How do you communicate when the government censors the internet? With a peer-to-peer mesh broadcasting network that doesn’t use the internet.
That’s exactly what Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters are doing now, thanks to San Fransisco startup Bridgefy’s Bluetooth-based messaging app. The protesters can communicate with each other — and the public — using no persistent managed network.
The app can connect people via standard Bluetooth across an entire city, thanks to a mesh network. Chatting is speediest with people who are close, of course, within a hundred meters (330 feet), but you can also chat with people who are farther away. Your messages will simply “hop” via other Bridgefy users’ phones until they find your intended target.
That’s incredibly futuristic
Pi Zero W is $10 and has built in Bluetooth connectivity.
You can find Solar USB Power Packs for ~$25.
So for less than $50 and a little time investment to load some programs you can have an autonomous bluetooth repeater.
I think they only run at Class 2 or 2.5mw so 10 meter range… but there are DIY solutions to amplify it to Class 1 for 100 meter range.
But even at 10 meters, given this sort of program uses a packet delivery system, if you are constantly on the move you’re effectively a postman for the system as it will transmit every time it comes in range of another compatible program.
“EVERYTHING A TOOL, ANYTHING A WEAPON”
this is badass
The Red Teamer I once was is pleased.
The worry is you can also be tracked via Bluetooth. The Android covid shit tracks you via Bluetooth. Is there something like this that doesn’t use a tech that the Chinese could use to track individuals?
Bluetooth isn’t quite as trackable as people think. It is and it isn’t. It’s sort of hard to explain. It’s heavily modeled after frequency hopping radios first seen in the second world war. With the right program running it hops enough, as it does in the case of Mesh Messaging, that you cannot really be traced easily.
@bagheadautist Also Bridgefy, the app talked about in the Forbes article, uses encrypted packet delivery. Burst transmission on top of frequency hopping makes it a nightmare to find transmissions from a specific source. But it also means your network is only as large as the number of people currently attached to it.
And since the packets are encrypted, intermediate nodes can’t access the messages not intended for them. There is a ‘global’ chatroom that can pick up all the global messages in an area. But there is no way of telling if someone is in the area unless you know their user name AND they actively chat in the global channel.
Bridgefy has an SDK too. Which means people could build programs based on the same architecture to send other information besides the usual MMS features.
Ironically, a lot of the individual and unit level ‘smart’ tech that was intended to be a part of the Future Soldier system works in a similar way. Soldier bio-metric monitoring, encrypted short range communication, shared HUD information, relative positioning. All of this was going to be done via a similar setup. Just on a frequency range not available for commercial products.
I love everything about this post except ‘Solar USB Power Packs’.
There is such a thing as being impractically solar punk. A protestor in this sort of a setting rarely has time to wait for sunny weather and then rest their power pack in a nice spot.
This is a type of communication that works well in densely packed areas: so cities. Where you are far more likely to find an electric plug somewhere seeking shelter in a building than a well lit sunny place with no cameras. You can still get that solar option if it makes you happy but I guarantee you’ll rarely use it. Be sensible and make sure that Power Pack also has a fast charging system.
