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Briar 1.4 – Offline sharing, message transfer via SD cards and USB sticks

briarproject.org

101–110 of 114 posts

Re: Briar 1.4 – Offline sharing, message transfer via SD cards and USB sticks

#101
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS already has a built in feature with AirDrop. Everything except apps can be shared through it and it uses a local connection whenever possible.

Yeah but Briar communicates over Onion routing, good luck finding that in iOS. The local communications are of course not onion routed, goes without saying. It's a whole little tookit of subversive communication, including some anonymous and some not.

You mean like this? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/onion-browser/id519296448

Re: Briar 1.4 – Offline sharing, message transfer via SD cards and USB sticks

#102
post #6

I generally lean more toward “i like that iOS is locked down”, but this offline-app-sharing feature is one of the best arguments I’ve seen against that. That said, either I’d want peer-to-peer-shared apps to be signed by an entity I already highly trust, or that the sandbox containing the app was extremely solid (and preferably both of course).

> I’d want peer-to-peer-shared apps to be signed by an entity I already highly trust

Airdrop is peer-to-peer file sharing built into the OS.

Re: Briar 1.4 – Offline sharing, message transfer via SD cards and USB sticks

#104
post #4

Peer to Peer data transfer via computing devices is something I wish was be more mainstream. It's not, because the commercial cloud storage mafia has invested heavily in telling people that your data has to traverse their toll roads first. I recently discovered Syncthing Fork which was customizable in a way Google Drive or alternatives were not. And it's entirely P2P, transmitting files between my laptop and my phone…

Syncthing was a godsend when I was in college, but it was surprisingly hard to convince my peers (pun intended) that it was worth using instead of Google Drive/OneDrive. For most of them, the hangup came down to the setup process- the incumbent cloud-based file sync tools are braindead easy to use. Just log in, and boom, there are your files. Syncthing's setup process is clunky by comparison, but more importantly it'…

Setup is the reason I use Resilio over Syncthing. Sharing a 'share' is a matter of passing around one string. Infinitely more manageable by laymen.

Re: Briar 1.4 – Offline sharing, message transfer via SD cards and USB sticks

#105
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People outside Europe still pay their network operator to "allow" things like tethering.

Tethering has always been allowed on my Australian phones.

As per Eurovision, Aussies are now Euros.

Re: Briar 1.4 – Offline sharing, message transfer via SD cards and USB sticks

#106
post #79

what do you think about this https://code.briarproject.org/briar/briar/-/wikis/FAQ#does-b... ?

It basically says what I would expect, but then I'm a tech-savvy privacy nerd who knows how this sort of tech works. Any particular reason you asked?

I've asked because the mac of your Bluetooth is linked to your device and therefore traceable to the user, don't you agree? and then, for what reason should I share the BT address with a remote contact that i will never see IRL?

Re: Briar 1.4 – Offline sharing, message transfer via SD cards and USB sticks

#107
post #57

What I'd like to have is easy offline media files sharing across as many phone models as possible. Basically a free open-source alternative to ShareIt. Why it doesn't exist yet? Does ShareIt use some hidden and/or proprietary APIs?

if "on the local lan" is offline enough for you, take a look at kde connect, connects all your devices with file transfer, cross-device copy'n'paste etc.

By "offline" I mean not using any external infrastructure at all. Use Wi-Fi/bluetooth/whatever both devices are capable of and set it up as needed. I want to walk up to a person anywhere and share photos/videos I've just made with them.

Re: Briar 1.4 – Offline sharing, message transfer via SD cards and USB sticks

#108
post #102
post #6

I generally lean more toward “i like that iOS is locked down”, but this offline-app-sharing feature is one of the best arguments I’ve seen against that. That said, either I’d want peer-to-peer-shared apps to be signed by an entity I already highly trust, or that the sandbox containing the app was extremely solid (and preferably both of course).

> I’d want peer-to-peer-shared apps to be signed by an entity I already highly trust Airdrop is peer-to-peer file sharing built into the OS.

I think you misunderstand. I’m talking about running apps shared over some untrusted (or partially trusted) medium, be that airdrop or whatever else.

Re: Briar 1.4 – Offline sharing, message transfer via SD cards and USB sticks

#109
post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but Briar communicates over Onion routing, good luck finding that in iOS. The local communications are of course not onion routed, goes without saying. It's a whole little tookit of subversive communication, including some anonymous and some not.

You mean like this? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/onion-browser/id519296448

Lucky :P

Re: Briar 1.4 – Offline sharing, message transfer via SD cards and USB sticks

#110
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Syncthing was a godsend when I was in college, but it was surprisingly hard to convince my peers (pun intended) that it was worth using instead of Google Drive/OneDrive. For most of them, the hangup came down to the setup process- the incumbent cloud-based file sync tools are braindead easy to use. Just log in, and boom, there are your files. Syncthing's setup process is clunky by comparison, but more importantly it'…

Setup is the reason I use Resilio over Syncthing. Sharing a 'share' is a matter of passing around one string. Infinitely more manageable by laymen.

I hadn't heard of Resilio before, but their website makes it seem like a very attractive option.

In fact, their screenshots remind me of the biggest gripe I had with Syncthing back when I was using it daily in college- Syncthing doesn't let you browse a folder without downloading it. By the time I graduated, I had a good 2GB of Verilog crap sitting on my phone, just so that I could work on homework from my phone (of course, you could also blame me for putting Vivado projects in my Documents folder).

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