[HN Gopher] Reticulum, an encrypted heterogenous mesh network pr...
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       Reticulum, an encrypted heterogenous mesh network protocol
        
       Author : SkyMarshal
       Score  : 57 points
       Date   : 2022-03-31 17:49 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | api wrote:
       | How large can these networks be in practice?
       | 
       | I know a major issue with most mesh protocols is that when the
       | network is both big and dynamic configuration traffic will start
       | to swamp data traffic.
       | 
       | Another issue in most mesh protocols is susceptibility to Sybil,
       | flooding, cache pollution, and other denial of service attacks by
       | well-resourced adversaries. It's really hard to create a
       | distributed permissionless system that can't easily be attacked
       | in those sorts of ways. Proof of work and similar schemes are
       | really the only ways we've found so far and those are expensive
       | and cumbersome.
       | 
       | Any mesh network used by dissidents is going to be targeted for
       | denial of service attacks.
        
       | dbetteridge wrote:
       | Does this not break HAM license rules if you used it over (for
       | example) amateur radio equipment?
       | 
       | Fantastic project either way, would be great to set this up for a
       | global team to assure privacy of communications.
        
         | api wrote:
         | It's the responsibility of the radio operator to check, which
         | is always a caveat when playing with these kinds of
         | technologies.
        
       | SkyMarshal wrote:
       | More here:
       | 
       | https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/tqhtgt/i_made_the...
       | 
       | https://www.vice.com/en/article/88g7pb/this-prepper-is-build...
        
         | gswdh wrote:
        
       | tlavoie wrote:
       | Very cool. I always eyeball anything like a mesh network, living
       | in a rural area that's prone to earthquakes. A ham license helps,
       | but would be curious about any similar solution that people have
       | actually deployed at the scale of a small community.
        
         | sliken wrote:
         | Might want to check out js8call, great for emergencies. Great
         | propagation, supports async communications, as well as bouncing
         | through nodes (every client can be a repeater). Bandwidth isn't
         | great, but it can be a robust way to get a message across a
         | decent chunk of the planet with minimal power.
        
           | tlavoie wrote:
           | Thanks! It's more ham-specific than I had in mind, but always
           | willing to add another bookmark to the list.
        
       | randrews wrote:
       | I wonder if the name is a reference to Anathem?
        
         | BillSaysThis wrote:
         | I was going to say exactly this! Just finished a re-read last
         | Saturday.
        
           | jefurii wrote:
           | If there's a reticulum somebody's going to make a syndev
           | whose sole purpose is to spew crap into it. Then somebody
           | else is going to make an Artificial Inanity system to plant
           | misinformation in the enemy's reticules. And then that praxis
           | is going to leak to the commercial sector and spread to the
           | Rampant Orphan Botnet Ecologies. Never mind.
        
             | jbotz wrote:
             | Rather prophetic, considering that Stephenson wrote this in
             | 2008.
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-31 23:01 UTC)