How hard would it be for the secret service to infiltrate this? If messages are being passed back and forth could they intercept, modify etc?
Hong Kong protestors using Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based mesh network messaging app
141–150 of 221 posts
Re: Hong Kong protestors using Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based mesh network messaging app
#142Re: Hong Kong protestors using Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based mesh network messaging app
#143Innovation in radio and communication used to be driven by wars and big government contracts. Now, progress in communication technology is driven by dissent.
Re: Hong Kong protestors using Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based mesh network messaging app
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
The baseband radio still communicates with the tower in airplane mode.
That's interesting. Does anyone have a further source or description of that behaviour?
It's required for emergency calls to quickly enable routing of said emergency call. They work even with no SIM or IMEI in the phone in some countries, though most western countries are starting to require SIM cards due to abuse (SWATting).
Re: Hong Kong protestors using Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based mesh network messaging app
#145@Jorge - is there a way for me to build "relays" out of ESP32/RPi Zero? @HN Crowd - is there something I could do to prepare for possible censorship? I was thinking of mesh Internet over the air, something like DN42 but over wireless links
You can do mesh networking with the esp32:
https://www.espressif.com/en/products/software/esp-mesh/over...
I think that it might be possible to adjust the app to accommodate the esp32 mesh using the mesh security to identify it. Obv. not had time to look at the details, but you could start with this and the bridgefy SDK?
https://medium.com/bridgefy/creating-an-offline-messaging-ap...
Re: Hong Kong protestors using Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based mesh network messaging app
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
3) I think the worry is China forcing Apple to produce this info (list of HK users with said app installed), not what Apple themselves would do with it. Maybe not a dealbreaker, but something to consider...
I think China getting that information from Apple is sort of a second-order concern at this point. In a more stable situation, yeah, you don't want the police to have a reason to knock on your door. When you're gearing up to go protest in public and the cops are dropping tear gas on everybody, those sorts of lists are less important. Not saying that it doesn't matter, but there is no such thing as absolute security,…
Keep in mind that Apple's iCloud services in China are not actually provided by Apple. They are provided by Cloud Big Data Industrial Development Co., Ltd., and allows Apple to, "continue to improve iCloud services in China mainland and comply with Chinese regulations". [0]
This service even has different terms of service, than the standard iCloud offering (though I haven't done a diff to see what's changed).
The effect of this is that the encryption keys for the service for Chinese users, are in the hands of a state-owned company (not Apple).
I'm a big support of Apple's approach and ethics with respect to privacy generally, however if you're in China, or a citizen of China, then it's probably safe to assume that anything on or passing through iCloud, is fully accessible to the state, without requiring Apple's involvement (e.g. via subpoena).
Re: Hong Kong protestors using Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based mesh network messaging app
#147I just tried the app via the US App Store and it requires you to verify through SMS before use. This means that it’s neither anonymous nor fit for use in a disaster zone. Good example of software that would be better if open source.
For an open source, anonymous version of this check out the Briar Project: https://briarproject.org/how-it-works/
Briar looks very interesting, however it lacks the broadcast mode that Bridgefy has, which I suspect is a major feature for coordinating a protest.
It also lacks the ability to use existing contacts (you have to do a QR code exchange).
Re: Hong Kong protestors using Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based mesh network messaging app
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe that's the point. You need to download the APK or whatever IOS provides for developer packages. This means less tracking from the vendor (Google, Apple)
There is no way to install apps on ios outside the appstore.
I'm not 100% sure because I didn't use it, but cydia impactor might work.
Re: Hong Kong protestors using Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based mesh network messaging app
#149IIRC this was built on StartupBus, great to see it still being used
Re: Hong Kong protestors using Bridgefy's Bluetooth-based mesh network messaging app
#150No closed source mesh networking can be secure. However good user experience it has. They are no different than using WhatsApp. Indeed in that respect at least Signal is better. I am not sure why protestors did not adopt the open source serval mesh project apk and ios app. [1] In Hong Kong given the density of building it's bit hard to have a line of sight, so it will still be hard to build a local network. But it's…
You can use PGP encrypted messages over any network to be secure.