This looks like a partial reinvention of NNCP's sneakernet transport, but for a much more limited use-case: http://www.nncpgo.org/index.html
You can also run NNCP over networks if you want to.
The Sneakerweb
21–26 of 26 posts
Re: The Sneakerweb
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Edit: found it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_dead_drop I wanted these to exist so badly, it was a fun and quirky concept, but people kept bashing it online as the stupidest idea ever, and the few dead drops that existed in my city routinely got destroyed. I also built my own PirateBox too, but the only thing that was ever uploaded to it was a creepshot of me and my PirateBox. Turns out when Public Wi-Fi exists,…
Oh that is creepy. I went to coffee shops with mine because I figured those were the only places anyone would notice it and possibly connect. I had a few random pictures, chats, and a Death Grips video uploaded to mine. The dead drop website had a map but I was never anywhere near any. That sucks that people destroyed them. It's a dangerous idea, but a cheap used laptop specifically for it could be fun, but yeah, not…
For dead drops, beyond worry about viruses there is also the concern about physical security so you don't fry your device/port. Randomly plugging in unknown USB devices just has way too many downsides.
USBkill, etc.
Re: The Sneakerweb
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh that is creepy. I went to coffee shops with mine because I figured those were the only places anyone would notice it and possibly connect. I had a few random pictures, chats, and a Death Grips video uploaded to mine. The dead drop website had a map but I was never anywhere near any. That sucks that people destroyed them. It's a dangerous idea, but a cheap used laptop specifically for it could be fun, but yeah, not…
For dead drops, beyond worry about viruses there is also the concern about physical security so you don't fry your device/port. Randomly plugging in unknown USB devices just has way too many downsides. USBkill, etc.
Micro SD may be safer, it’s hard to fit any large capacitors in there. Bulk cards are still not that expensive in smaller sizes.
Wifi captive portals with simple file sharing are probably the safest way to go. You could also locate it in a hard-to-reach place, or completely out of sight, to make it hard to destroy. My favorite idea is to fit a tiny ESP board inside an outlet box.
Re: The Sneakerweb
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
From what I can tell, you can basically take your USB drive of "websites" to your friend, and sync it with their local folder of "websites", and now you both have the most up to date versions of your combined group of "websites". (if your usb has Website A version 1 and Website B version 2, and you sync with someone who has Website A version 2 and Website C version 1, you'd both end up with Website A V2, Website B V2…
I belive it also goes into the larger Wormblossom Willow project where there will be an online component, so that you can distribute stuff either online or via USB, building a sensorship-resistant protocol that works both online and offline.
> sensorship-resistant protocol that works both online and offline
I think with the authoritarian and dystopian crackdown on parts of the Internet where people express opinions, this will be a key driver. It reminds me of Cuba's "El Paquete" system. I find it ironic that a system developed to circumvent state oppression should now find a potential use case in our allegedly civilised countries.
Re: The Sneakerweb
#25Nice, modern day samizdat. Looks simple enough to use. I wonder if there’s a Linux distro that includes tools like this. It’s not a bad idea.
No packages yet: https://repology.org/projects/?search=sneakerweb
I've just add a Nix package, but I don't know if/when it will be merged: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/539297