
Show HN: Caonima – A Proxy in the Party - danielszm
https://caonima.io
======
danielszm
Caonima provides Shadowsocks as a service. You can think of Shadowsocks as a
SOCKS5-based proxy implementation with an extension mechanism. In China, for
example, you will want to install and enable the obfuscation plugin to avoid
being flagged by the Great Firewall. Like a VPN, a Shadowsocks installation is
your gateway to the open Internet in places where access to the network is
restricted, whether due to censorship or net neutrality violations. Caonima
grew out of my needs as a frequent China traveler. Current status is a
minimally viable prototype servicing a handful of users. At this stage I'm
interested in collecting feedback and assessing the service's ability to
answer the needs of a broader audience. In return, and for the time being, the
service is provided for free.

------
rahimnathwani
I'm not in your target market but, if I were, answering these questions on the
home page might reduce the chance of me bouncing from the home page before
registering:

1) What devices can I use this on? (maybe with links to Potatso Lite for iOS,
and Shadowsocks for Android)?

2) What plugins do you support (e.g. kcptun)?

3) Where are the servers located? (might reassure people about throughput and
latency)

~~~
danielszm
These are really good points. Thank you. Currently, Caonima is optimized for
China, so our VPS is located in Japan and the use of the obfuscation plugin is
required. After registering, users get a link with their client configuration.
Users can connect with any device on which they managed to install the
Shadowsocks client and the obfuscation plugin. This seems to be a pain point.
Some users do not get past that stage.

Caonima provides a ready-to-use server connection. For client installation, we
refer our users to the official Shadowsocks channels. Caonima is compatible
with the subset of Shadowsocks clients that support the SIP003 plugins
([https://shadowsocks.org/en/spec/Plugin.html](https://shadowsocks.org/en/spec/Plugin.html)).
In other words, the better maintained ones, like the C libev implementation.
Shadowsocks has a good installation story on Android, too, with the app store
and configuration via QR code or paste link. Last time I checked, Potatso on
iOS was not supporting the SIP003 plugins.

With Caonima, I was able to watch Youtube videos in China without lag. If
there will be demand, we will provide kcptun connections for further
optimization.

So here are some questions to which I have no answers yet. Who needs
Shadowsocks as a service? People who travel to destinations where the Internet
is restricted, and for which the installation and maintenance of a Shadowsocks
server is overkill? Expats who expect the best speed and performance from
their proxy? ISP customers who suffer from net neutrality violations?
Organisations that do business with China, whose employees travel to China,
and who might benefit from a lightweight solution?

Ultimately, I hope that the service can prove beneficial to its target
audience. It's true that I don't know yet who that is, but I do know that it
grows everyday, unfortunately. We live in a world where open, unfettered
access to the Internet is becoming less rather than more self-evident.

------
billconan
I tried ssh tunneling in Beijing. it was only usable for a few minutes, then
they obviously detected I was using it for http. And the speed was slowed down
to an unusable level.

I searched, there are tools that can hide the real message in fake http
messages.

How does this tool obfuscate the traffic?

~~~
danielszm
Via special purpose plugins.

Simple obfuscation: [https://github.com/shadowsocks/simple-
obfs](https://github.com/shadowsocks/simple-obfs) Or GoQuiet:
[https://github.com/cbeuw/GoQuiet](https://github.com/cbeuw/GoQuiet)

