How to Build a Shadow Internet

Seze Mune · February 24, 2012, 10:15:16 AM

I didn't realize how vulnerable we are to control until Egypt shut down their internet by leaning on a few ISPs. That accounts for the Obama administration's attempt to create a shadow internet.

Consider this:

"The Internet's explosive growth," Dibbell wrote, "has not added new routes to the network map so much as it has added cul-de-sacs, turning ISPs and other traffic aggregators into focal points of control over the hundreds of millions of nodes they serve." Internet service providers, therefore, become the kill switch.

"To bring the Internet back to its original aims, activists are setting up local, decentralized "mesh networks" by installing wireless routers on rooftops. Each user can send and relay information on behalf of other users, Dibbell explained. Projects such as Commotion Wireless and FreedomBox want to get affordable, easy-to-install equipment out there to make more of these networks, increasing the number of nodes.

"Since mesh networks still ultimately connect back to an ISP, shutdown will still affect the network, slowing communications down. However, as Dibbell noted, the mesh "shadow" network would continue to route information around primary hubs. At worst it would be like an Internet brownout, instead of a blackout. The more nodes in the mesh network, the harder it will be to kill.

How to Survive an Internet Blackout

"Mesh networks aren't an easy answer, either, because they require regular folks to become technogeeks. They also pose some interesting privacy and legal questions. But the beauty is that all kinds of hardware, including smart phones, could be equipped with emergency mesh networking capabilities.

"Back in the dawn of the dial-up era, I read an article in Wired about Serbian student activists using smuggled equipment, shaky Internet access and mirror sites to fight the Milosevic regime and get their stories out. Inspired, I emailed myself, starting new friendships that continue to this day as well as a new respect for the power of DIY technology."

Niri Te · February 24, 2012, 10:40:32 AM

Interesting post ma Seze, but, like you said, the government could STILL slow it down to a crawl. I think that if it gets to the point where "point and click" is superfluous, and what we REALLY need is the transfer of INFORMATION, the best system, out there, one that the Feds CAN'T just pull the plug on, is HAM, and CB Radio.
I have a 2 meter moon bounce system with a pair of clock driven yagi's, and a TUBE TYPE 40 meter transceiver with a tape doublet that is impervious to BMP. Some time in the future, I will set up a horizontal long wire array, I have a 750 foot, by 1,2 mile property to place the antennas on, and can do it in such a way as to NOT effect air ops.
ta Niri Te

Seze Mune · February 24, 2012, 11:57:26 AM

I wish I knew enough to interpret your description, ma Niri Te, but it sounds impressive. You might want to give Ningey a holler:

Any HAMs around?

Niri Te · February 24, 2012, 12:41:19 PM

Ma Seze, I went to ningay's post, and I read your responses to him. If you are worried about not being able to pass the technical portion of the Amateur Radio license test, you could always go CB, (Citizen's Band). radio. It is radio's version of ultralight aviation, NO license test required, all that you need to know are some simple operational rules, and to go to a truck stop, and grab a one of the tried and true Cobra 25 LTD's that the will have for sale there. M favorite antenna is a base loaded "Antenna Specialties" brand 1/4 wave whip.
Get a matching box, and learn how to set your "Standing Wave Ratio", it is VERY easy. You then take the radio and antenna to the little "CB Shop" that all Truck Stops have, and pay the guy the 50 or 60 bucks, and he will install the radio for you, and he won't mind if you watch, he will even show you how to set your SWR.
Brie

Sіr. Ηaxalot · February 24, 2012, 07:43:36 PM

While it's entirely possible to build a "shadow" internet, there's a load of problems with it. I don't think that the current "darknet plan" will catch on farther than to a bunch of people setting up their meshnetworks for fun. In the end it will get very complicated to communicate across longer distances, since all the solutions today are only using regular Wi-Fi. It get's much more complicated to achieve a data connection cities, or even worse, over the Atlantic to connect EU and NA.

There's also the problem that all content will still exist in the "regular" internet. There will only be a small amount of information available within the meshnets themselves, the rest will still require a bridge to the internet.

Oh, and, keep in mind that the mesh nets are supposed to use customer grade hardware for $50 to $100 to compete with the current professional infrastructure equipment that can easily cost $10,000+

Seze Mune · February 24, 2012, 08:16:00 PM

So HAM operation is better?

Niri Te · February 24, 2012, 11:03:49 PM

Ma Seze,
It is not "better" it is different. It IS better for working distance, and along with amateur "radio" there is also amateur Television, amateur teletype,and moon bounce, if you are a real techno junkie, and want a challenge.
If you don't mind "working" your local (50 square mile) area, CB would work fine for you. There ARE areas in this Country where Ham's and CB'ers have worked together REALLY well during natural disasters. ARRL, (The Ham's), and REACT, (The CB'ers) use their overlapping effective ranges to really cover an area, and get help to who needs it QUICKLY. No one is "better", EACH has their job to do.
Niri Te

Sіr. Ηaxalot · February 25, 2012, 06:28:52 PM

Actually, I think that it might be possible to use modified equipment to link nodes between cities based on amateur radio frequencies and technology, but it'll probably result in way to high latencies and too low bandwidth to be feasible. The best radio links I've seen in use today are STM-1 links between cell towers. They can go up to ~150Mbit/s with a fairly low latency and high stability. The difference here is that the transmitters are mounted at cell towers and thus have a clear sight to the other transmitter. Something that will be significantly harder to achieve with a low budget. And whatever happens, a wireless solution will never be able to compete with the fibre optic cables that the current networks are built with.

Even if we say that we overcome these problems, and create a hypothetical global meshnet we will run into another problem. IP addresses. In a fully decentralized environment, who decides who will use which IP-addresses? What will happen if someone decides to use the same IP-address as someone else? This could be a prepositionally huge issue if someone in the EU would steal an IP from something important in the US. With dynamic routing protocols all traffic from the EU intended to the node in the US, would be directed to the fraudulent node in the EU, because it will seem like a quicker path.

`Eylan Ayfalulukanä · February 25, 2012, 08:42:09 PM

Hmmm, an interesting topic!

There is no reason whatsoever that a mesh network cannot be made to work. The equipment is there, the technology is there, all we need is a driver to get people to build it.

IPv6 is the answer to addressing problems. What is your question?

Niri, I did not know you were a ham. I have capability from 160 meters through 10 GHz. Most of it is not up right now because of lack of time (and a truly lousy VHF location). But I am up on 40 and 20 meters HF, and 6 and 2 meters weak signal on VHF.

When I was in Rochester, NY, I was involved with world-class contesters and DXers, and have finished in the top ten in many a contest there. I also dabbled with EME a little. Today, new technologies make EME with 100 watts and a single yagi a real possibility. EME and satellite are things that would work very well from my location.

Hams have digital technology that permits worldwide communication. Much of it is slow, but slow is better than nothing in a crisis. And because hams do not normally have to work channeleized frequencies, they can move around (in frequency) to help facilitate communication.

For years, I have considered petitioning the FCC to make an exception to the 'no business communication or common carrier communication' for the specific purpose of providing alternative routes for the public internet. This could make interest in ham radio explode, by helping computer geeks 'discover' serious RF! And it would be like the Na'vi-- very hard to kill!

Getting your ham radio license is easier than ever now. You don't need to learn morse code any more (but morse code, or CW operation as it is called, is at an all-time peak in popularity). And despite the instant communication of the internet, ham radio is growing rather nicely!

de NS9E

Seze Mune · February 25, 2012, 09:50:23 PM

Obviously I have a lot to learn about this topic. Most of this is way out of my league. At least for now. Thanks for trying to enlighten me. But as with Na'vi, you gotta learn the language first, before you can communicate in it!

Niri Te · February 25, 2012, 11:34:21 PM

Quote from: `Eylan Ayfalulukanä on February 25, 2012, 08:42:09 PM
Hmmm, an interesting topic!
Niri, I did not know you were a ham. I have capability from 160 meters through 10 GHz. Most of it is not up right now because of lack of time (and a truly lousy VHF location). But I am up on 40 and 20 meters HF, and 6 and 2 meters weak signal on VHF.
de NS9E

I'm NOT a HAM, electronics is a hobby of mine, and when I was off flight status, I commanded three different Communications units when I was in the Army. I do NOT transmit, I only receive, and that is totally legal without a license.
I DO transmit on CB however, and have a lot of fun with it. I started learning about electronics when I was seven years old, from my old man when he was alive, He was VERY active, and I got my Novice study guide in 1957 when I was seven years old. I built my own crystal controlled Receiver then, to be followed by many other more complicated projects. I used to go with him on "Bunny Hunts" twice a month, but never got my license, because try as hard as I might, I could just NOT pass the 5 WPM code.
I used to constantly cook up stuff to play with, but never got my license, even when I was in the Army.
I know that I don't need code now, but now that I have a "Moonraker" sitting on a 70 foot tower,fed by a Cobra SSB CB radio, that is on top of a 150 foot hill that is the tallest thing in a 150 square mile area, it is just too much trouble.
So now you know the rest of THAT story.
Niri Te

Seze Mune · February 26, 2012, 02:15:02 PM

Maybe you don't get too many storms in your part of the country because it seems like that would be a perfect lightning rod!

Niri Te · February 26, 2012, 03:40:29 PM

Ma Seze,
West Texas is KNOWN for it's Summer storms, but the ground beneath the hill that we are on,has a very high Caliche content, that stuff is a pretty good insulator compared to the three hills around us that have tremendous quantities of Iron ore. THOSE are thew ones that get hit multiple times in every storm.
ta Niri Te

Seze Mune · February 26, 2012, 05:44:12 PM

Ma Niri Te,

You chose well when you chose that particular hill!

Human No More · March 04, 2012, 05:36:17 PM

There's nothing to stop people from setting up a darknet - it requires a moderate level of technical skill, but nothing amazing, especially with all the brilliant free software out there. Protocols such as BGP make it a lot easier.

Seze Mune · March 04, 2012, 11:36:41 PM

Darknet. That sounds like a great name for a movie with .... idk ..... Daniel Craig?

Meuiama Tsamsiyu (Toruk Makto) · March 05, 2012, 04:22:30 AM

Nah. He never struck me as the 'technical' type. At worst he could be the CIA person coordinating the team to BREACH this darknet...

Sounds to me more like an offshoot of SkyNet in the Terminator franchise.

Sіr. Ηaxalot · March 05, 2012, 04:15:19 PM

Quote from: Human No More on March 04, 2012, 05:36:17 PM
There's nothing to stop people from setting up a darknet - it requires a moderate level of technical skill, but nothing amazing, especially with all the brilliant free software out there. Protocols such as BGP make it a lot easier.

Yeah, until sumeone f*** up their BGP setting and brings down a large part of the network.

Seze Mune · March 05, 2012, 04:46:16 PM

Quote from: Sir. Haxalot on March 05, 2012, 04:15:19 PM
Quote from: Human No More on March 04, 2012, 05:36:17 PM
There's nothing to stop people from setting up a darknet - it requires a moderate level of technical skill, but nothing amazing, especially with all the brilliant free software out there. Protocols such as BGP make it a lot easier.

Yeah, until sumeone f*** up their BGP setting and brings down a large part of the network.

Um.....that would be me.

Sіr. Ηaxalot · March 06, 2012, 03:51:21 PM

Quote from: Seze Mune on March 05, 2012, 04:46:16 PM
Quote from: Sir. Haxalot on March 05, 2012, 04:15:19 PM
Quote from: Human No More on March 04, 2012, 05:36:17 PM
There's nothing to stop people from setting up a darknet - it requires a moderate level of technical skill, but nothing amazing, especially with all the brilliant free software out there. Protocols such as BGP make it a lot easier.

Yeah, until sumeone f*** up their BGP setting and brings down a large part of the network.

Um.....that would be me.

And that's why people who configure those things in the backbone today is required to have a CCIE Certificate. An error while configuring global routing could lead to a router telling all the other routers that it knows a route that is much better than their existing and all the other routers will listen, even if the route isn't actually working.