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1. xianc78@gameliberty.club's status on Tuesday, 05-Sep-2023 06:41:03 JST xianc78

   So, I had this crazy idea when I was thinking about sneakernets, USB dead drops, and PirateBoxes and how they are used to circumvent the physical infrastructure of the Internet, bypassing any Internet censorship and surveillance.

   For those of you who don't know, USB dead drops are just flash drives mounted onto a wall, allowing anyone to plug into it and share files to it. This makes it possible to anonymously share files in a local area without relying on the Internet infrastructure or any network infrastructure. You don't have to worry about any middlement or packet-sniffers reading your data or shutting off your connection.

   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_dead_drop

   The problem with these are that they are easily damaged and plugging them into a laptop is kind of awkward unless you have a USB extension cord. If you have them outside, they are exposed to the elements and risk corrosion.

   I've had this idea for a while now and it's basically the reverse of this. Instead of having a flash drive mounted to a wall, you have a kiosk where people can bring their own flash drives (SD cards could probably work too) and they can plug them into the kiosk where they can upload and download files. That way, you are not relying on a flimsy flash drive mounted to a wall or a tree.

   I or someone else could write some software for this and anyone can make their own USB File Exchange Kiosk (I guess that's what I will call it) using any spare PC, laptop, or Raspberry Pi and put them in local restaurants, coffee shops, clubs, community centers, college campuses, etc.

   Does anyone else think this is a good idea? Feel free to steal this idea for yourself. I think it could be a great way to share files in case the physical Internet infrastructure goes to shit.

   • Gabe (gabriel@mk.gabe.rocks)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Sep-2023 06:58:00 JST Gabe

     in reply to

     @xianc78@gameliberty.club
     IRL FTP server!
     I considered something similar using a captive portal and a wireless access point.
     
     Can NFC tags scale to large files?

   • xianc78@gameliberty.club's status on Tuesday, 05-Sep-2023 06:58:00 JST xianc78

     in reply to

     • Gabe

     @gabriel
     >I considered something similar using a captive portal and a wireless access point.

     That's basically a PirateBox, but that project is dead now because more routers use locked-firmware these days.

     http://www.piratebox.cc/

     >Can NFC tags scale to large files?

     I don't know. I never messed with NFC.

   • xianc78@gameliberty.club's status on Tuesday, 05-Sep-2023 10:45:45 JST xianc78

     in reply to

     So, I was thinking about housing the prototype kiosk in something like a PiCade with a hole for the USB port drilled in. I think the PiCade would probably be the best fit for the prototype because I would like the thing to be coin operated if the owner chooses to do so.

     I could probably write a UI in C++ with SFML. I would like the interface to be as user friendly as possible. It should be able to browse the files on the kiosk and the files the user has in on the flash drive and the user can then exchange files that way. I will probably write the software and test it on a regular computer first before building the actual prototype.

     I honestly don't know how long this will take. I have other things to balance in my life of course, but this is something I would love to do. And if someone wants to beat me to it, go right ahead, make money off of it, take all the credit. I don't care. I feel like this is something worth making and I don't care who does it.

   • xianc78@gameliberty.club's status on Wednesday, 06-Sep-2023 01:17:19 JST xianc78

     in reply to

     • Gabe

     @gabriel It looks like NFC can transfer up to 1KB. That's not enough to even transfer or store an image. NFC is designed for storing basic information like phone numbers, credit card info, or special codes like in Nintendo's Amiibos.

     https://www.quora.com/How-much-data-can-be-stored-on-an-NFC-chip

     You have better luck storing data via QR codes. It's even possible to store a simple game on one like what this guy did.

     https://invidious.poast.org/watch?v=ExwqNreocpg