly empower people to find new ways to oppose governments that prevent or abuse your access to information, but anything beyond that would be too much to expect.
That said, the project will make any hardware and software open-source, so I’m sure someone will find ways to build security features into them.
Another point to make is that, since you don’t directly access any of the internet sites, and you don’t have uplink capability, it will probably make it harder for anyone to track you.
This is only partially true. Users won’t be able to choose content directly as we do on conventional Internet, but they will be able to requests topics that should be covered by the broadcast. The act of requesting content takes place on various channels including those that can be tracked and traced (e.g., Facebook 0 or Facebook USSD). The Outernet’s component that collects requests will have an API for third-party integration, though, so it’s probably possible to have a better channel for anonymously requesting content (unless Snowden has something to say about it).
I am a prisoner - I am trafficked with the full cooperation of a large city government. My communications are blocked and/or censored and diverted by employees of communications services that are under control of the same organized crime group. If you have a way around this behavior, my life and freedom will be restored.
How did you get here?