Sneakernet to Cuba

[endymion]

Raul Castro just appointed a hard-liner to control over all four ISPs in Cuba. Expect Chinese technicians to install a Great Firewall of China in Havana soon, to keep the few Cubans who are allowed online from getting out of line.

Firewall circumvention technology won't help because there aren't enough people connected even through the firewall for it to have much impact. Fidel and his brother know that and they think it's really funny when people waste time talking about how to break through the firewall.

I would really appreciate it if anybody could come up with a reason why this sneakernet idea won't work.

[endymion]

Here's a diagram to illustrate the basic concept:

The reason that I'm introducing the idea here is that the nightlife scene could be an interesting real-world testing ground for this technology.

I'd like to conduct tests where each volunteer tester sends a sneakernet message using test software on their mobile phone. The messages don't go out wirelessly through your wireless provider, you're pretending that there is no wireless provider in your area. Pretend that you're at Burning Man. Testers meet up and "gossip" (the phone-to-phone data transfer process) throughout the night. Ideally everybody's test emails should find a way to the Internet and reach the testers' Internet email accounts by the time they get back home from the clubs.

Fun for nerds, and if it works it could change the world. Anybody want to help me to see if it will really work?

[pod]

You know I'm in.

[endymion]

Originally Posted by pod

You know I'm in.

Perfect! You're the ideal courier in this sneakernet design because you flit around from venue to venue all night and gossip with so many other people. That's the natural human behavior that SNP rides on.

Pod is one of these orbiting couriers in this diagram:

[endymion]

This system is dangerous. If I build this software and unleash it on the world with a mistake in the design that leaks information, then people are going to be thrown in prison for 20 to 30 years. For real. I would really appreciate as much negative feedback as you can think of. Please help.

[pod]

Do a dry run here in the US hardcore. Set up fake border checkpoints even.

[endymion]

Originally Posted by pod

Do a dry run here in the US hardcore. Set up fake border checkpoints even.

Of course. I'm starting with in-computer simulation tests of the routing engine. Then the UI goes on it and field tests here. All of the testing in the world will only show that the method works to send information. It won't establish that it doesn't leak information.

The system is designed so that if a USB thumb drive with a message on it to the Miami Herald, from a specific Cuban, is intercepted by the Cuban police, they will not be able to read the message or see who the message is from or to what email it is addressed. That's critical because some storage media will be intercepted, so the protocol is designed to assume that will happen and counter the threat by not leaking traffic analysis information or the messages themselves.

If I screw that up then people are going to be thrown in prison. I can deal with that risk but I have a duty to have as many people as possible try to point out ways that the system could be attacked.

[coach]

I'm not really sure what you are talking about, but I'm in. It seems like it might be a virtual analogy to going to Cuba to purchase some artwork, having that shipped to Venezuala where the transaction actually goes through, then bringing it home to America from there. Is that about right? Just tell me what I need to do.

[endymion]

Originally Posted by coach

I'm not really sure what you are talking about, but I'm in. It seems like it might be a virtual analogy to going to Cuba to purchase some artwork, having that shipped to Venezuala where the transaction actually goes through, then bringing it home to America from there. Is that about right?

Yes, that's about right. It's like smuggling Cohibas out of Cuba. Instead of artwork or Cohibas, people could be smuggling something much more valuable in and out of Cuba: they could be smuggling freedom of speech and information.

I think of it as the "last 90 mile" connectivity problem.

The biggest way that everybody has been helping so far has been by illustrating what parts of this we're not explaining well. I did some new diagrams last night for the "How it works" explanation, also here in the thread Fidel's worst nightmare. Does that explain it more clearly?

Thanks to both of you and to anybody else who can help in any way. I'll have some toys to load on PDAs and mobile phones for testing soon.

[trancepriest]

Hey can you write a piece of software that will scan news articles and report when they are lying? I would be much more interested in that.