Short wave radios can be purchased without any licence in the USA and Canada, not only for receiving but also for transmitting. It is possible to transmit on the emergency channels without any licence, though these channels are not meant for your trivial communications. The amount of energy you put behind your transmission determines the range although interference from other transmitters on the same channel can reduce how far your transmission gets. When the sun is in the sky, its radio transmissions are substantial, which is why the reception for AM stations from far away is possible at night - you may be receiving a signal bounced off the Heaviside layer. Ham radio enthusiasts have built a number of OSCAR satellites which provide data store and forward and other transmission services. So, you can find out a great deal more about radio frequency communications by talking to radio enthusiasts, and there are entire networks of channels on the air and on the web, email list services, and other ways of getting in touch with these communities.
Many things that "have to be licensed" are not and the enforcement is very uncertain. Some places get a lot, some get none. So far none of the radio equipment requires you to put in a licence document to get them up and running, which should be food for thought.
There are encrypted apps for end to end communications, and some of them are more equal than others. Follow me for more info, or consider a subscription to TheSecurePerimeterInstitute here on substackistan.
There is a thing called software defined radio. There are things done with spread spectrum and spectrum hopping on a coordinated timing. Turns out it is easy to get the exact time from various atomic clocks, some of which are in orbit aboard global positioning satellites and fairly shouting out the time all the ... time. The communications are "on the air" so anyone can make a copy of what was transmitted, yes, and the "five eyes" exist to listen to all radio frequency communications and make a copy of each one. But the content of your message may be encrypted.
So there are some friends of mine in a place in the free mountain west who have been experimenting with a very compact encrypted signalling system. They send their messages in very short bursts (typically less than 10 seconds) on the emergency frequencies, at fairly high power. They've received echo responses from as far away as eastern Europe (at certain times of night, probably due to bounces off the Heaviside layer). They even have a web site where you can put in the code output and decrypt the message contents.
So there can be communications privacy with all manner of technology. Quite a few people have access to "citizen band" radio frequency equipment. Of course, transmitters can be located using radio-frequency direction finding equipment. Which is one of the things about the Apollo missions to the Moon - many hams had the equipment and knowledge and those television signals did originate on the surface of the Moon at the time. Which sort of makes the question of whether we can put stuff on the lunar surface a settled matter.
In simple terms, yes. But things are far from simple. In order to find the location of a radio transmitter, you have to be receiving a signal from it. That means you have to be tuned to the same frequency on which it is transmitting. In the olden days, when the various military stations across the Pacific were tuned to the radios transmitting from the various elements of the Japanese fleets headed to Malaysia, the Philippines, Hawai'i, and Batavia for example, that was more or less straightforward. Some of the "high frequency direction finding" or HFDF (huff-duff as the Brits are wont to say) or radio frequency direction finding (RFDF) worksheets are found in the appendices of the paperback (year 2000) version of Bob Stinnett's book _Day of Deceit_ to give further guidance on how this stuff was done. You'd prrobably enjoy the book, btw, because it illustrates how very much the evil viccious mass murderers FDR and Churchill knew before the attacks in December 1941. They refused to help defend the places that were attacked and are personally culpable for the deaths, the victims of torture, the rapes, and the destruction, because they were ugly, evil men intent on hurting as many people as possible.
With software defined radio, with intermittent or burst transmitting, and with spread spectrum and spectrum hopping, it is possible (though difficult) to remain undetected for a time because you aren't transmitting on any one frequency long enough for the "fix" to be determined. And if you vary the power output as you shift frequency, you can make it harder to conclude that you are the same transmitter, assuming your espionage agencies are keeping up with your transmission frequencies. But it is probably wisdom to assume that your location becomes known after a short time transmitting, which is where having multiple antennae and relocating the connexions and even shifting the location of those antennae by putting them on mobile ground, water, and airborne platforms can be useful in further driving the enemies of mankind, decency, and humanity into a state of uncertainty.
But, look, your location is much more readily known by the cell towers of your phone because of how cell phones work, even if you were able to be certain that you disabling the GPS receiver on your phone and not permitting it to rat out your location through the cell transmissions were reliable. In fact, we know that cell phones have, since at least 2005, been capable of remote activation of the microphone, so it would be fairly logical to suppose that remote activation of the GPS receiver is also possible.
You may want to seek a tablet, a phone, or a laptop which doesn't have a GPS receiver. And, of course, you may want to use proxy servers, the onion router, and various kinds of high end virtual privacy networks (that disguise their output as SSL traffic and that actually mix up the intermediary routing of each user's data streams) to limit how easily your location is identifiable from the IP address where you receive information from web and mail servers.
All of which is to say: it is more difficult to be secure and have communications privacy, but it is also possible, and it is certainly worth making an effort.
I don’t really have any feelings about long range for Internetz of thingz nor indeed for any technologies. They stuff. Feelings is for souls.
As a radio technology it has some things going for it, such as long range (over a mile in rural areas), low power, deep penetration (which is exactly as biologically concerning as it sounds), and unlicensed “industrial scientific medical” or ISM frequencies. It also has low data rates, limited payload, high latency, issues with interference, issues under various weather conditions, issues with reinforced concrete in a building nearby if you aren’t rural, lots of attack vectors affecting security especially network accessibility, very limited confidentiality, data protection gaps depending on implementation, and issues with publicly deployed networks with respect to gateway placement and, well, all those taxpayer dollars. So my outlook is complex, being partly imaginary and partly real.
You can put a lot of power through ISM frequencies, but you have to ask yourself how much radio frequency power you want going through you.
I’m not so knowledgeable with communication but I do have lots of experience with networking.
Americans are some of the most generous people in the world. There’s no better feeling you get than when you help someone. Lately some of the most positive feelings I’ve gotten deep down inside is when I help someone many times when they don’t expect it.
A few years back I stripped and reroofed a neighbors house in New Hampshire. The family is pretty well off but I really wanted to just help them. Since then any time I need them to check on my house or need a hand they are more than willing to help me. Although I worked really hard it has made a lifelong connection with them.
I did this with another neighbor there and he’s plowed my driveway for years now. I have done other jobs for him as well. It’s created a neighborly friendship.
Helping someone doesn’t always have to be a job either. This past spring I was driving into Home Depot to get materials for my days work. I didn’t get far into the parking lot and I saw a wallet sitting on the asphalt, I stopped and picked it up. I took a look and there was a folded bunch of 20 dollar bills, some foreign currency, a family picture and of coarse a man’s drivers license. It appeared the man was originally from India and a picture showed his wife and two children. I googled his name but couldn’t find a phone number. He lived 2 towns away, so I decided I’d go in to get my materials and then drive to his house and drop the wallet off. It was a bit of a drive, when I got there I knocked on the door. An Indian woman hesitantly opened the door and in brocken English said can I help you. I told her I found her husbands wallet at Home Depot, knew he must have been worried, and wanted to get it back to him. She said he had called her and was a nervous wreck. She thanked me and I left. She didn’t take my number or my name but I’m sure the hour I took out of my day made a positive impact in those peoples lives. The good feeling I got was all the reward I needed.
It may be a little off topic of communication but a network of people, one that can help another is extremely important, especially people with integrity. I believe this is another big piece of creating an alternative community.
I wanted to share this story with you to give you a feeling of how small common day to day actions can make huge changes in the world we live in. So many times it’s our ordinary routine actions that can make the biggest difference. In John 6 there was a woman that had no idea how much she mattered, and how God was going to use something routine in her life to have such a tremendous impact on others. Her list of things to do was as long as usual but first she had to pack a lunch for her son. She only had two small fish left over from dinner and 5 small loaves of bread. As she began packing his lunch, she never would believe what would happen later that day. There was a huge crowd of people listening to Jesus teach. It was late in the day and they asked Jesus if they should dismiss the people so they can go find food. Jesus said you feed them. They were puzzled and said we don’t have that kind of food to feed all these people. Jesus asked well what do you have. So they searched the whole crowd and all they came up with was the little boys lunch with the two fish and the five loaves of bread. They gave it to Jesus, he blessed the food and it multiplied and ended up feeding over 5000 people, with twelve baskets of food left over. We hear a lot about the miracles of multiplying the food and I’m sure you have heard that story but it all started with a mother being faithful. She thought it was just a routine day checking off her to do list but it was part of a much bigger plan, something she couldn’t see right then. A divinely orchestrated moment that years later would still be inspiring us. That’s the butterfly effect. The relationship between small movements and big events. How could something as routine as taking care of your family have that kind of effect. Going to work being your best and doing it all over again. It feels so normal. You’ll never know the impact of your faithfulness. Keep honoring God, being good to people, going the extra mile you’re making a difference.
The scripture says don’t despise the day of small beginnings. God loves to take our small and do big things. He’ll use what we consider insignificant or ordinary to have a tremendous impact. Your steps are being ordered by the Lord. God has these destiny moments. It can seem ordinary but you don’t know what God is up to. As you keep being faithful in your everyday life you will be openly rewarded by God.
It feels good. It makes the universe a better place. It is more likely to create good ripples in the web of everything, as opposed to unkind actions, which are far more likely to create bad ripples.
I agree entirely about creating a network. That is part of what I am imagining. Not that we wouldn't be kind to people outside our "nation," but having something in common will make help and cooperation among ourselves more likely.
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and
seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy
bread, that these may eat?” 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He
would do.
7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them,
that every one of them may have a little.”
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here
who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
So Jesus made them all sit down, about “5,000 men,” and passed out what they had. Now, maybe Jewish mothers are even more scarce where you come from, but not even old southerners like me think 5,000 Jewish men showed up with nothing to eat.
The miracle was the sharing, my friend, just like the miracles you worked, sharing your time and heart with neighbors and strangers. Who can say how many baskets will be taken up when your sharing is done?
Jesus, I believe, was trying to teach a stone soup lesson; when we share what we have, there is always more than enough. No pleas, no begging, not even a mention of the need: just faith and a knowledge of the hearts of men.
I appreciate that Fell Choice, so there was no miracle of Jesus thanking God and multiplying the 5 loaves of bread and the 2 small fish feeding 5000? I would imagine then, there was no collection of 12 baskets of extra food either as Jesus didn’t want the food to go to waste?
In my opinion, this was not a water-walking event, but a demonstration of principles needed to free the people from their burdens under a foreign oppressor.
Sure, Caesar's picture is in your purse. But your brother's life is in your lunchbox. Make sure the people around you have what they need, insofar as you are able. Besides being its own reward, generosity comes back around to us magnified a dozen, a hundred times over. This is an axe to the root of empire, because their chief weapon is our fear and alienation.
I would not have replied, James Goodrich, had you not just taught us exactly this lesson in your good comment. Now, although I am in my own way a follower of Jesus, you surmise correctly that I am not a Christian believer. I say so frankly and in earnest of brotherhood, because I am here not to subvert or to convince, but to share. All good will in the bond of peace.
I did want to say I do appreciate you Fell Choice, and that my comment had little to do with the multiplying of food that day, it was about a mother doing the right thing, taking care of her family, and now 2000 plus years later we are talking about it. That’s a miracle in itself!!
In my community we have had a little network using GMRS radios. They are very inexpensive, around $25 dollars will get you one from Amazon that puts out ten watts and will reach ten miles with line of sight. I charge mine with solar, a charge will last all day. We had a repeater on a high place which reaches many miles and was powered by solar. The person who owned it is a ham radio person and the repeater has to be licensed (ugh) and he became concerned because he thought there might be some liability issues. We are working to get another one set up. We have a few who monitor one channel for emergencies and have gotten help for some with medical emergencies, stranded vehicle cases, and accidents even when phones were down. They may need to be programmed by someone in the area that knows how to set them up with local repeaters. We can call the local EMS and receive NOA weather information on them and listen to sheriffs frequencies. There are one or two others who have ham licenses and can share information if regular sources are shut down.
I bought one of those very loud air horns that works on a can of compressed gas, I think at some point it would be worthwhile to have an agreement with a trusted neighbor that when you hear it to come running prepared for trouble.
"he thought there might be some liability issues."
—What sort of liability issues?
"an agreement with a trusted neighbor that when you hear it to come running prepared for trouble."
—Everyone should have at least one person they trust. Maybe not a neighbor, but someone. I wonder if there is a way to formalize this—to suggest that everyone should try to find that person.
He was afraid of losing his ham license since some of those using the system were not using proper protocols. I think there are certain rules for how these radios are supposed to be used, I am not familiar with them if so. I think his worries were unjustified, but that's me. In the early days of CB radios you were supposed to register and get a call sign, but people ignored that and I think the same thing is with these GMRS radios FM transceivers. Perhaps he thought that since a license is required for one of these repeaters, and he was the license holder, that he might be liable for any infractions of these regulations. Those of us in line of sight continue to stay in contact. There are a couple of people who are planning to put up another one who aren't concerned with some official disapproval.
I have a few people in whom I have a high degree of trust and expect that I can rely upon them for help if needed and I think that is important. My nearest neighbor and myself do have an actual commitment to look out for each other.
There is something here that feels important for network building. Can everyone find at least one trusted friend/neighbor/ally? Can we recommend that as a part of network building? "Whose your most trusted/closest compatriot? Reach out to that person. Strengthen that bond. Set up systems of trust and mutual aid with this person. And if they would be so inclined, tell them about our nation."
I agree. If you don't have at least one or two neighbors or friends that you feel you could trust with your life and most precious assets you are not a wealthy person in my view and/or are in the wrong place. "Where your treasure is there will be your heart also."
I am blessed in that the person I trust the most is a neighbor, a friend and definitely an ally. I call her Amy. You might call such a person a soul mate, a bosom buddy, a brother or sister of another mother. A trusted soul tribe member, but someone with whom you have built a solid history of mutual aid, shared values and common ideals. Let your intuition and reason guide your insight into their level of integrity, ability to love and make commitments that they keep, of their reliability and so on. Do they do what they say they will do or is it just talk with no follow through? Do they defend you against those who criticize or try to belittle you?
The bottom line is that you have made yourself such a person. The world does mirror to you what you are not what you think you need.
I’m currently Communications (electrical and software) engineering lead on an unmanned vehicles project. I have extensive experience with mid-range (10+ km) mesh radios, satellite comms, and integration between vehicle and ground systems. Such systems are not inexpensive but do offer a lot of capabilities (data, networking, voice, video).
I’m also just starting some work with integrating non-GPS precise positioning systems with mid-range radios. I have extensive GPS integration experience as well.
Most of these systems are not inexpensive, but can offer private (off internet) communications which is valuable in various ways.
I’d be happy to collaborate with others on related efforts.
From the DN standpoint, I would ultimately like to put together a plan. I am still thinking the structure through, but something like this:
First, a set of recommendations for best products and practices for a variety of communication purposes. Links to a menu of the best products for each. Eventually affiliations with as many products as we can manage.
Second, a possible communication platform of our own. Distributed ledger, perhaps.
Ultimately—as part of a 100-year plan—a broader communication network of our own.
I love this. When we plan things out in reality they seem way less intimidating. I will assume the internet doesn't go down and go forward with decentralized tech. The guys at Logos Network have a whole sections of freedoms tools that can be quite handy. Sterlin is part of the organization so you can ask him for details on those. But the main reason I'm commenting is that we need 'protocols' meaning, to have a degree of interoperability, even in the middle of rivalrous agents. With the release of Gemini 3 the game has changed. Everyone can code any tool. Then, the real question is, what protocol will we follow? Digital Protocols are the ultimate opt-in tools. The embodiment of future consent base systems
Sure thing. This is rabbit hole that I just found out after listening this podcast from the Logos Network. People have been building solutions with this problem of centralized control from a long time and have come up with interesting solutions (assuming the internet doesn't go down) that are not only decentralized by design but also non-centralized
Here is a summary of what Robert Gehl said about The Dark Web & the Fediverse in that podcast
"The Protocol Shift: Building Foundations for Consent-Based Systems
The central solution proposed is moving beyond critique to actively building and improving decentralized, or "non-centralized," alternatives. The key to this is the implementation of open, underlying protocols (like ActivityPub, Waku, or AT Protocol).
• Protocols as Covenants: These digital protocols define the rules of the network and are the "ultimate opt-in tools" mentioned in your comment, embodying future consent-based systems. Historically, major companies showed "benign neglect" toward the early development of protocols like ActivityPub, giving the designers a "free hand" to implement them based on desired values.
• The Non-Negotiable of Privacy: For these new systems to achieve legitimacy, they must guarantee fundamental rights. Privacy is considered a "non-negotiable" necessity for the rights to association and freedom of expression. Developers often draw claims of legitimacy by demonstrating their capacity to protect dissidents against the state, showing that they can uphold civil liberties even when facing political pressure.
• Political Agnosticism in Infrastructure: For high-stakes communication (e.g., activist or dissident groups), the infrastructure needs to be "politically agnostic" to the communities using it. Efforts like Waku are focused on mitigating the risk that network traffic reveals relationships by using complex techniques (like next-generation mixnets) to "obscure the connections between people".
The grand scale understanding of this movement is that it represents a struggle for sovereignty and self-determination in cyberspace. The battle is currently focused on whether these open protocols can survive the economic and technical pressures toward re-centralization, especially now that major corporate rivals (like Meta with Threads) are beginning to adopt them, threatening to dominate the standard and undermine the consent-based community structures that have been built.
This transition is akin to shifting from a monolithic empire (Big Tech) where rules are dictated, to a complex, global federation of city-states (the small Fediverse instances), where all share the same common infrastructure (the protocol), but each community sets and enforces its own constitution (the Code of Conduct) based on explicit member agreement."
That all sounds great. Here are my concerns, for whatever they are worth.
#1
Older people are less tech savvy, but make up a huge proportion of the freedom movement. Will these things be easy for them to use?
#2
Though it's an obvious concern, it is nonetheless a valid one: the internet can go down or be censored. Thus, I would like to start with building something that is resistant even to that. Something that can survive without the internet (even though it might be harder).
That said, I am curious to learn more. I am considering a distributed ledger system for a membership list and possibly to perform specific group tasks. But I really know next to nothing about it.
I saw on some links claims that fines from about $500 on up to thousands of dollars were possible. I also saw claims that government vermin could seize "illegal" equipment, or could prosecute and jail so-called violators.
A lot of enforcement actions start with snitches running to FCC or other government entities. Sometimes government folks find out on their own that somebody is supposedly violating some rule or other.
Part of my plan is that I will NOT recommend widespread and systematic breaking of laws. It is not because I believe those laws are legitimate at all. They aren’t. But individuals breaking laws will just get picked off one by one. That doesn’t do us much good. It is better to grow in numbers and cohesion. We’ll have a lot more ability to make a change, secure our independence, etc. if there are a million of us than if there are but a thousand. Growth first.
Believe me, I hate the laws and want to ignore every single one of them. But I have to balance emotion with reason.
There is definitely a place for some agorism. However, it should not cross the line to compromising an individual’s freedom or ability to continue moving forward without major legal and financial hassles. Live to fight another day. Grow stronger. Martyrs are soon forgotten, especially when they martyred themselves for little or nothing. Think in terms of generations. We plant the seeds of a future civilization now. Once our children’s children number in the millions, there will be nothing that can stand in our way.
With that in mind, one must weigh the downsides of getting a license against the downsides of not getting a license. How important is it to not get a license?
Law abiding folks informed government folks that the Frank family were hiding out in a friend's attic in the Netherlands.
Law abiding folks informed government folks that a negro was in violation of the Fugitive Slave Act.
Law abiding folks informed paramilitary predators that somebody was toking.
Law abiding folks informed government folks that your Savior claimed to be a king, in apparent violation of Jewish and Roman law.
These are just four cases among many of what law abiding folks do.
I don't tell folks to violate opinions that folks inflict through up to lethal acts; I just inform folks of the consequences of complying with those opinions. Some folks call those opinions laws.
I completely agree with ham radio and mesh - ham radio can even be used to increase mesh's reach. But I completely disagree with Signal. If Tucker Carlson's experience is anything to go by, Signal has been compromised. Best to go with the Matrix protocol if you want to save your messages or Briar, if security is more of a concern and you don't care about saving your messages. Matrix servers can be built and maintained locally, you don't have to depend on matrix.org to host.
I would say that only in-person is highly secure, unhackable and future proof.
Even a theoretically perfect encryption system can be broken by an NSA rootkit in the server, or various side channel attacks like spectrum analysis.
Whereas if everyone agrees to always say politically correct things online, then there is no need to encrypt or hide from censorship.
Advanced cryptography itself currently draws scrutiny and is likely to be targeted for bans in the future.
The government will claim that if you have nothing to hide then your messages should be readable (by them).
This is the same argument they are using about cash and financial privacy. That opacity means criminal intent. In the UK, in the wake of widespread resistance to the online safety act, there is talk of banning VPNs. Or creating a license system.
So anyway, my point is that you should avail yourself of every communication platform but adopt a satirical voice.
Make a rule that every statement must express wholehearted support for the government, no criticism tolerated. But since the rule is explicitly stated, criticism can be expressed through sarcasm.
I.e. "The government is gloriously battling yet another mortal threat to our beloved democracy: far right twitter terrorists.
These evil creatures have the audacity to spread awareness of the crimes of asylum seekers which is causing vengeful anger and endangering the safety of asylum seekers through unfair discrimination.
They are abusing their right to freedom of speech by engaging in hate speech and should be silenced.
In other news, the evil syrians are despicable monsters trying to destroy democracy so the government sent more drone strikes to blow them up. The collateral damage was enormous creating thousands of asylum seekers who are on their way to europe, but only if they manage to escape our bombardment without being eviscerated."
And instead of saying that our goal is to resist government tyranny, we claim to be building resilient systems to survive the man made climate change apocalypse.
Which actually requires all the same steps.
It is a form of ideological laundering, or leaning into the lie, where it becomes impossible to criticise your actions without opposing the official narrative.
If, indeed, a climate catastrophe is on the way as they claim, then it is completely rational to prepare for it.
The smarter someone is the more likely they are to recognise the satire, but at the same time, they are also more likely to understand that the fairy tale they were taught is false. So it acts as a filter.
They do indeed act as if only people with something to hide would use encryption/secrecy. I think humanity needs to fight back against that.
And the sarcasm gambit is a good one. I think, however, that it would be difficult to get everyone to do that all at once. Maybe—if circumstances were more dire.
There is another approach, though: to be completely open about our distaste for everything they are doing, but also to be completely open that we have no plans to engage in violations of the law. Here's what I wrote to another on the subject:
——
"Part of my plan is that I will NOT recommend widespread and systematic breaking of laws. It is not because I believe those laws are legitimate at all. They aren’t. But individuals breaking laws will just get picked off one by one. That doesn’t do us much good. It is better to grow in numbers and cohesion. We’ll have a lot more ability to make a change, secure our independence, etc. if there are a million of us than if there are but a thousand. Growth first.
"Believe me, I hate the laws and want to ignore every single one of them. But I have to balance emotion with reason.
"There is definitely a place for some agorism. However, it should not cross the line to compromising an individual’s freedom or ability to continue moving forward without major legal and financial hassles. Live to fight another day. Grow stronger. Martyrs are soon forgotten, especially when they martyred themselves for little or nothing. Think in terms of generations. We plant the seeds of a future civilization now. Once our children’s children number in the millions, there will be nothing that can stand in our way."
——
Widespread violation of law would be morally justified, but tactically unwise. So perhaps we can be open about our views, and even our plans, but at the same time be civil, non-threatening, and model peace.
I understand your position, however I fear your honesty will be used against you.
Even if you say you have no plans to break the law, there are many people who will find your desire to change the laws they hold dear morally repugnant and will invent crimes or even attack people.
This is because they are nutso bananas. However, their lack of cognitive depth or genuine comprehension is an exploitable weakness as they cannot identify satire or extrapolate from vague aphorisms.
As your movement grows larger, opponents will quote your claims and frame them in the worst possible light. The same thing that is happening to JK Rowling.
(I actually think they are a bad writer who plagiarised lord of the rings, but in any case not an evil monster as they like to portray)
In my opinion, telling the direct truth is inadvisable. Because there is now a whole generation of people who have a warped sense of reality and use distorted unrecognisable definitions.
A while back, a whole group of leftists accused me of being a misogynist after I "admitted" that I "thought" men and women walk differently. Which they obviously do.
Not to mention I have no idea why they think this is negative. It didn't occur to me that anyone could be so brain dead. I actually thought it was a joke at first.
But what is clear is that they cannot be reasoned with normally, they are in a delusional cult bubble.
I absolutely agree that the community needs spaces where members can communicate free from the gaze of lunatics, but, in order to maintain an acceptable public image, and potentially recruit new people, it should also have a politically correct front end.
What you are doing is still legal today, but it may not be in 50 years. The overton window can move quickly.
You may be afraid to attract the wrong kind of people, but at the same time, there are plenty of people who pretend to believe things they don't actually believe to avoid conflict.
I think that a tiered system makes the most sense where a wide net is cast at first, and then you refine them further into various levels of trust.
As was said elsewhere, people don't need to agree about everything to be useful, they just need to agree that they can't trust the government to save them.
That is the most minimal level of cooperation.
If we try to include too many things in the pitch, then it will select too few.
If the pitch is too vague, it will get lots of agreement, but no realistic action.
So that's why I think the best approach is to start vague and only explain the honest details progressively to those who seem willing to learn them.
And for some examples of vague aphorism equivocation:
"Everyone is equal"
Where we mean equal before God.
That God loves everyone equally, believes they are equally important, and will judge their eternal souls equally.
(I don't believe in God personally, but I still like this definition)
"Diversity is strength"
Where diversity means diversifying your financial portfolio for economic resilience.
"We value inclusiveness"
Which means everyone is included in God's love. But we aren't God, so we have to choose carefully.
"Protect Democracy"
Where democracy means people ruling themselves and has nothing to do with voting.
And so forth.
I believe this is the way politicians give their public speeches wide appeal: people will project whatever they want onto it.
A defensible lie, because we never said that we mean what we know others will take it to mean.
I hear all of this. I am going to save your comment so I can revisit it and continue to think about it. Lots of good and interesting points.
Lots of people are telling the truth, though. For example, check out these guys: https://www.edgecity.live/
They're just doing it.
Próspera and Ciudad Morazán are now dealing with the filthy, hateful socialists who have taken over Honduras. But they're still doing the right thing, lighting a bright beacon to others, etc.
You are right that the architects of oppression, and all their many enforcers, operatives, and sycophants, will not be kind to any attempts at freedom and independence. But those attempts are going to keep growing and growing, and they cannot stop them all. I totally get the idea of tactical caution, and I will continue to think of its applicability. But I also think that if we light a bright beacon, we will gain numbers. And numbers are powerful.
The flame lit by the Declaration of Independence alone continues to burn in many to this day.
Have you read "Enemy of the State," by F. Paul Wilson? If you like libertarian sci-fi, check it out, and pay special attention to the KYFHONs. That is sort of the model.
"Edge City did an excellent job integrating diverse participants from all kinds of backgrounds: technical and non-technical, crypto, biotech and culture, young and old. I learned a lot from my time there” — Vitalik Buterin
From their about page. They are doing the same thing I suggested. Using the language and virtue coding of the current regime to subvert the control mechanism.
This makes it more difficult to vilify.
This example is a clever reframing of diversity: diversity of skillset.
It is the same as you were saying about not breaking any overt laws, because it just makes it easier to convince others that you are evil. But we are instead talking about unspoken covert rules that have been invented by the current education and media context.
Just as 500 years ago, everything had to be God coded or it would be seen as heretical and you would be attacked by the church.
Yes, exactly. My friend Dave and I have been wanting to set up a server for The Catamount Tavern (https://matrix.to/#/!MNSVWSBjIyZGtYAZOJ:matrix.org?via=matrix.org) that we created on Matrix.org. He has the web, server and domain expertise but no hardware and no money, plus his health is declining. I have no server hardware either although I have been working to acquire some but domains require a monthly outlay that I can't justify right now.
Normally, you need to be invited but this link will provide you with a list of public Matrix home servers: https://servers.joinmatrix.org/
As I have focused on The Tavern, I have no experience on whether a room can be set up on someone else's home server or not - I suspect that it depends on how Matrix is set up.
For what it is worth, the ChatGPT list, in "5. Encrypted Digital and Internet-Based Communication," describes Session (and Signal) as having more security than Matrix. How do you assess that?
Signal would be considered more secure than the Matrix protocol because Signal servers are centrally controlled. There are often security trade-offs with a decentralized network and security implementation can vary between servers. Also, messages are saved locally which could be considered a security issue even though they are encrypted. However, if security is paramount, use Briar.
Wish I had answers for these questions. I figure when We strip the Ones presently in control of Their tool to create the mess They're creating, We will find ways to handle things. But definitely good things things to ask and consider!
Tinfoil hat wearing IT pro. I use Signal. VPNs are worse than useless. Use Tails or Tor Browser. Proton Mail is suspect, didn't they just hire someone from 8200 or something? I would use a Russian hosted mail service before that. You end up emailing a lot of folks that use Google or MS for email so email is not great for security unless you are a computer geek. I run my own hosted email server and run Qubes at home, but these both require computer knowledge. Matrix is probably good for group messaging. I'm looking into using it instead of Signal. Look at the CEO of Signal.
Session messaging app uses the same open source code as Signal but doesn't use their servers. Session also doesn't tie your messages to your phone nor to your email, so it can be more private. Other than all the obvious things about his personal history and professional history and the fact that he wants you to call him Moxie Marlinspike, what's wrong with the ceo of Signal? jk lol
"A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Maher worked for UNICEF, the National Democratic Institute, the World Bank and Access Now before joining the Wikimedia Foundation. She subsequently joined the Atlantic Council and the US Department of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board."
Ham radio is great, but for long distance, it is unreliable. Get a Baofeng ($20 from China) and your family GMRS license ($35, no test). That will work for a few miles. LoRa / Meshtastic looks great for neighborhood communication.
I went QUANSHENG UV-K5 (Just checked, around 22 bucks from Amazon today.) and yes I find such to be excellent communication on the tundra and in the tagia.
I've played with LoRa, I really like the idea of peer to peer and peer through peer, no bottlenecks where whoever can restrict or deny communication. I like it but I don't have peers close enough to mesh a net. It is possible to link distant LoRa nets through the internet but such creates bottlenecks that can be closed at the push of a button.
Hams are playing with meteor burst communication; bounce signals off ionized meteor tails. USDA used meteor scatter to collect data from some 900 remote stations for around 40 years, I think they're using satellite links now. Good for data packet exchanges, voice, not so much.
Yes, I need to get some key people in my immediate area into this … too difficult to benefit from communications with people hundreds of miles away. But, still good to know what’s going on elsewhere. It’s important for people to band together in a two to ten mile radius. Best thing is to have several vehicles that can’t be shut off by the central power, for the individual to be able to assess a meeting point of some sort… for us rural people anyways… But, yeah, broader communications are important too. I’ve got a lot of freedom people around me, but they are all at different levels, for lack of a better way of putting it. The Trump psyop and others plus a lot of old school separatist type thinking, are still working on most people. To prevent us from uniting. We all have narcissistic tendencies… overall probably way more deep than 100 years ago… Still hard to get people to see the need to create an alternative society or just band together somehow. The society I live in (off grid acreages in an unincorporated area) is definitely alternative, but people are still under the mindset of the current control systems. Many are just retired people living on social security in motor homes parked on an acre that they own. They don’t want to do anything or they think Trump will save them. I have tried to pull people together and bring up these kinds of topics… but, it goes nowhere. I can only do so much. I say all this for people who don’t see that you aren’t going to get a lot of people to band together before ‘it’s too late’ and more difficult. I’ve decided to create a farming community. I’ve got two people in close range that I’m helping to establish farms. But, not under the auspices of in the future, we will have a local food source or ‘my’ group could be there for eachother. Producing food for ourselves and they could pass some on to their friends or family … there is a somewhat fledging, but promising group (an official non profit) that I am now working with to be involved with some degree of organized ‘meeting community needs’ system. They have a property with a greenhouse and I’m meeting on Friday to discuss plans for a u pick melon and cut flowers event… the idea is that the immediate community can pay a small fee (for now) while tourists pay going rate for such things… we have a lot of tourists… to raise money for expanding the community farm and and supporting a local fire department. I’m looking to take over the newsletter which no one has been able to do… it will be an e blast, but I’m planning to print hard copies too. And establishing a local area only mail system. So much could be said. But this post is getting too long!
Yes… plenty, but they all have different ideas about what to do. This is why I’ve decided to revert to just becoming friends and develop a network in my area. I’m focusing on developing an agricultural industry, essentially, that could be functioning and in place for a time when the shtf… which could be any day now… so I may not be able to facilitate these types of relationships… one of the people I am helping, I have mentioned to her, that there could come a time when we need to think about providing food for the people in our area. It’s ultimately about creating an infrastructure as a place or a way to avoid or escape the clutches. For those escaping war, historically, the USA was a place to go… but, there is no place to go anymore… unless the anabaptist groups started letting people in… If I were to be able to encourage 20 or 30 serious small farms… just for regular old school type of thinkers, for lack of a better way of putting it, maybe 7 of them will see the need to avoid the control grid and be available to switch to a more survival mode… others may sign up for all the control out of fear, but if we have good relationships… they could be helpful. I feel like this idea is impossible. But, someone needs to get the ball rolling. People have no idea that they could grow food and collect water. But, if they can see that they can make money now while things are still deceptively ‘free’, they are more likely to establish the infrastructure of a farm.
A lot of the people who see the problem… aren’t interested. Oh a few I know have gone off to try to build self sustaining farms for themselves. But, they aren’t trying to get others involved. They’re all spread out. In the past, most were still so bent on getting Trump elected, believing that we have a say about our govt… I’m sure some of them have come to see the light. I’m sure there’s many that I have not met.
I’ve just come to the conclusion that I had to pick an area and create a network of sorts, help others establish off grid lives and farms… but not worry about whether they are aware of the futility of govt. I am of the belief that there is no solution other than to be prepared to live completely independent as a community. The community I am in, is fiercely off grid. It’s a great place to have started! Most people own their land free and clear.
My only concern is that the govt could come in and kick us off our land. So I’m talking to some people about that. But, if they know how to farm, here, they can farm anywhere.
Yep… that’s why you just go out and make friends and build a network of people you do stuff with. The more the better because when the shtf, many will not be available. Hopefully, there is time. And all the while, it helps to not be concerned with all that too much. Just connect and do things with people.
My thinking is that we have to find ways to work with human nature, rather than swimming upstream against it or, God forbid, trying to force it to change like the communists did.
So, since we cannot fully rely on people being trustworthy or sticking together, what do we do? How can we proceed in such a way that is not fragile in the face of human nature?
You have to live the example. I am using a composting toilet, saving a thousand or more gallons of water every year. People on the water grid just aren’t going to do that. But, they think they are environmentally conscious… but they are not. I’m living the example. While they shudder at the thought. It took two generations to get people to buy into water flushing toilets. It will take at least three to get mass people to go back to a better way. Probably not going to happen, but who knows? There are a lot of really good composting toilets coming out… they seem expensive, but the reality is that they are cheaper. Just serve as the example of the change you want to see.
Short wave radios can be purchased without any licence in the USA and Canada, not only for receiving but also for transmitting. It is possible to transmit on the emergency channels without any licence, though these channels are not meant for your trivial communications. The amount of energy you put behind your transmission determines the range although interference from other transmitters on the same channel can reduce how far your transmission gets. When the sun is in the sky, its radio transmissions are substantial, which is why the reception for AM stations from far away is possible at night - you may be receiving a signal bounced off the Heaviside layer. Ham radio enthusiasts have built a number of OSCAR satellites which provide data store and forward and other transmission services. So, you can find out a great deal more about radio frequency communications by talking to radio enthusiasts, and there are entire networks of channels on the air and on the web, email list services, and other ways of getting in touch with these communities.
Many things that "have to be licensed" are not and the enforcement is very uncertain. Some places get a lot, some get none. So far none of the radio equipment requires you to put in a licence document to get them up and running, which should be food for thought.
There are encrypted apps for end to end communications, and some of them are more equal than others. Follow me for more info, or consider a subscription to TheSecurePerimeterInstitute here on substackistan.
Thank you, Jim.
All of the radio-type comms are insecure, correct?
And what about CBs—that's a classic, right? "10-4," "Looks like we got ourselves a convoy," and all that…
There is a thing called software defined radio. There are things done with spread spectrum and spectrum hopping on a coordinated timing. Turns out it is easy to get the exact time from various atomic clocks, some of which are in orbit aboard global positioning satellites and fairly shouting out the time all the ... time. The communications are "on the air" so anyone can make a copy of what was transmitted, yes, and the "five eyes" exist to listen to all radio frequency communications and make a copy of each one. But the content of your message may be encrypted.
So there are some friends of mine in a place in the free mountain west who have been experimenting with a very compact encrypted signalling system. They send their messages in very short bursts (typically less than 10 seconds) on the emergency frequencies, at fairly high power. They've received echo responses from as far away as eastern Europe (at certain times of night, probably due to bounces off the Heaviside layer). They even have a web site where you can put in the code output and decrypt the message contents.
So there can be communications privacy with all manner of technology. Quite a few people have access to "citizen band" radio frequency equipment. Of course, transmitters can be located using radio-frequency direction finding equipment. Which is one of the things about the Apollo missions to the Moon - many hams had the equipment and knowledge and those television signals did originate on the surface of the Moon at the time. Which sort of makes the question of whether we can put stuff on the lunar surface a settled matter.
"Of course, transmitters can be located using radio-frequency direction finding equipment."
—I presume this is the case for all radio-based communication—is that right?
In simple terms, yes. But things are far from simple. In order to find the location of a radio transmitter, you have to be receiving a signal from it. That means you have to be tuned to the same frequency on which it is transmitting. In the olden days, when the various military stations across the Pacific were tuned to the radios transmitting from the various elements of the Japanese fleets headed to Malaysia, the Philippines, Hawai'i, and Batavia for example, that was more or less straightforward. Some of the "high frequency direction finding" or HFDF (huff-duff as the Brits are wont to say) or radio frequency direction finding (RFDF) worksheets are found in the appendices of the paperback (year 2000) version of Bob Stinnett's book _Day of Deceit_ to give further guidance on how this stuff was done. You'd prrobably enjoy the book, btw, because it illustrates how very much the evil viccious mass murderers FDR and Churchill knew before the attacks in December 1941. They refused to help defend the places that were attacked and are personally culpable for the deaths, the victims of torture, the rapes, and the destruction, because they were ugly, evil men intent on hurting as many people as possible.
With software defined radio, with intermittent or burst transmitting, and with spread spectrum and spectrum hopping, it is possible (though difficult) to remain undetected for a time because you aren't transmitting on any one frequency long enough for the "fix" to be determined. And if you vary the power output as you shift frequency, you can make it harder to conclude that you are the same transmitter, assuming your espionage agencies are keeping up with your transmission frequencies. But it is probably wisdom to assume that your location becomes known after a short time transmitting, which is where having multiple antennae and relocating the connexions and even shifting the location of those antennae by putting them on mobile ground, water, and airborne platforms can be useful in further driving the enemies of mankind, decency, and humanity into a state of uncertainty.
But, look, your location is much more readily known by the cell towers of your phone because of how cell phones work, even if you were able to be certain that you disabling the GPS receiver on your phone and not permitting it to rat out your location through the cell transmissions were reliable. In fact, we know that cell phones have, since at least 2005, been capable of remote activation of the microphone, so it would be fairly logical to suppose that remote activation of the GPS receiver is also possible.
You may want to seek a tablet, a phone, or a laptop which doesn't have a GPS receiver. And, of course, you may want to use proxy servers, the onion router, and various kinds of high end virtual privacy networks (that disguise their output as SSL traffic and that actually mix up the intermediary routing of each user's data streams) to limit how easily your location is identifiable from the IP address where you receive information from web and mail servers.
All of which is to say: it is more difficult to be secure and have communications privacy, but it is also possible, and it is certainly worth making an effort.
Very interesting and useful stuff.
How do you feel about LoRa?
I don’t really have any feelings about long range for Internetz of thingz nor indeed for any technologies. They stuff. Feelings is for souls.
As a radio technology it has some things going for it, such as long range (over a mile in rural areas), low power, deep penetration (which is exactly as biologically concerning as it sounds), and unlicensed “industrial scientific medical” or ISM frequencies. It also has low data rates, limited payload, high latency, issues with interference, issues under various weather conditions, issues with reinforced concrete in a building nearby if you aren’t rural, lots of attack vectors affecting security especially network accessibility, very limited confidentiality, data protection gaps depending on implementation, and issues with publicly deployed networks with respect to gateway placement and, well, all those taxpayer dollars. So my outlook is complex, being partly imaginary and partly real.
You can put a lot of power through ISM frequencies, but you have to ask yourself how much radio frequency power you want going through you.
I’m not so knowledgeable with communication but I do have lots of experience with networking.
Americans are some of the most generous people in the world. There’s no better feeling you get than when you help someone. Lately some of the most positive feelings I’ve gotten deep down inside is when I help someone many times when they don’t expect it.
A few years back I stripped and reroofed a neighbors house in New Hampshire. The family is pretty well off but I really wanted to just help them. Since then any time I need them to check on my house or need a hand they are more than willing to help me. Although I worked really hard it has made a lifelong connection with them.
I did this with another neighbor there and he’s plowed my driveway for years now. I have done other jobs for him as well. It’s created a neighborly friendship.
Helping someone doesn’t always have to be a job either. This past spring I was driving into Home Depot to get materials for my days work. I didn’t get far into the parking lot and I saw a wallet sitting on the asphalt, I stopped and picked it up. I took a look and there was a folded bunch of 20 dollar bills, some foreign currency, a family picture and of coarse a man’s drivers license. It appeared the man was originally from India and a picture showed his wife and two children. I googled his name but couldn’t find a phone number. He lived 2 towns away, so I decided I’d go in to get my materials and then drive to his house and drop the wallet off. It was a bit of a drive, when I got there I knocked on the door. An Indian woman hesitantly opened the door and in brocken English said can I help you. I told her I found her husbands wallet at Home Depot, knew he must have been worried, and wanted to get it back to him. She said he had called her and was a nervous wreck. She thanked me and I left. She didn’t take my number or my name but I’m sure the hour I took out of my day made a positive impact in those peoples lives. The good feeling I got was all the reward I needed.
It may be a little off topic of communication but a network of people, one that can help another is extremely important, especially people with integrity. I believe this is another big piece of creating an alternative community.
I wanted to share this story with you to give you a feeling of how small common day to day actions can make huge changes in the world we live in. So many times it’s our ordinary routine actions that can make the biggest difference. In John 6 there was a woman that had no idea how much she mattered, and how God was going to use something routine in her life to have such a tremendous impact on others. Her list of things to do was as long as usual but first she had to pack a lunch for her son. She only had two small fish left over from dinner and 5 small loaves of bread. As she began packing his lunch, she never would believe what would happen later that day. There was a huge crowd of people listening to Jesus teach. It was late in the day and they asked Jesus if they should dismiss the people so they can go find food. Jesus said you feed them. They were puzzled and said we don’t have that kind of food to feed all these people. Jesus asked well what do you have. So they searched the whole crowd and all they came up with was the little boys lunch with the two fish and the five loaves of bread. They gave it to Jesus, he blessed the food and it multiplied and ended up feeding over 5000 people, with twelve baskets of food left over. We hear a lot about the miracles of multiplying the food and I’m sure you have heard that story but it all started with a mother being faithful. She thought it was just a routine day checking off her to do list but it was part of a much bigger plan, something she couldn’t see right then. A divinely orchestrated moment that years later would still be inspiring us. That’s the butterfly effect. The relationship between small movements and big events. How could something as routine as taking care of your family have that kind of effect. Going to work being your best and doing it all over again. It feels so normal. You’ll never know the impact of your faithfulness. Keep honoring God, being good to people, going the extra mile you’re making a difference.
The scripture says don’t despise the day of small beginnings. God loves to take our small and do big things. He’ll use what we consider insignificant or ordinary to have a tremendous impact. Your steps are being ordered by the Lord. God has these destiny moments. It can seem ordinary but you don’t know what God is up to. As you keep being faithful in your everyday life you will be openly rewarded by God.
Kindness is indeed its own reward, in many cases.
It feels good. It makes the universe a better place. It is more likely to create good ripples in the web of everything, as opposed to unkind actions, which are far more likely to create bad ripples.
I agree entirely about creating a network. That is part of what I am imagining. Not that we wouldn't be kind to people outside our "nation," but having something in common will make help and cooperation among ourselves more likely.
The salient part goes like this in the NSRV:
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. 5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and
seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy
bread, that these may eat?” 6 But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He
would do.
7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them,
that every one of them may have a little.”
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here
who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
So Jesus made them all sit down, about “5,000 men,” and passed out what they had. Now, maybe Jewish mothers are even more scarce where you come from, but not even old southerners like me think 5,000 Jewish men showed up with nothing to eat.
The miracle was the sharing, my friend, just like the miracles you worked, sharing your time and heart with neighbors and strangers. Who can say how many baskets will be taken up when your sharing is done?
Jesus, I believe, was trying to teach a stone soup lesson; when we share what we have, there is always more than enough. No pleas, no begging, not even a mention of the need: just faith and a knowledge of the hearts of men.
I appreciate that Fell Choice, so there was no miracle of Jesus thanking God and multiplying the 5 loaves of bread and the 2 small fish feeding 5000? I would imagine then, there was no collection of 12 baskets of extra food either as Jesus didn’t want the food to go to waste?
Brother,
In my opinion, this was not a water-walking event, but a demonstration of principles needed to free the people from their burdens under a foreign oppressor.
Sure, Caesar's picture is in your purse. But your brother's life is in your lunchbox. Make sure the people around you have what they need, insofar as you are able. Besides being its own reward, generosity comes back around to us magnified a dozen, a hundred times over. This is an axe to the root of empire, because their chief weapon is our fear and alienation.
I would not have replied, James Goodrich, had you not just taught us exactly this lesson in your good comment. Now, although I am in my own way a follower of Jesus, you surmise correctly that I am not a Christian believer. I say so frankly and in earnest of brotherhood, because I am here not to subvert or to convince, but to share. All good will in the bond of peace.
I did want to say I do appreciate you Fell Choice, and that my comment had little to do with the multiplying of food that day, it was about a mother doing the right thing, taking care of her family, and now 2000 plus years later we are talking about it. That’s a miracle in itself!!
Thank You Fell Choice!!
In my community we have had a little network using GMRS radios. They are very inexpensive, around $25 dollars will get you one from Amazon that puts out ten watts and will reach ten miles with line of sight. I charge mine with solar, a charge will last all day. We had a repeater on a high place which reaches many miles and was powered by solar. The person who owned it is a ham radio person and the repeater has to be licensed (ugh) and he became concerned because he thought there might be some liability issues. We are working to get another one set up. We have a few who monitor one channel for emergencies and have gotten help for some with medical emergencies, stranded vehicle cases, and accidents even when phones were down. They may need to be programmed by someone in the area that knows how to set them up with local repeaters. We can call the local EMS and receive NOA weather information on them and listen to sheriffs frequencies. There are one or two others who have ham licenses and can share information if regular sources are shut down.
I bought one of those very loud air horns that works on a can of compressed gas, I think at some point it would be worthwhile to have an agreement with a trusted neighbor that when you hear it to come running prepared for trouble.
"he thought there might be some liability issues."
—What sort of liability issues?
"an agreement with a trusted neighbor that when you hear it to come running prepared for trouble."
—Everyone should have at least one person they trust. Maybe not a neighbor, but someone. I wonder if there is a way to formalize this—to suggest that everyone should try to find that person.
He was afraid of losing his ham license since some of those using the system were not using proper protocols. I think there are certain rules for how these radios are supposed to be used, I am not familiar with them if so. I think his worries were unjustified, but that's me. In the early days of CB radios you were supposed to register and get a call sign, but people ignored that and I think the same thing is with these GMRS radios FM transceivers. Perhaps he thought that since a license is required for one of these repeaters, and he was the license holder, that he might be liable for any infractions of these regulations. Those of us in line of sight continue to stay in contact. There are a couple of people who are planning to put up another one who aren't concerned with some official disapproval.
I have a few people in whom I have a high degree of trust and expect that I can rely upon them for help if needed and I think that is important. My nearest neighbor and myself do have an actual commitment to look out for each other.
There is something here that feels important for network building. Can everyone find at least one trusted friend/neighbor/ally? Can we recommend that as a part of network building? "Whose your most trusted/closest compatriot? Reach out to that person. Strengthen that bond. Set up systems of trust and mutual aid with this person. And if they would be so inclined, tell them about our nation."
Thoughts?
I agree. If you don't have at least one or two neighbors or friends that you feel you could trust with your life and most precious assets you are not a wealthy person in my view and/or are in the wrong place. "Where your treasure is there will be your heart also."
What would you call this other person? Maybe he/she's not always a "friend," but a neighbor, or something else. Ally?
I am blessed in that the person I trust the most is a neighbor, a friend and definitely an ally. I call her Amy. You might call such a person a soul mate, a bosom buddy, a brother or sister of another mother. A trusted soul tribe member, but someone with whom you have built a solid history of mutual aid, shared values and common ideals. Let your intuition and reason guide your insight into their level of integrity, ability to love and make commitments that they keep, of their reliability and so on. Do they do what they say they will do or is it just talk with no follow through? Do they defend you against those who criticize or try to belittle you?
The bottom line is that you have made yourself such a person. The world does mirror to you what you are not what you think you need.
I’m currently Communications (electrical and software) engineering lead on an unmanned vehicles project. I have extensive experience with mid-range (10+ km) mesh radios, satellite comms, and integration between vehicle and ground systems. Such systems are not inexpensive but do offer a lot of capabilities (data, networking, voice, video).
I’m also just starting some work with integrating non-GPS precise positioning systems with mid-range radios. I have extensive GPS integration experience as well.
Most of these systems are not inexpensive, but can offer private (off internet) communications which is valuable in various ways.
I’d be happy to collaborate with others on related efforts.
Yes, like Amy said—wow!
From the DN standpoint, I would ultimately like to put together a plan. I am still thinking the structure through, but something like this:
First, a set of recommendations for best products and practices for a variety of communication purposes. Links to a menu of the best products for each. Eventually affiliations with as many products as we can manage.
Second, a possible communication platform of our own. Distributed ledger, perhaps.
Ultimately—as part of a 100-year plan—a broader communication network of our own.
wow :)
I love this. When we plan things out in reality they seem way less intimidating. I will assume the internet doesn't go down and go forward with decentralized tech. The guys at Logos Network have a whole sections of freedoms tools that can be quite handy. Sterlin is part of the organization so you can ask him for details on those. But the main reason I'm commenting is that we need 'protocols' meaning, to have a degree of interoperability, even in the middle of rivalrous agents. With the release of Gemini 3 the game has changed. Everyone can code any tool. Then, the real question is, what protocol will we follow? Digital Protocols are the ultimate opt-in tools. The embodiment of future consent base systems
Can you explain more of what you mean?
Sure thing. This is rabbit hole that I just found out after listening this podcast from the Logos Network. People have been building solutions with this problem of centralized control from a long time and have come up with interesting solutions (assuming the internet doesn't go down) that are not only decentralized by design but also non-centralized
Here is a summary of what Robert Gehl said about The Dark Web & the Fediverse in that podcast
"The Protocol Shift: Building Foundations for Consent-Based Systems
The central solution proposed is moving beyond critique to actively building and improving decentralized, or "non-centralized," alternatives. The key to this is the implementation of open, underlying protocols (like ActivityPub, Waku, or AT Protocol).
• Protocols as Covenants: These digital protocols define the rules of the network and are the "ultimate opt-in tools" mentioned in your comment, embodying future consent-based systems. Historically, major companies showed "benign neglect" toward the early development of protocols like ActivityPub, giving the designers a "free hand" to implement them based on desired values.
• The Non-Negotiable of Privacy: For these new systems to achieve legitimacy, they must guarantee fundamental rights. Privacy is considered a "non-negotiable" necessity for the rights to association and freedom of expression. Developers often draw claims of legitimacy by demonstrating their capacity to protect dissidents against the state, showing that they can uphold civil liberties even when facing political pressure.
• Political Agnosticism in Infrastructure: For high-stakes communication (e.g., activist or dissident groups), the infrastructure needs to be "politically agnostic" to the communities using it. Efforts like Waku are focused on mitigating the risk that network traffic reveals relationships by using complex techniques (like next-generation mixnets) to "obscure the connections between people".
The grand scale understanding of this movement is that it represents a struggle for sovereignty and self-determination in cyberspace. The battle is currently focused on whether these open protocols can survive the economic and technical pressures toward re-centralization, especially now that major corporate rivals (like Meta with Threads) are beginning to adopt them, threatening to dominate the standard and undermine the consent-based community structures that have been built.
This transition is akin to shifting from a monolithic empire (Big Tech) where rules are dictated, to a complex, global federation of city-states (the small Fediverse instances), where all share the same common infrastructure (the protocol), but each community sets and enforces its own constitution (the Code of Conduct) based on explicit member agreement."
That all sounds great. Here are my concerns, for whatever they are worth.
#1
Older people are less tech savvy, but make up a huge proportion of the freedom movement. Will these things be easy for them to use?
#2
Though it's an obvious concern, it is nonetheless a valid one: the internet can go down or be censored. Thus, I would like to start with building something that is resistant even to that. Something that can survive without the internet (even though it might be harder).
That said, I am curious to learn more. I am considering a distributed ledger system for a membership list and possibly to perform specific group tasks. But I really know next to nothing about it.
To all:
Ham radio licenses are a way for trackers to know who has and knows how to use radios.
See https://docellis.substack.com/p/58-ham-radio-license-reality for more
What are the (putative) penalties for not having a license, and what is enforcement like?
I did a little on-line search and still don't have an solid answer.
https://www.amateurradio.com/fcc-enforcement-actions/
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-legal-penalties-for-transmitting-on-amateur-ham-radios-without-being-licensed-by-the-Federal-Communications-Commission-FCC
I saw on some links claims that fines from about $500 on up to thousands of dollars were possible. I also saw claims that government vermin could seize "illegal" equipment, or could prosecute and jail so-called violators.
A lot of enforcement actions start with snitches running to FCC or other government entities. Sometimes government folks find out on their own that somebody is supposedly violating some rule or other.
Part of my plan is that I will NOT recommend widespread and systematic breaking of laws. It is not because I believe those laws are legitimate at all. They aren’t. But individuals breaking laws will just get picked off one by one. That doesn’t do us much good. It is better to grow in numbers and cohesion. We’ll have a lot more ability to make a change, secure our independence, etc. if there are a million of us than if there are but a thousand. Growth first.
Believe me, I hate the laws and want to ignore every single one of them. But I have to balance emotion with reason.
There is definitely a place for some agorism. However, it should not cross the line to compromising an individual’s freedom or ability to continue moving forward without major legal and financial hassles. Live to fight another day. Grow stronger. Martyrs are soon forgotten, especially when they martyred themselves for little or nothing. Think in terms of generations. We plant the seeds of a future civilization now. Once our children’s children number in the millions, there will be nothing that can stand in our way.
With that in mind, one must weigh the downsides of getting a license against the downsides of not getting a license. How important is it to not get a license?
I see.
Do you have concerns with that approach?
Law abiding folks informed government folks that the Frank family were hiding out in a friend's attic in the Netherlands.
Law abiding folks informed government folks that a negro was in violation of the Fugitive Slave Act.
Law abiding folks informed paramilitary predators that somebody was toking.
Law abiding folks informed government folks that your Savior claimed to be a king, in apparent violation of Jewish and Roman law.
These are just four cases among many of what law abiding folks do.
I don't tell folks to violate opinions that folks inflict through up to lethal acts; I just inform folks of the consequences of complying with those opinions. Some folks call those opinions laws.
do you prefer Chris or Christopher?
I completely agree with ham radio and mesh - ham radio can even be used to increase mesh's reach. But I completely disagree with Signal. If Tucker Carlson's experience is anything to go by, Signal has been compromised. Best to go with the Matrix protocol if you want to save your messages or Briar, if security is more of a concern and you don't care about saving your messages. Matrix servers can be built and maintained locally, you don't have to depend on matrix.org to host.
So if you don't want to run a Matrix server yourself, you can either use someone else's or use Matrix.org?
I would say that only in-person is highly secure, unhackable and future proof.
Even a theoretically perfect encryption system can be broken by an NSA rootkit in the server, or various side channel attacks like spectrum analysis.
Whereas if everyone agrees to always say politically correct things online, then there is no need to encrypt or hide from censorship.
Advanced cryptography itself currently draws scrutiny and is likely to be targeted for bans in the future.
The government will claim that if you have nothing to hide then your messages should be readable (by them).
This is the same argument they are using about cash and financial privacy. That opacity means criminal intent. In the UK, in the wake of widespread resistance to the online safety act, there is talk of banning VPNs. Or creating a license system.
So anyway, my point is that you should avail yourself of every communication platform but adopt a satirical voice.
Make a rule that every statement must express wholehearted support for the government, no criticism tolerated. But since the rule is explicitly stated, criticism can be expressed through sarcasm.
I.e. "The government is gloriously battling yet another mortal threat to our beloved democracy: far right twitter terrorists.
These evil creatures have the audacity to spread awareness of the crimes of asylum seekers which is causing vengeful anger and endangering the safety of asylum seekers through unfair discrimination.
They are abusing their right to freedom of speech by engaging in hate speech and should be silenced.
In other news, the evil syrians are despicable monsters trying to destroy democracy so the government sent more drone strikes to blow them up. The collateral damage was enormous creating thousands of asylum seekers who are on their way to europe, but only if they manage to escape our bombardment without being eviscerated."
And instead of saying that our goal is to resist government tyranny, we claim to be building resilient systems to survive the man made climate change apocalypse.
Which actually requires all the same steps.
It is a form of ideological laundering, or leaning into the lie, where it becomes impossible to criticise your actions without opposing the official narrative.
If, indeed, a climate catastrophe is on the way as they claim, then it is completely rational to prepare for it.
The smarter someone is the more likely they are to recognise the satire, but at the same time, they are also more likely to understand that the fairy tale they were taught is false. So it acts as a filter.
You raise several good points.
They do indeed act as if only people with something to hide would use encryption/secrecy. I think humanity needs to fight back against that.
And the sarcasm gambit is a good one. I think, however, that it would be difficult to get everyone to do that all at once. Maybe—if circumstances were more dire.
There is another approach, though: to be completely open about our distaste for everything they are doing, but also to be completely open that we have no plans to engage in violations of the law. Here's what I wrote to another on the subject:
——
"Part of my plan is that I will NOT recommend widespread and systematic breaking of laws. It is not because I believe those laws are legitimate at all. They aren’t. But individuals breaking laws will just get picked off one by one. That doesn’t do us much good. It is better to grow in numbers and cohesion. We’ll have a lot more ability to make a change, secure our independence, etc. if there are a million of us than if there are but a thousand. Growth first.
"Believe me, I hate the laws and want to ignore every single one of them. But I have to balance emotion with reason.
"There is definitely a place for some agorism. However, it should not cross the line to compromising an individual’s freedom or ability to continue moving forward without major legal and financial hassles. Live to fight another day. Grow stronger. Martyrs are soon forgotten, especially when they martyred themselves for little or nothing. Think in terms of generations. We plant the seeds of a future civilization now. Once our children’s children number in the millions, there will be nothing that can stand in our way."
——
Widespread violation of law would be morally justified, but tactically unwise. So perhaps we can be open about our views, and even our plans, but at the same time be civil, non-threatening, and model peace.
I understand your position, however I fear your honesty will be used against you.
Even if you say you have no plans to break the law, there are many people who will find your desire to change the laws they hold dear morally repugnant and will invent crimes or even attack people.
This is because they are nutso bananas. However, their lack of cognitive depth or genuine comprehension is an exploitable weakness as they cannot identify satire or extrapolate from vague aphorisms.
As your movement grows larger, opponents will quote your claims and frame them in the worst possible light. The same thing that is happening to JK Rowling.
(I actually think they are a bad writer who plagiarised lord of the rings, but in any case not an evil monster as they like to portray)
In my opinion, telling the direct truth is inadvisable. Because there is now a whole generation of people who have a warped sense of reality and use distorted unrecognisable definitions.
A while back, a whole group of leftists accused me of being a misogynist after I "admitted" that I "thought" men and women walk differently. Which they obviously do.
Not to mention I have no idea why they think this is negative. It didn't occur to me that anyone could be so brain dead. I actually thought it was a joke at first.
But what is clear is that they cannot be reasoned with normally, they are in a delusional cult bubble.
I absolutely agree that the community needs spaces where members can communicate free from the gaze of lunatics, but, in order to maintain an acceptable public image, and potentially recruit new people, it should also have a politically correct front end.
What you are doing is still legal today, but it may not be in 50 years. The overton window can move quickly.
You may be afraid to attract the wrong kind of people, but at the same time, there are plenty of people who pretend to believe things they don't actually believe to avoid conflict.
I think that a tiered system makes the most sense where a wide net is cast at first, and then you refine them further into various levels of trust.
As was said elsewhere, people don't need to agree about everything to be useful, they just need to agree that they can't trust the government to save them.
That is the most minimal level of cooperation.
If we try to include too many things in the pitch, then it will select too few.
If the pitch is too vague, it will get lots of agreement, but no realistic action.
So that's why I think the best approach is to start vague and only explain the honest details progressively to those who seem willing to learn them.
And for some examples of vague aphorism equivocation:
"Everyone is equal"
Where we mean equal before God.
That God loves everyone equally, believes they are equally important, and will judge their eternal souls equally.
(I don't believe in God personally, but I still like this definition)
"Diversity is strength"
Where diversity means diversifying your financial portfolio for economic resilience.
"We value inclusiveness"
Which means everyone is included in God's love. But we aren't God, so we have to choose carefully.
"Protect Democracy"
Where democracy means people ruling themselves and has nothing to do with voting.
And so forth.
I believe this is the way politicians give their public speeches wide appeal: people will project whatever they want onto it.
A defensible lie, because we never said that we mean what we know others will take it to mean.
I hear all of this. I am going to save your comment so I can revisit it and continue to think about it. Lots of good and interesting points.
Lots of people are telling the truth, though. For example, check out these guys: https://www.edgecity.live/
They're just doing it.
Próspera and Ciudad Morazán are now dealing with the filthy, hateful socialists who have taken over Honduras. But they're still doing the right thing, lighting a bright beacon to others, etc.
You are right that the architects of oppression, and all their many enforcers, operatives, and sycophants, will not be kind to any attempts at freedom and independence. But those attempts are going to keep growing and growing, and they cannot stop them all. I totally get the idea of tactical caution, and I will continue to think of its applicability. But I also think that if we light a bright beacon, we will gain numbers. And numbers are powerful.
The flame lit by the Declaration of Independence alone continues to burn in many to this day.
Have you read "Enemy of the State," by F. Paul Wilson? If you like libertarian sci-fi, check it out, and pay special attention to the KYFHONs. That is sort of the model.
"Edge City did an excellent job integrating diverse participants from all kinds of backgrounds: technical and non-technical, crypto, biotech and culture, young and old. I learned a lot from my time there” — Vitalik Buterin
From their about page. They are doing the same thing I suggested. Using the language and virtue coding of the current regime to subvert the control mechanism.
This makes it more difficult to vilify.
This example is a clever reframing of diversity: diversity of skillset.
It is the same as you were saying about not breaking any overt laws, because it just makes it easier to convince others that you are evil. But we are instead talking about unspoken covert rules that have been invented by the current education and media context.
Just as 500 years ago, everything had to be God coded or it would be seen as heretical and you would be attacked by the church.
Today everything has to be Globalism coded.
Yes, exactly. My friend Dave and I have been wanting to set up a server for The Catamount Tavern (https://matrix.to/#/!MNSVWSBjIyZGtYAZOJ:matrix.org?via=matrix.org) that we created on Matrix.org. He has the web, server and domain expertise but no hardware and no money, plus his health is declining. I have no server hardware either although I have been working to acquire some but domains require a monthly outlay that I can't justify right now.
Can you get on someone else’s server instead?
Normally, you need to be invited but this link will provide you with a list of public Matrix home servers: https://servers.joinmatrix.org/
As I have focused on The Tavern, I have no experience on whether a room can be set up on someone else's home server or not - I suspect that it depends on how Matrix is set up.
For what it is worth, the ChatGPT list, in "5. Encrypted Digital and Internet-Based Communication," describes Session (and Signal) as having more security than Matrix. How do you assess that?
Signal would be considered more secure than the Matrix protocol because Signal servers are centrally controlled. There are often security trade-offs with a decentralized network and security implementation can vary between servers. Also, messages are saved locally which could be considered a security issue even though they are encrypted. However, if security is paramount, use Briar.
Wish I had answers for these questions. I figure when We strip the Ones presently in control of Their tool to create the mess They're creating, We will find ways to handle things. But definitely good things things to ask and consider!
County covered w GMRS tower and repeater.
Local walkie talkies for family.
Exploring mesh network for regional digital coverage.
Ham radio licenses in progress.
Get building private comms people.
Cheers.
How tall a GMRS tower does one need?
Depends upon range desired and obstacles in the line of sight. Tall trees, hills, large buildings.
100’ for flat area with tall trees.
On top of a tall building, hill or mountain.
Wow, that's tall!
How about CBs?
Tinfoil hat wearing IT pro. I use Signal. VPNs are worse than useless. Use Tails or Tor Browser. Proton Mail is suspect, didn't they just hire someone from 8200 or something? I would use a Russian hosted mail service before that. You end up emailing a lot of folks that use Google or MS for email so email is not great for security unless you are a computer geek. I run my own hosted email server and run Qubes at home, but these both require computer knowledge. Matrix is probably good for group messaging. I'm looking into using it instead of Signal. Look at the CEO of Signal.
Session messaging app uses the same open source code as Signal but doesn't use their servers. Session also doesn't tie your messages to your phone nor to your email, so it can be more private. Other than all the obvious things about his personal history and professional history and the fact that he wants you to call him Moxie Marlinspike, what's wrong with the ceo of Signal? jk lol
Sorry, I didn't remember my concerns about Signal correctly. Katherine Mahar is on the board of directors of the Signal Foundation.
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Maher
"A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Maher worked for UNICEF, the National Democratic Institute, the World Bank and Access Now before joining the Wikimedia Foundation. She subsequently joined the Atlantic Council and the US Department of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board."
Ham radio is great, but for long distance, it is unreliable. Get a Baofeng ($20 from China) and your family GMRS license ($35, no test). That will work for a few miles. LoRa / Meshtastic looks great for neighborhood communication.
I went QUANSHENG UV-K5 (Just checked, around 22 bucks from Amazon today.) and yes I find such to be excellent communication on the tundra and in the tagia.
I've played with LoRa, I really like the idea of peer to peer and peer through peer, no bottlenecks where whoever can restrict or deny communication. I like it but I don't have peers close enough to mesh a net. It is possible to link distant LoRa nets through the internet but such creates bottlenecks that can be closed at the push of a button.
Hams are playing with meteor burst communication; bounce signals off ionized meteor tails. USDA used meteor scatter to collect data from some 900 remote stations for around 40 years, I think they're using satellite links now. Good for data packet exchanges, voice, not so much.
Yes, I need to get some key people in my immediate area into this … too difficult to benefit from communications with people hundreds of miles away. But, still good to know what’s going on elsewhere. It’s important for people to band together in a two to ten mile radius. Best thing is to have several vehicles that can’t be shut off by the central power, for the individual to be able to assess a meeting point of some sort… for us rural people anyways… But, yeah, broader communications are important too. I’ve got a lot of freedom people around me, but they are all at different levels, for lack of a better way of putting it. The Trump psyop and others plus a lot of old school separatist type thinking, are still working on most people. To prevent us from uniting. We all have narcissistic tendencies… overall probably way more deep than 100 years ago… Still hard to get people to see the need to create an alternative society or just band together somehow. The society I live in (off grid acreages in an unincorporated area) is definitely alternative, but people are still under the mindset of the current control systems. Many are just retired people living on social security in motor homes parked on an acre that they own. They don’t want to do anything or they think Trump will save them. I have tried to pull people together and bring up these kinds of topics… but, it goes nowhere. I can only do so much. I say all this for people who don’t see that you aren’t going to get a lot of people to band together before ‘it’s too late’ and more difficult. I’ve decided to create a farming community. I’ve got two people in close range that I’m helping to establish farms. But, not under the auspices of in the future, we will have a local food source or ‘my’ group could be there for eachother. Producing food for ourselves and they could pass some on to their friends or family … there is a somewhat fledging, but promising group (an official non profit) that I am now working with to be involved with some degree of organized ‘meeting community needs’ system. They have a property with a greenhouse and I’m meeting on Friday to discuss plans for a u pick melon and cut flowers event… the idea is that the immediate community can pay a small fee (for now) while tourists pay going rate for such things… we have a lot of tourists… to raise money for expanding the community farm and and supporting a local fire department. I’m looking to take over the newsletter which no one has been able to do… it will be an e blast, but I’m planning to print hard copies too. And establishing a local area only mail system. So much could be said. But this post is getting too long!
You are doing yeoman's work!
Is there one person, just one, who you think is on the same page?
Yes… plenty, but they all have different ideas about what to do. This is why I’ve decided to revert to just becoming friends and develop a network in my area. I’m focusing on developing an agricultural industry, essentially, that could be functioning and in place for a time when the shtf… which could be any day now… so I may not be able to facilitate these types of relationships… one of the people I am helping, I have mentioned to her, that there could come a time when we need to think about providing food for the people in our area. It’s ultimately about creating an infrastructure as a place or a way to avoid or escape the clutches. For those escaping war, historically, the USA was a place to go… but, there is no place to go anymore… unless the anabaptist groups started letting people in… If I were to be able to encourage 20 or 30 serious small farms… just for regular old school type of thinkers, for lack of a better way of putting it, maybe 7 of them will see the need to avoid the control grid and be available to switch to a more survival mode… others may sign up for all the control out of fear, but if we have good relationships… they could be helpful. I feel like this idea is impossible. But, someone needs to get the ball rolling. People have no idea that they could grow food and collect water. But, if they can see that they can make money now while things are still deceptively ‘free’, they are more likely to establish the infrastructure of a farm.
A lot of the people who see the problem… aren’t interested. Oh a few I know have gone off to try to build self sustaining farms for themselves. But, they aren’t trying to get others involved. They’re all spread out. In the past, most were still so bent on getting Trump elected, believing that we have a say about our govt… I’m sure some of them have come to see the light. I’m sure there’s many that I have not met.
I’ve just come to the conclusion that I had to pick an area and create a network of sorts, help others establish off grid lives and farms… but not worry about whether they are aware of the futility of govt. I am of the belief that there is no solution other than to be prepared to live completely independent as a community. The community I am in, is fiercely off grid. It’s a great place to have started! Most people own their land free and clear.
My only concern is that the govt could come in and kick us off our land. So I’m talking to some people about that. But, if they know how to farm, here, they can farm anywhere.
Time to get farming!
I would be interested in joining a community but don't trust anyone.
Maybe that's the problem.
It would take me years of talking with a group before I start to believe they might actually stick together under pressure.
Yep… that’s why you just go out and make friends and build a network of people you do stuff with. The more the better because when the shtf, many will not be available. Hopefully, there is time. And all the while, it helps to not be concerned with all that too much. Just connect and do things with people.
My thinking is that we have to find ways to work with human nature, rather than swimming upstream against it or, God forbid, trying to force it to change like the communists did.
So, since we cannot fully rely on people being trustworthy or sticking together, what do we do? How can we proceed in such a way that is not fragile in the face of human nature?
You have to live the example. I am using a composting toilet, saving a thousand or more gallons of water every year. People on the water grid just aren’t going to do that. But, they think they are environmentally conscious… but they are not. I’m living the example. While they shudder at the thought. It took two generations to get people to buy into water flushing toilets. It will take at least three to get mass people to go back to a better way. Probably not going to happen, but who knows? There are a lot of really good composting toilets coming out… they seem expensive, but the reality is that they are cheaper. Just serve as the example of the change you want to see.
This is a very wise attitude. You don't need to get everyone on board with everything. Just build the connections and agree on the basics.
As far as those who believed Trump would fix everything—they will come to understand that error when they realize that he did not fix everything.