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Tell HN: Russians may soon lose access to the global internet

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Re: Tell HN: Russians may soon lose access to the global internet

#11

Post by taminka »

Postosuchus wrote: post #9
alexgor26 wrote: post #2

Арендуй VPS сервер в другой стране и подними на нем VPN сервер личный и тебя никто не заблокирует.

This will not work for two reasons: 1. Thanks to the sanctions, it is virtually impossible for RF citizens to purchase anything abroad with Russian credit cards. 2. VPN was design not to obfuscate but to encrypt - that is, the protocol doesn't conceal the fact that VPN channel is being used, you just cannot peek into the content in this channel. Which means that more and more sophisticated tools are being used to blo…

vpn protocols we use here nowadays are way more advanced than this, they mimic a TLS handshake with a legitimate (non blocked site, like google.com) and looks essentially like regular https traffic to that site

it looks like they are basically impossible to detect, given the failure to block them, outside of timing attacks (seeing if a request crosses Russia's border and comes back quickly after), however that is fully mitigated by just having having the vpn "disconnect" and route traffic directly to Russian unblocked sites, which would otherwise be able to perform such a timing attack detection

pretty interesting stuff, there are several versions of this system, and even the ones that have existed for a while work pretty well

Re: Tell HN: Russians may soon lose access to the global internet

#13

Post by iamnothere »

You need to look into NNCP (nncpgo.org, clone the source ASAP), Nostr, FIDO, and offline first solutions.

The key is to avoid protocols that are too “chatty”. You need simple request/response, with no timeout, where the response could be huge files you have requested. Then you can pass request/response over USB/MicroSD sneakernet or short lived VPN connection (before it can be detected and blocked).

Nostr is useful because identity is a key, so you can publish anonymously but people who like your content can verify that a piece of content comes from you. Also, if data can be brought across the border, it is very easy to republish it. If the situation degrades to where you are relying on sneakernet, bringing a week’s worth of Nostr events across the border and distributing it to others may be effective at keeping a small, slow lifeline open.

I fear we will see the same thing soon in the West especially if this war expands. Good luck and godspeed.

Edit: steganography would also be useful, if any sites that allow UGC are whitelisted.

Re: Tell HN: Russians may soon lose access to the global internet

#16

Post by wojciii »

taminka wrote: post #12
wojciii wrote: post #6

Do you want a technical solution for a governmental problem? It's not going to work.

you need secure channels of communication (and preferably a connection to the outside world) to solve any problem

No. You need people not being sheep to fight a police state.

Russians are sheep. Russia has become a police state.

Re: Tell HN: Russians may soon lose access to the global internet

#18

Post by drysine »

wojciii wrote: post #16
taminka wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you need secure channels of communication (and preferably a connection to the outside world) to solve any problem

No. You need people not being sheep to fight a police state. Russians are sheep. Russia has become a police state.

Have you yourself fought anyone?

Besides arguing on the internet with strangers

Re: Tell HN: Russians may soon lose access to the global internet

#19

Post by sigbottle »

taminka wrote: post #11
Postosuchus wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This will not work for two reasons: 1. Thanks to the sanctions, it is virtually impossible for RF citizens to purchase anything abroad with Russian credit cards. 2. VPN was design not to obfuscate but to encrypt - that is, the protocol doesn't conceal the fact that VPN channel is being used, you just cannot peek into the content in this channel. Which means that more and more sophisticated tools are being used to blo…

vpn protocols we use here nowadays are way more advanced than this, they mimic a TLS handshake with a legitimate (non blocked site, like google.com) and looks essentially like regular https traffic to that site it looks like they are basically impossible to detect, given the failure to block them, outside of timing attacks (seeing if a request crosses Russia's border and comes back quickly after), however that is ful…

Super interesting stuff, but won't this require multiple (possible untrustworthy / adversarial parties) to abide by your protocol? Like if you don't control all the nodes in the VPN then why can't the Kremlin just enforce a blacklist at said bad node?

Re: Tell HN: Russians may soon lose access to the global internet

#20

Post by wojciii »

drysine wrote: post #18
wojciii wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. You need people not being sheep to fight a police state. Russians are sheep. Russia has become a police state.

Have you yourself fought anyone? Besides arguing on the internet with strangers

Only online trolls with my NAFO brethren.
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