Reviewing the options below, can you speak to what solutions your own organization or the organizations that you work with in the Global South use to address these needs? Are there solutions that are particularly well-suited that we should be looking into? Are there solutions that we should avoid? And, if so, why?
To date, Beautiful Trouble has not had to contend directly with Internet filtering or censorship, nor direct attempts to overwhelm our hosting resources.
The minimum requirements for the project's needs are:
- For the resource to be available/accessible in environments where the Internet is filtered or censored
- To not put the privacy of the end-user at risk when they access or use the resource
- For the resource to be easily mirrored / hosted with DDOS mitigation services
The "would be nice" requirements are:
- For the resource to run completely offline, but to securely/privately request updates when started
- Provide end-users with the means to securely communicate back to the project, sending questions, updates, translations, etc.
All of these would need to be evaluated in more detail, after assessing the level of filtering and risk in the target countries.
The LEAP platform includes an Encrypted Internet Proxy (EIP) service that is hassle-free, automatically self-configuring, and provides an enhanced level of security. Initially, this EIP service will be built using OpenVPN, but we may include the option of using Tor as an alternate transport in the future. https://leap.se/en/services/eip
Who to talk to:
- Possibly elijah, as he mentioned it to @phillipadsmith once
uProxy, Share your pathway to the Internet https://www.uproxy.org/
Who to talk to: *
A simple, yet powerful SMS to HTTP sync utility that turns any Android phone into a local SMS gateway by sending incoming messages(SMS) to a configured URL (web service). http://smssync.ushahidi.com/
- SMSsync, as of now, has been completely translated into 5 languages. 👍
Who to talk to:
- @auremoser at Ushahidi
FrontlineSMS is a desktop software created to lower barriers to positive social change using mobile technology. By leveraging basic tools already available to most organizations, including those in ‘last-mile’ settings — computers and low-cost modems — FrontlineSMS enables instantaneous two-way communication to any mobile handset http://www.frontlinesms.com/technologies/frontlinesms-overview/
Who to talk to:
- Two of our advisory network members for sure 👍
Project Shield is an initiative launched by Google Ideas to use Google's own Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack mitigation technology to protect free expression online. The service allows other websites to serve their content through Google’s infrastructure without having to move their hosting location. https://projectshield.withgoogle.com/en/
- Apply for access
Who to talk to: *
We believe that denial of service attacks are another tool for censoring online voices. Deflect is a distributed infrastructure built to mitigate DDoS attacks and keep your website accessible at all times. https://deflect.ca/
- Based in Montreal, Canada 👍
- Started and run by a colleague of @phillipadsmith's
Who to talk to: *
Tor hidden services
- Dave is experimenting with various tools & plugins for Mac Chrome/Firefox as well as for Android developed by TOR and the Electronic Frontier Foundation: TorBrowser, Ghostery, HTTPS Everywhere, Privacy Badger, etc.
FireChat introduces a new way to chat: "off-the-grid". Now you can chat with people around you – even if there is no Internet connection or mobile phone coverage
https://opengarden.com/firechat
- Available for iOS & Android 👍
- Enables peer-to-peer communication over wi-fi or Bluetooth.
- Not open source 👎
Telegram is a cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging app with a focus on security and speed.
- Web, OSX, iOS, Android 👍
- Open API and protocol
Now you can encrypt emails the easy way!
- Open source
- Mobile apps
- Encrypted
- Made in Germany, hosted in Germany
Secure messaging and file sharing made easy.
- Canadian company 👍
- Not completely open source (client, yes; backend, no)
Whiteout Mail is the first email solution with end-to-end encryption based on open standards that has a beautiful user interface and is easy to use. We support all major platforms and form factors (Windows and Firefox coming soon).
- The Best Secure Messaging Tools
- Tunneling Internet traffic over FB chat.
- Yahoo End To End Email Encryption Preview
- Augmented Traffic Control for testing latency and so on. Looks useful.