How can tools like these help Ukrainians to stay connected and coordinate? Especially when there is no internet connection.
Do we have tools that could be useful in the fight against misinformation in Russia?
Especially when there is no internet connection.
For this, gossip protocols like Briar are good. Otherwise, the good answer is to build actual networks on site. It’s not hard to build a local network and it’s not have to find a slow uplink to get some information out, what’s hard is to provide decent connectivity to thousands of people on a budget if key infrastructure has been damaged.
Do we have tools that could be useful in the fight against misinformation in Russia?
No tool can help against manipulation/disinformation. The only thing that would come close is reputation/karma systems on internet forums, but that does not enforce a single “truth” across the network, and it’s a good thing! If your tools can fight against disinformation from a specific actor, it can also be used to fight against actual information from the people, depending on who controls it…
For this, gossip protocols like Briar are good.
There is also Secure Scuttlebutt, a protocol supported by quite a few apps on many platforms.
I was hesitating to mention this one! SSB is centered around public info. I mentioned Briar because it’s designed to resist passive adversaries. Especially in case of crowded rooms full of people taking shelter (rather than people living on a boat) i wouldn’t recommend SSB as it’s quite likely your adversary will get their hands soon on the entirety of messages exchanged.
Didn’t think about that before
How can tools like these help Ukrainians to stay connected and coordinate?
There is Jami which works peer to peer, and SSB which is a gossip protocol.
Especially when there is no internet connection
But if there is no internet connection, I don’t know how you can install them in the first place.
If you have an internet connection at the moment and a couple of laptops nearby with GNU+Linux (I know this situation is rare when a war is going on), you could use something like naxalnet (disclaimer: I made it) or read the awesome mesh for starting a mesh network.
Also, if you use a phone, see the Guardian Project’s website which might help you.
Basically, your chances of connecting with people in such a situation is very low, since only privileged people own multiple laptops or phones, and most privileged people might have left the country before or when the war started (correct me if I am wrong, I don’t know much about the situation)
I would avoid any wireless network, at least for people near hostilities. If you’re transmitting RF, your location can be detected quite easily. Depending on who notices, that could get you bomb to the face.
It doesn’t seem like annexation is the plan here tho.
What makes you think that?
Ukraine’s a lot of problems Russia doesn’t need. It just can’t be allowed to acquire nukes/join NATO seems to be the point.
Why do you think was the reason for Putin’s rambling about Ukraine not being a real country and actually belonging to Russia before the attack?
Also, Ukraine joined nonproliferation in 1994, and reaffirmed it even after Crimea’s occupation in 2014. Were they gonna backtrack from that before Russia attacked?
edit Ah, now I see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_Ukraine#2021-2022_renewed_tensions_with_Russia
Yeah, that isn’t good.
https://briarproject.org/ should be the most voted option. It works without Internet connection and even peer-to-peer over bluetooth.