μWire was designed to support anonymous file sharing. It uses i2p to share the files, or collections of files. i2p is a more advanced protocol than TOR. It doesn\'t rely upon a centralized entity and is released under a Free licence. \r\n \r\nGoats in this community who care about archiving and data availability ought to take a look and try seeding and downloading some content. \r\n \r\nThere is an example of a collection of David Irving books on MuWire here: \r\nUHcDbqpcw94VXGcL10p1GnZ7VRhGWpbDcmfwGj4iNyE=
[ - ] localsal 1 point 2.2 yearsFeb 2, 2022 10:51:14 ago (+1/-0)
Thoughts on Muwire.
After giving it a try, it looks a lot like a torrent client, and hopefully scales up nicely.
I tried a few searches, and got anywhere from 4 to 16 results on some, with zero on many others.
The download speed was averaging 6kbps for the 20ish min that I kept the download active. Not very useful. Chicken and egg problem? I wasn't sure if the download was from only one user due to the protocol or due to the low number of people. I couldn't tell if multiple seeders were allowed.
The chat function is interesting, but I couldn't figure out how to search for a server.
I also couldn't figure out how to use the example collection hash (or whatever) to go anywhere.
I didn't search for any answers or look at the instructions LOL. I was just doing a UI point and click. Might be the wrong strategy for this type of technology.
Overall I felt this has promise in a lot of what my wishlist would be for a good platform. The developer needs to add the simple word "encryption" into the descriptive pages to inform people like me how this works on i2p. Aint nobody got time to do a deep dive on the technology behind a platform to figure out the specifics.
Every "peer" starts out as neutral, and then can be set to trusted or distrusted, but not returned to neutral... not sure of the rationale behind that.
A "popular" page would be quite helpful, to get people started and to showcase the technology without turning people off when there are zero results for searchings and only 6kbps for downloads.
Populating a main "chat" page would also help, with a "connect" option, because the chat server info is not intuitive.
I will probably revisit it on and off over time to see how it grows, but probably won't make it a constantly running app at this point.
Thanks for researching MuWire and for your great comments.
Speed - MuWires increased anonymity comes in part at the expense of speed. There are a couple of settings you can adjust which might help the situation, in addition to encouraging other people to use MuWire:
Chat - From the tabs at the top pick "Chat", then at the bottom click "Start Chat Server". On the left near the top, click on "Console". In the text dialogue box at the bottom, type /HELP
You can join the #muwire channel by typing /join #muwire
I agree that the first encounter with the interface is a bit overwhelming. It is the same if you haven't used it for a while. Once you try it a little bit, you get the hang of things very quickly and see it is a nice GUI. Try the darcula theme.
Collection - the hash for the collection didn't paste properly for some reason. Here is a hash for the beta of MuWire being distributed through MuWire. That file ought to remain available. hopefully the hash will paste ok:
Yow1REUFDhJj8F6tTfbzh-bFnkmSUMqVWnu2y~S1PxA=
Neutrality - I was able to change status to and from neutral.
Popular - that is a good idea. There could be a "popular" hash too, a screencast of how to use MuWire.
I think some users on MuWire are a bit reclusive and don't want to publish to others till they see some publishing beforehand so do keep trying. Leaving the client running helps discovery. If you live in a very remote place, using a VPN in a more populated area might help.
You can use a pseudonym to help establish a level of trust and MuWire enables marking users as trusted or otherwise.
I think to understand where the indexes are stored it would help to look at how i2p works. It uses DHT - distributed hash tables, which are like little pieces of paper scattered round the i2p network telling you how to find other pieces of paper you need by pointing at them. You can create multiple identities or create one and discard it later. You can read about that in the section here, overview of the network: https://geti2p.net/en/about/intro
Trust and anonymity are opposite ends of the spectrum, just so you know.
DHT still requires a starting index to work from. Think about how torrent websites are the central repository for all the links/files. Otherwise every torrent client would download everything. Even a torrent of torrent files needs a link to start from.
I'm not saying the technology is bad or unusable, just that it isn't all rainbows and unicorn farts.
The technology is something that needs to be not ever be dependent on anything central - even torrent websites are a weak link in the chain.
A constantly updating file is probably needed, but that puts a strain on the system as it grows.
Deep packet inspection may or may not include encryption, but why wouldn't he specifically state "encrypted" in that description? That is a big red flag to anyone that needs it.
I don't agree that there is a continuum with trust at one end and anonymity at the other. Trust-Distrust. When using MuWire, you have a username, but this doesn't have to be permanently recognizable character of yours. Sometimes, it is useful to have a unique identifier, to build trust, for example.
When somebody is new to a DHT network, like MuWires i2p one, it helps to have a permanently running server to introduce the new user to the network. The maintainer will usually be the one to establish such a server.
i2p is built with privacy in foremost in mind. The traffic on MuWire is i2p. I2p is encrypted and the i2p team keep trying to improve its encryption. Here is a statement on the encryption from the i2p page:
"I2P Cares About Privacy
I2P hides the server from the user and the user from the server. All I2P traffic is internal to the I2P network. Traffic inside I2P does not interact with the Internet directly. It is a layer on top of the Internet. It uses encrypted unidirectional tunnels between you and your peers. No one can see where traffic is coming from, where it is going, or what the contents are. Additionally I2P offers resistance to pattern recognition and blocking by censors. Because the network relies on peers to route traffic, location blocking is also reduced. "
Since you are interested in this subject, you might like to look at Lokinet, which will soon be supported on Session. Lokinet is a bit like i2p but with latency low enough for teleconferencing. https://getsession.org
As far as I can see, MuWire is currently the best available tool for anonymous file distribution of dissident literature. I would like to hear what alternative you would instead propose.
Unique identifiers are the bane of browser/any privacy. EFF has tools to test uniqueness of browsers and hardware, and warn about privacy implications.
I would not trust any anonymous poster implicitly on any torrent, for example, but when given a name and icon, that trust improves.
For Muwire, while the "behind the scenes" transfer may look anonymous to any MITM, the UI shows/creates a unique identifier.
What happens if/when the feds crack the server/protocol and get everyone's info - either before or after posting material? Not a compliant yet, but a cautionary tale to be aware of.
As for file distribution, I still use torrents mostly - whatever flaws torrents have (lack of chat, static file systems, etc) they are still popular and readily available. Trust is indeed an issue, but can be mitigated with file scanners and secondary computers, etc.
[ + ] localsal
[ - ] localsal 1 point 2.2 yearsFeb 2, 2022 10:51:14 ago (+1/-0)
After giving it a try, it looks a lot like a torrent client, and hopefully scales up nicely.
I tried a few searches, and got anywhere from 4 to 16 results on some, with zero on many others.
The download speed was averaging 6kbps for the 20ish min that I kept the download active. Not very useful. Chicken and egg problem? I wasn't sure if the download was from only one user due to the protocol or due to the low number of people. I couldn't tell if multiple seeders were allowed.
The chat function is interesting, but I couldn't figure out how to search for a server.
I also couldn't figure out how to use the example collection hash (or whatever) to go anywhere.
I didn't search for any answers or look at the instructions LOL. I was just doing a UI point and click. Might be the wrong strategy for this type of technology.
Overall I felt this has promise in a lot of what my wishlist would be for a good platform. The developer needs to add the simple word "encryption" into the descriptive pages to inform people like me how this works on i2p. Aint nobody got time to do a deep dive on the technology behind a platform to figure out the specifics.
Every "peer" starts out as neutral, and then can be set to trusted or distrusted, but not returned to neutral... not sure of the rationale behind that.
A "popular" page would be quite helpful, to get people started and to showcase the technology without turning people off when there are zero results for searchings and only 6kbps for downloads.
Populating a main "chat" page would also help, with a "connect" option, because the chat server info is not intuitive.
I will probably revisit it on and off over time to see how it grows, but probably won't make it a constantly running app at this point.
[ + ] Aetherian
[ - ] Aetherian [op] 0 points 2.2 yearsFeb 2, 2022 12:37:20 ago (+0/-0)
Speed - MuWires increased anonymity comes in part at the expense of speed. There are a couple of settings you can adjust which might help the situation, in addition to encouraging other people to use MuWire:
options-configuration-i2p-speedvsanonymity
options-configuration-bandwidth-inbound bandwidth
Chat - From the tabs at the top pick "Chat", then at the bottom click "Start Chat Server". On the left near the top, click on "Console". In the text dialogue box at the bottom, type /HELP
You can join the #muwire channel by typing /join #muwire
I agree that the first encounter with the interface is a bit overwhelming. It is the same if you haven't used it for a while. Once you try it a little bit, you get the hang of things very quickly and see it is a nice GUI. Try the darcula theme.
Collection - the hash for the collection didn't paste properly for some reason. Here is a hash for the beta of MuWire being distributed through MuWire. That file ought to remain available. hopefully the hash will paste ok:
Yow1REUFDhJj8F6tTfbzh-bFnkmSUMqVWnu2y~S1PxA=
Neutrality - I was able to change status to and from neutral.
Popular - that is a good idea. There could be a "popular" hash too, a screencast of how to use MuWire.
I think some users on MuWire are a bit reclusive and don't want to publish to others till they see some publishing beforehand so do keep trying. Leaving the client running helps discovery. If you live in a very remote place, using a VPN in a more populated area might help.
[ + ] localsal
[ - ] localsal 0 points 2.2 yearsFeb 1, 2022 17:26:26 ago (+0/-0)
"choose a nickname and we generate a unique id"
You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means...
Where are the main indexes stored? Sounds like a centralized entity.
Are transmissions encrypted?
[ + ] Aetherian
[ - ] Aetherian [op] 0 points 2.2 yearsFeb 1, 2022 18:06:16 ago (+0/-0)
You can use a pseudonym to help establish a level of trust and MuWire enables marking users as trusted or otherwise.
I think to understand where the indexes are stored it would help to look at how i2p works. It uses DHT - distributed hash tables, which are like little pieces of paper scattered round the i2p network telling you how to find other pieces of paper you need by pointing at them.
You can create multiple identities or create one and discard it later.
You can read about that in the section here, overview of the network:
https://geti2p.net/en/about/intro
or scroll to 7 minutes in the video here:
https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=kacwVmBOUb8
MuWire is designed against censorship, so it can pass through e.g. Deep Packet Inspection like static: https://muwire.com/about.html
The maintainer is a good guy.
[ + ] localsal
[ - ] localsal 0 points 2.2 yearsFeb 1, 2022 21:46:25 ago (+0/-0)
DHT still requires a starting index to work from. Think about how torrent websites are the central repository for all the links/files. Otherwise every torrent client would download everything. Even a torrent of torrent files needs a link to start from.
I'm not saying the technology is bad or unusable, just that it isn't all rainbows and unicorn farts.
The technology is something that needs to be not ever be dependent on anything central - even torrent websites are a weak link in the chain.
A constantly updating file is probably needed, but that puts a strain on the system as it grows.
Deep packet inspection may or may not include encryption, but why wouldn't he specifically state "encrypted" in that description? That is a big red flag to anyone that needs it.
[ + ] Aetherian
[ - ] Aetherian [op] 0 points 2.2 yearsFeb 2, 2022 10:02:06 ago (+0/-0)
When somebody is new to a DHT network, like MuWires i2p one, it helps to have a permanently running server to introduce the new user to the network. The maintainer will usually be the one to establish such a server.
i2p is built with privacy in foremost in mind. The traffic on MuWire is i2p. I2p is encrypted and the i2p team keep trying to improve its encryption. Here is a statement on the encryption from the i2p page:
"I2P Cares About Privacy
I2P hides the server from the user and the user from the server. All I2P traffic is internal to the I2P network. Traffic inside I2P does not interact with the Internet directly. It is a layer on top of the Internet. It uses encrypted unidirectional tunnels between you and your peers. No one can see where traffic is coming from, where it is going, or what the contents are. Additionally I2P offers resistance to pattern recognition and blocking by censors. Because the network relies on peers to route traffic, location blocking is also reduced.
"
There is a page on i2p transport here: http://geti2p.org/en/docs/transport
Since you are interested in this subject, you might like to look at Lokinet, which will soon be supported on Session. Lokinet is a bit like i2p but with latency low enough for teleconferencing. https://getsession.org
As far as I can see, MuWire is currently the best available tool for anonymous file distribution of dissident literature. I would like to hear what alternative you would instead propose.
[ + ] localsal
[ - ] localsal 0 points 2.2 yearsFeb 2, 2022 11:03:13 ago (+0/-0)
I would not trust any anonymous poster implicitly on any torrent, for example, but when given a name and icon, that trust improves.
For Muwire, while the "behind the scenes" transfer may look anonymous to any MITM, the UI shows/creates a unique identifier.
What happens if/when the feds crack the server/protocol and get everyone's info - either before or after posting material? Not a compliant yet, but a cautionary tale to be aware of.
As for file distribution, I still use torrents mostly - whatever flaws torrents have (lack of chat, static file systems, etc) they are still popular and readily available. Trust is indeed an issue, but can be mitigated with file scanners and secondary computers, etc.
[ + ] Aetherian
[ - ] Aetherian [op] 0 points 2.2 yearsFeb 1, 2022 12:50:06 ago (+0/-0)