
U.S. Hopes "Internet in a Suitcase" Will Offset Internet Censorship - curthopkins
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/us_hopes_internet_in_a_suitcase_will_offset_intern.php#.TfakikNi4ds;hackernews
======
ChuckMcM
I sure hope you can buy these that work inside the US :-)

------
ltamake
It's funny to see the US government pretend to care about Internet censorship.

~~~
simonsarris
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)>

"Originally sponsored by the US Naval Research Laboratory"

They also operate proxies for China.

They clearly care.

~~~
walrus
I'd say parts of the US government care, but not all of it.

~~~
w1ntermute
Yeah, like ICE.

------
antihero
Unfortunately the "freedom" of the US has been corrupted by corporate
interest, and thus whilst this is in some ways admirable, there is absolutely
no way a sane person could trust the US government again.

------
trotsky
That's great as long as you're interested in your internet access being
provided by US intelligence.

------
Joakal
Related: <http://wiki.daviddarts.com/PirateBox_DIY>

~~~
Natsu
I wonder what they'd do if the dissidents they were trying to help used it for
copyright infringement as well as all their normal communications?

------
freddealmeida
I'm hoping we can get this in countries with draconian censorship - such as
where they confiscate websites outside of the courts or due processes. Much
like the US. boom. Irony strikes back.

------
r0s
It's hard to lend this effort any credibility after telecom immunity, and the
PATRIOT act renewal this year.

------
blhack
It's really really cool to see this :). I'm sure everybody here remembers, but
back in 2009, lost of geeks were clamoring for ways to try and provide
internet to Iranian protestors. Something exactly like this is what we were
always daydreaming about on IRC, and wondering why the CIA hadn't already
built.

In the modern world, "bombing" a country with these things could be a very
very liberating thing for the recipients.

~~~
smallblacksun
If the US distributed these in Iran, the government there would probably
consider anyone using them a US agent and arrest them.

~~~
blhack
How would they know?

The point is to drop enough of them (mount them to cheap drone aircraft if you
want to, like hobby-grade stuff) that it covers the city in wifi.

It's not literally a suitcase, and it's not something that you take back to
your house and plug in to. It's something that is transmitting from a few
blocks away.

~~~
throw_away
if governments can detect even the passive reception of signals
([http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2003/06_june/24/licensing_detector_vans.shtml)),
I don't think it would be too difficult to pick up who is talking to these
devices. Or, even if they can't, fear of detection would probably keep a large
chunk of the populace compliant.

Which isn't to say that such devices wouldn't be useful. Just that they'd be
far more effective in situations like Egypt or Libya than in ones like Iran or
China. I think they'd be even more useful in the hands of someone like the Red
Cross.

~~~
Robin_Message
I am not a physicist, but that's detecting reception of (I think FM) UHF and
requires specialised equipment. Detecting Wifi which uses a spread-spectrum
modulation at a higher frequency would be even more difficult. Add to that the
existing, allowed Wifi networks that probably already exist which overlap the
banned ones.

The real problem in security is usually human factors — loose talk, spies,
informers, interrogation — not technological ones.

~~~
throw_away
But the thing is that using a wifi node is not passive reception. And while
wifi uses spread spectrum, in order to be accessible to the people you want to
reach, you'd need to make it available using common protocols. The authorities
need only go war driving for these nodes, connect and then watch the tcpdump
output. Corporations do this now to detect rogue access points, so I don't
think it's beyond the means of a sufficiently motivated government.

