Have you thought about when the internet goes offline? 🌐
9941 sats \ 63 comments \ @davidw 26 Dec 2023 privacy

What happens if the entire Internet became offline or gated?

As a thought experiment, how prepared would you or I be for an internet with services completely inaccessible in many parts of the world? An internet that could go offline for several days/weeks. At a time that we are completely over-dependent on it worldwide for much of our cognitive thought, decisions, work & lifestyle.
https://i.giphy.com/l0HlGmbxkwkICKykM.webp
Such scenarios have already been modelled/simulated by major governments and big tech in recent years and so it may actually be more likely than each of us give credit for. Before you respond with "couldn't happen", just stop and consider that 34% of cloud infrastructure depends on Amazon directly. Just ONE company. With another 30% using Cloudflare. Disruption is more likely than we might expect.
Furthermore, should the internet become an geopolitical attack vector, it's entirely possible that we'd see a counter-reaction (with political support) so that the internet when reinstated and redeployed has Government identity enforced for every Western service that interacts with the internet. With speech, searches & clicks linked to your ID and the complete criminalisation of encryption and privacy-preserving tech. All in the interests of public safety.

Win 30k Sats 🥇

To keep things uplifting, the 'top' comment below will get 30,000 sats on 27th December at 18:00 - because it'd be great to encourage more people to get involved with uncomfortable ~privacy discussions like these. Will likely run more bounties in future from this territory, for more articles & challenges to come.

Inspired by Whitney Webb

Over the weekend, I listened to a fantastic interview from Whitney Webb on WBD. She's an extremely talented investigative journalist. If you care about your privacy the link takes you to Peter Mac's site rather than YouTube, where you can download the MP3 (a nice touch in today's world). It may not be the most uplifting content, especially not for this time of year. But it is an important conversation, given the trend.
I have already written about Starlink's unique role in a future disrupted internet if we needed to need to switch to cellular connections, as well as the trend of colonising humans via our data . In the interests of providing solutions, I have a directory of Stacker News privacy guides , a write-up for those looking at a Plan B location in Uruguay, plus a pre-announcement daily privacy challenge to come in January. My hope is we can normalise ~privacy for us all, even for those who are fairly early in their journey and who may be desiring some moral support or be questioning the need.
Let me also say that if this happens tomorrow, I would be absolutely ducked 🦆 just like most of you stackers would. So this is also shaming me into making some changes in 2024. We should acknowledge how inconvenient things may become if a) conflict on the internet increases or b) if Big Government is serious about really screwing with the freedoms that we take for granted online. We should be considering from time to time how we can improve our sovereignty in a few areas. In privacy, independence and redundancy to name a few. Even just to regular power blackouts.

Social STACKER Score

If you wish, feel free to use the numbered list as a Social Stacker Score⚡. 1 point for each subjective item, meaning a total of 30 points up for grabs. Score yourself or just get involved with the discussion below...

A. Files & Media

  1. Backups = When was the last time you created backups of personal computer files? Or backups of backups? Do they have solid local encryption enabled?
  2. Content & Videos = Have you downloaded content onto hard-drives for future usage? Books, maps and utility videos like home-improvements, electrical repairs, food preservation, hobbie projects, entertainment and films for kids - especially if these become inaccessible or gated.
  3. Site Hosting - Do you have your own website/code hosted on smaller service providers? Or are all using services with the popular corporations like Microsoft (GitHub), Atlassian (Bitbucket), Amazon, Google, DigitalOcean, Vercel, Cloudflare?
  4. Software Packages & Torrenting = Do you have all the software you need downloaded and installed on drives already? Have you disabled automatic software updates from ALL services?
  5. Faraday cage = Could all your electronics go kaput in an instant? Even if your main devices wouldn't, networks may themselves. How would you protect/utilise any expensive electronics?

B. Tech

  1. Mobile Device = Do you have GrapheneOS installed on your main device? Or at least have a 2nd Device / a 'Burner' dumb-phone ready to go?
  2. Laptop = Do you have a part of your MacOS partitioned for open-source Linux? Have you gone all-in on Linux, QubesOS or TailsOS? Do you even have a laptop with a battery at all, if power were to drop?
  3. Ring Cameras / Siri Speakers / Google Nest - Do you have this junk still plugged-in and connected to the internet at your house? Is it really that convenient having these enabled and feeding data back on yourself and neighbours?
  4. Security = Do you have 90%+ funds in cold storage? Do you have cold storage hardware that does not require third parties injecting the right code before you can send your funds? Do you have offline 2FA that doesn't depend on a server? A stash of anonymous SIM cards should you need them? Or other privacy tech that will save your bacon?
  5. Analogue Systems = Do you own products that do not depend on an internet connection? More and more critical infrastructure has been plugged-into the internet these days. Do you have an analogue radio in the house or other means of finding out what's happening in the world? Looked-into radio repeaters to enable Bitcoin transactions over radio signal? (would love to discuss this more!)

C. Home & Internet-Access

  1. P2P Networking - Could you be an Uncle Jim and share internet with loved ones or local people if they also didn't want to subject themselves to an identity-controlled internet? Be it Wifi extenders, mesh networking or sharing parallel cellular networks.
  2. Neighbours & Community - do you know your neighbours names? When did you do something generous (share lifts/invites/babysit)? Are you building other local ties & groups? Do you have contacts in other places you know you can trust? People with skills such as electricians, plumbers?
  3. Plan B - Do you have somewhere to be in 3 Days (as Robert Kiwosaki says), away from chaotic major cities/towns? What if flights were grounded without internet? When would you know to go? Do you perhaps have a 2nd Citizenship, if civil unrest breaks out in your country or if it suddenly becomes unfavourable to stay for your family? If resources are restricted/rationed?
  4. Transport - Is boat, bike or car an option, rather than plane? Do you have your own method of transport that doesn't contain an internet connected kill-switch?
  5. Skin in the Game - Will you be teaching self-sufficiency for yourself and those around you, when our ability to rebel against rushed regulations depends on maintaining self-sufficiency? Do you have a foot in the future, with a son/daughter/nephew/niece and a vision of the world you want them to live in?

D. Finance

  1. Physical Cash or Value for 6+ Months = If bank accounts & payment networks go offline. Do you have enough to sustain yourself if difficult to wire money or sell BTC? Inventories of goods or 'money' (be it dollars, coins or foods) to use in local markets?
  2. No Banks / Small Banks - Do you bank with any smaller companies, who are less likely to be targeted or complicit in the event of inaccessible balances?
  3. Self-Custody & Coinjoins Outlawed = Have you decided whether you will comply or not with rushed-through regulations? Have you thought about coinjoining non-KYC coins, and how about KYC if you were to gain a target on your back?
  4. "F$@% you" Income Streams = Do you have another income stream besides your main job? Are you able to make and sell goods/services locally?
  5. NGU Mindset = Are you ready if everybody else became poor overnight? How would you and I react if Bitcoiners maintain purchasing power and everyone else suffers from wealth destruction? Is your security setup ready for the spotlight? When/if would you KYC or use the ETF, under intense social pressures?

E. Redundancy

  1. Energy Independence = Do you have independent sources of energy to keep you connected for more than a few weeks or months? Thinking about energy generation as a form of tax-free dividend? Do you have fuels & perhaps a generator in supply? Batteries available in the event of outages?
  2. Mining - Do you have a miner to keep ticking over and supply you with funds to sustain your living and prevent you dipping into your stack? Or to heat your house?
  3. Food = Are you developing green fingers or gaining increasing access to land for parallel food systems? Storing surpluses in a pantry, growing foods or have independent water reservoirs around your community?
  4. Learning = Are you learning a trade, particularly offline for 2024? Having something else to offer to communities, be it growing produce, teaching (even about privacy), woodwork, electrical, writing may help increase your resilience.
  5. Debt - Have you freed yourself of any unnecessary debt burden? Debt creates a liability to others requiring you to service it and potentially make rash decisions.

F. Privacy

  1. Psychological = Are you ready to be labelled as a criminal for preserving privacy? How much are we all prepared to suffer, out of convenience, connectivity and criminalisation? Would you keep one foot in the CBDC world or remain outside? Contact with families, friends, your job may depend on this. How would you prevent yourself from poor decision-making to regret later?
  2. Social Media - Have you deleted data from X / Facebook & unused services already? When would you consider doing it? Before the A.I. is trained on it and targeting messaging or your weaknesses with it? Or later?
  3. VPNs / Tor / Proxy Locations = Do you already use anonymous VPNs / proxies with third parties possessing a proven track record zero logging?
  4. Proxy identities? - Would you consider obtaining or utilising a secondary government identity and operating under that rather than your own? And helping those around you to do the same.
  5. Future = Have you done enough research into future trends like trans-humanism, Biotech and existing 'scientific' trials that have created some tragic results up until today? Have you properly considered the complete privacy and health implications, before a highly-censored world emerges? Are you becoming dependent upon AI to write code, write articles or feeding Microsoft with your day to day thoughts? Or using open source alternatives to meet your own goals?

How did you get on reading? 🎲

Do you think a restricted internet will actually create a healthy counter culture and parallel systems? How prepared and resilient might you be? None of us are perfect, but hoping this prompts us to make some small steps to get started this next year..
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1793 sats \ 2 replies \ @justin_shocknet 26 Dec 2023
I don't see a restricted internet as a long term risk, the genie is out of the bottle and governments attempting to put it back in will do so at their peril.
However, because the internet is nearly impossible restrict and many governments are on the verge of collapse, I do think the probability of an extended outage (weeks/month) is greater than 50% in the next Bitcoin epoch.
At the current levels of dependence, this internet blackout would be almost as bad as a power blackout. Supply chains are heavily reliant on software, and software today is extremely interconnected. A multi-week outage may result in the deaths of millions during and well after the outage as resource coordination recovers.
Ironically, I was just without power for 6 days due to a weather event. I'm a very well prepared person in a remote area, but drills such as this give you an appreciation for how impossible it is to be truly prepared. I know many people who have adopted an off-grid lifestyle and have lived that way for years, only to find they still go into town every few weeks. A black swan would be far more than just an inconvenience.
Here's a more narrow thought experiment. Imagine "bugging in" for 30 days with one simple scope:
Water.
Drinking, cooking, toilets, hygiene.
You use a lot of water.
Scavenging water has security and other risks, storage is high maintenance and costly, and generation depends on a combination of luck, ingenuity, and energy.
If you're serious about prepping, think long and hard about how you'd solve your water problem and the fragility of what you come up with.
This will make you think about other matters more holistically.
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72 sats \ 1 reply \ @davidw OP 26 Dec 2023
Well said. Bit embarrassed this wasn't a point in it's own right above. Water I presume was the thing you found most difficult during those 6 days?
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207 sats \ 0 replies \ @justin_shocknet 26 Dec 2023
It's in our nature to take the simplest things for granted.
Water was upstream of my biggest issue, so it's fair to say yes.
I have a deep well over some of the best ground water in the world, but a well pump takes a lot of on-demand energy. I have a generator, but that generator itself takes energy, and I had just barely enough for those 6 days with rationing.
In a real SHTF scenario, I would have to eventually fill jugs at a natural spring a few miles away, every 2 days. SHTF +30 I'd likely run out of gasoline in the vehicles to do that with, adding yet more complications.
Crossing my fingers that a generator didn't shit the bed is more prepared than most people can manage, scarily enough.
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31.9k sats \ 3 replies \ @aljaz 26 Dec 2023
I planned to create a larger blog post about this in the future but i'll share it here and maybe we can crowdsource things.
The purpose of this is to have a information to both bootstrap a community from zero and have a local(and distributed) copy of critical knowledge and tools available for any kind of emergency.
My idea was to first collect a list of things that need covering and start collecting the material, then package it in torrents, publish things on nostr, maybe even create a doomsday llm/search that would guide you through the content down the road.
I've quickly created a repo to share some of the links I've collected to make the list public. I'm only linking to the content so please download the actual files. The list can be found in this repository
there is also https://github.com/aljazceru/world-backup/blob/main/IDEAS.md where i'm throwing in ideas on things that i'd like to have a copy of.
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @POTUS 26 Dec 2023
Very nice resource!
Something about power production would be nice as well.
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @garyKrause_ 26 Dec 2023
Found a new repo to mirror on my StartOS fot backup.
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @davidw OP 26 Dec 2023
The list can be found in this repository....there is also Ideas.md where i'm throwing in ideas on things that i'd like to have a copy of.
Nice work! Definitely still create the write-up and share on SN how you've been thinking about these things. Thanks a bunch for sharing. And for jumping-in having stolen your thunder 🌩️
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812 sats \ 1 reply \ @Coinosphere 27 Dec 2023
No question about gun ownership?
I know it's not precisely a privacy thing but just like how the 2nd amendment protects the 1st, we'll need a gun to defend our privacy at some point.
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41 sats \ 0 replies \ @davidw OP 27 Dec 2023
I hear you. Should have made it into Section C.
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520 sats \ 0 replies \ @022a8a1886 27 Dec 2023
Thought a lot about this. The focal point in my thoughts is that we have to build mesh-networks. In Germany there is a movement called "Freifunk" ( https://freifunk.net/en/ ) . My opinion is that Bitcoiner should support/join/carry over.
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603 sats \ 0 replies \ @sebastix 26 Dec 2023
Yes!
A local / regional hardware, radio-powered network is key (LoraWan, espnow, ham) Podcast tip with @nvk on this topic: https://overcast.fm/+BCIyNyDijk
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1601 sats \ 0 replies \ @Nuttall 27 Dec 2023
I haven't gone through this whole thread yet, but this hits me:
  1. People who want the government to control more will use this information to validate their position to "Govern me harder, Daddy."
  2. The AI stuff is funny to me. If you are not training your mind to accumulate information, understand code, signals, environment then AI ain't going to help. That being said, I'm 53 and AI is a buzzword that comes and goes with computers. Watch 2001 or read that book from the 1960s.
  3. Practicing hatha yoga, breath exercises, meditation, physical exercise, martial arts and human interaction is a soft skill that needs to be cultivated.
  4. Read books.
  5. Learn a few languages. Not to master them but to understand that the languages are not so different. In ancient Egyptian (The Ancient Khem Civilization + Got Chemistry?) the word for cat is "meow". In Thai language the word for cat is "meow".
  6. Learn how to say no and walk away (negotiating techniques for the marketplace).
  7. Learn occult symbols. They are all over the place. The dark and light occultists do not care about electricity, internet or many things that they use to control the population. Sounds conspiratorial but central banking is definitely involved in this practice.
  8. Civilization dismantled is a constant process that happens slowly, historically.
  9. Trauma happens quickly so understanding it and how it is used against you is helpful.
  10. This original list might be overwhelming as has been stated in following replies but that;s how waking up works. The way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
  11. Things are nice and light is nice. I served in a "Light" division of the US ARMY National Guard. That meant that we could be carried off and dropped anywhere by helicopter. Light infantry takes 8 hours to clean up after an operation. Mechanized infantry takes a week. One incendiary grenade can ruin a mechanized vehicle in about 15 minutes.
  12. Spiritual Practice! Literally this means breathing practice. Hence conspire is to breath with others. Have a practice and it will save your life. It doesn't matter which one but it should be YOUR OWN and not one that has been dogmatically given to you.
  13. The monopoly of violence must always be considered. Having been incarcerated I can attest that having a spiritual practice will save your life. The better your practice the more respect you will get in the joint.
  14. Fear... Fear is natural but it is also the amygdala hijacked. Learn how your mind works! Learn about the R complex of your brain. Constantly in fight or flight is the mode of most people by design. Learn how to lower your time preference and get off of the treadmill.
  15. At No Agenda the motto of Connection is Protection is significant. There are meetups all over the place. https://noagendameetups.com/ You will meet knights, dames, douche bags, producers, ham radio operators, spooks, dudes named "Ben", pilots, air traffic controllers, moms, dads, human resources, gold bugs, shitcoiners, bitcoiners, nocoiners and amygdala shrinking gurus.
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1233 sats \ 0 replies \ @aljaz 26 Dec 2023
As this is a very broad and long topic i think it would be beneficial to classify things into different categories or give them additional parameters according to practicality, purpose, feasibility.
Some are things that you should be doing anyway and are more about daily habits, for example:
  • using privacy tools
  • having backups (and a tested way to recover data not just bitcoin)
  • planning for financial independence besides ngu
  • having some supplies at home
  • self custody
Some things depend heavily on your lifestyle/situation:
  • mining is pretty prohibitive in high energy price jurisdictions, its also a decent upfront chunk for a lot of people
  • if you travel/move a lot then a lot of things like energy independence, mining, food supply, community, transportation options doesn't really make sense
  • even self custody becomes cumbersome to some extent
  • using social media fro business purposes, staying in touch with family etc
Some are very costly/complicated:
  • having a bug out place, second citizenship, places to live in multiple countries
  • doing proper 5 flags setup
  • its very impractical to impossible to securely store fuel in small apartment or apartment buildings
While someone like myself who puts a highest value on freedom and has the technical background can tackle most of them (given some constraints) for majority of people a long list like this is just overwhelming, specially since i'm guessing most people (even on here) fail at a large percentage of them. Things need to be broken down realistically and have much more practical approach to them. Majority of world population doesn't have the knowhow or resources to do most of these things.
There are lots of nuances in many of these things and approaches that are better tailored to different profiles of people. I don't expect anyone to build a redundant 100tb storage across multiple locations to backup everything needed to restart a civilization or having buried faraday cages with survival equipment, but educating people that its good to keep supplies at home (well covid did that), setting up backups etc.
A lot of this is also targeted specifically to SHTF when you are at home/in your town. But a lot of people travel a lot, the likely hood of something happening while you're away is not 0. Your bug out bag at home doesn't help shit if you are stuck in a foreign country where you don't know anyone and can't speak a word of a local language. Majority of prepper mentality is focused on preparing for X while the more practical approach that would likely be more effective is to focus on just improving your overall situation. Having a fortified bunker in the woods doesn't help much if your health is so poor that you can't even get to it. Being expert marksman but not knowing how to turn on the stove is also not gonna bring you far (unless you plan to shot people while they are preparing their dinner every night). For example I never drive around my car with less than half a tank of gas so whatever happens i can always drive couple 100kms without needing to stop for gas. Its a trivial behavior adjustment but can mean a lot, and its much more practical than having jerrycans of gasoline on my balcony.
That being said - as mentioned in the other comment I want to build a knowledge repository and actually make it simple and usable for people to replicate it entirely or just parts of it and would be happy to collaborate on this with fellow stackers
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520 sats \ 6 replies \ @TNStacker 26 Dec 2023
Because of this possibility, I am not a maxi. I stack precious metal and emergency amounts of cash in two physical locations separated by a 5 hour drive. I keep transactional amounts of metal, 1/10 oz gold coins/small well-recognized silver bars + cash, in my go bag.
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1502 sats \ 5 replies \ @freetx 26 Dec 2023
The concept of trade returning to silver/gold in a lights out scenario is rational, but unrealistic.
I think the order or priorities would be:
  • Canned food, dry food
  • Ammo
  • Access to hunting / fishing areas
  • Solar / Fuel sources
  • Arable Land
  • Cash / Gold / Silver
By the time local economies have sprung up enough for trade to resume, yes Gold / Silver may make a big come back but that wouldn't happen until 6+ months in a total lights out scenario.
There are many other things that will become practically more important, like having the ability to fix / repair things. Knowing how to skin an animal, having reliable fuel sources, etc....
I'm not anti-gold and believe it may be logical to have a few thousand dollars worth as an emergency backup. However until you secured the first things on that list I wouldn't even bother...
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20 sats \ 4 replies \ @TNStacker 26 Dec 2023
Appreciate your opinion, but I know for a fact it is way more than logical. It is highly practical. There is a huge network of people who deal and trade in metal anonymously. I maintain trade relationships locally, nationay and internationally so if we must to go beyond our stores of ammo, dry foods, etc., my family can.
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30 sats \ 3 replies \ @freetx 26 Dec 2023
I maintain trade relationships locally, nationay and internationally
Well the scenario I'm speaking about is: "the lights go out and dont come back on". There will be no national nor international contact in that scenario.
I think a situation where there is still power, but no internet is different and more unlikely to persist for more than a few weeks at most.
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20 sats \ 2 replies \ @TNStacker 26 Dec 2023 freebie
Except I own a sail boat, sir. I just might travel in your lights out senario. Again, I appreciate your opinion.
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30 sats \ 1 reply \ @davidw OP 26 Dec 2023
Silly q, but how much time does it typically take to get comfortable going out into the open seas?
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184 sats \ 0 replies \ @TNStacker 26 Dec 2023
My pops was in the Navy. I have always been comfortable with the idea of the open seas, so I really wouldn't know.
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520 sats \ 1 reply \ @HardRich 26 Dec 2023
I did the same thing - listened to Witney Webb just recently and have been thinking about a more offline life. I finally downloaded GPT4All and have been using it (pretty cool tool to use offline).
I'm hoping to find a way to download Wikipedia, get lots of e-books, maps, etc. I know I can get physical products (I have some) but they tend to take up a lot of space - thinking it'd be nice to have a lot of digital stuff that I can use offline.
I still have a lot of work to do, but I'm making progress.
Anyone have any suggestions for multiple NAS back-ups that I could put around my property? I'd be nice to have redundancy in case my house burns down or something. It'd be nice if the NAS drives could work over wifi and not require an internet connection.
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219 sats \ 0 replies \ @sudocarlos 26 Dec 2023
Check out this podcast and show note links for some sources hosting offline wiki and maps content and more.
https://inteltechniques.com/blog/2023/06/16/the-privacy-security-osint-show-episode-300/
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360 sats \ 1 reply \ @da15022c89 26 Dec 2023
something else to consider would be AI on your laptop, imagine being able to ask any questions from an offline AI. I recently setup the following on my mac in 15 minutes and its even an older intel mac but still works decent. The below is based on an AI audible podcast I listened to. https://gpt4all.io/index.html
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @davidw OP 26 Dec 2023
Absolutely. It's slow but a really cool tool. Particularly if using many external drives.
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1040 sats \ 1 reply \ @HR4BTC 26 Dec 2023
Radio will be key. for more info:
https://stacker.news/~radio
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296 sats \ 0 replies \ @garyKrause_ 26 Dec 2023
👆
To elaborate on this a bit. Getting radio certified to practice (within the guardrails of fiat from governments) using digital modes might be a huge difference in an otherwise disconnexted world. If you have power and the right equipment, you can transmit data. With UTreeXO and other data minimization techniques the bitcoin network can still persist. Especially coupled with Blockstreams satellite for IBD.
Look forward to lurking here and learning.
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355 sats \ 0 replies \ @GrinSingularity 26 Dec 2023
I don't think things will be complicated. We will go through a period of readjustment and from there life will return to a different rhythm as we lived a few years ago. In a hypothetical scenario, future generations will not face problems since they will be born in a world without the internet.
i. I believe that people whose jobs are exclusively related to the internet will simply not be able to work. ii. Soon banks will revert to bureaucracy (this will take some time) as will all sorts of services. iii. The lucky ones in such a case will be those who are not so much in touch with the internet. Those who still have cash under their pillow and those who have collectibles or items of value. iv. Influencers and social media addicts will potentially make daily suicide attempts. v. Those confined to their homes and wired internet addicts will be forced to go out for at least one walk to socialize vi. The first period of time the streets will possibly be in total chaos... From traffic on the streets to robberies and offences that will multiply due to no camera surveillance. vii. The socialization of humanity will be quite large. From there, new things or rather things that have already been forgotten will emerge...
These are my first, rough thoughts.
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335 sats \ 1 reply \ @jakoyoh629 26 Dec 2023
It's a complex situation for which it's almost impossible to be prepared, but I think the solution lies in the transmission of data via radio waves. Governments can always control the internet through ISPs. We need an internet that isn't dependent on that.

Build a Long-Distance Data Network Using Ham Radio Send data via IPv4 up to 300 kilometers with easy-to-assemble hardware

https://spectrum.ieee.org/build-a-longdistance-data-network-using-ham-radio
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31 sats \ 0 replies \ @davidw OP 26 Dec 2023
Mmm Xmas Ham.
That's pretty awesome. Hope we see this become easier. Would be great to have something like that locally, particularly if an operator can bypass the "licence" requirement.
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40 sats \ 0 replies \ @davidw OP 26 Dec 2023
To start 2024 I'm going to create a stash of digital content soon on local hard-drives. Hope I won't need them, but something I have not prioritised in years.
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186 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 26 Dec 2023
This is awesome, I love it. I will be reading in detail. However, it's inspiring me to write up another idea for those people who are promoting privacy, which is this:
I mostly hear about why privacy is important, from people that really care about privacy. And who probably already have very good practices.
It would be really motivating to hear stories about people who were NOT careful about privacy, and who paid the price.
Kind of like "loose lips sink ships", but with a story behind it. Like for instance, Jose in Venezuela posted on his Facebook page about his business, exchanging bitcoin for fiat, and was arrested. Stuff like that. Real people who committed real privacy errors, and how/why we should be aware of that.
Not to shame people or anything, of course, just to give it some emotional impact, so it hits home, and we actually do something.
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @davidw OP 26 Dec 2023 freebie
There are plenty of examples including physical-bitcoin-attacks on GitHub.
We may also see mainstream media providing all the examples we need on this type of thing in future. Many people need fear as a trigger, but for many I'd rather they just remain proactive.
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51 sats \ 0 replies \ @Cowboy 26 Dec 2023
It could be the next disaster, but still there are backup already for it.
Bitcoin is going to stay!
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184 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinIsTheFuture 26 Dec 2023
Yeah listed to her on What Bitcoin did on Fountain. I have some work to do, thanks! Here you go: https://fountain.fm/show/LnQlDKTvuF5JwGBaVGv7
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184 sats \ 1 reply \ @phatom 26 Dec 2023
This will bring the dark ages back so I pray you become a end of world survivalist or hoarder
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @davidw OP 26 Dec 2023
It's in no-one's interests to keep it offline for very long at all. People will be mobilised to make new services operational, at both a country and an individual level. We may just not recognise the internet as we know it if it were to happen. So I'm beginning to think having some redundancy and alternatives is important for us all.
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184 sats \ 0 replies \ @OT 26 Dec 2023
I'd be better prepared than most, but TBH still be ducked too!
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184 sats \ 1 reply \ @sudocarlos 26 Dec 2023
We have to fight all of the encroachments on digital privacy. We can't be OK with providing government ID to access the internet or certain sites just to prove we are of age or from a specific jurisdiction. We can't allow backdoors for the good guys because bad guys might be using end to end encryption. The narratives pushed by corporate media for requiring these things to make the population "safe" are working on the majority and we need our own to push back and help everyone see through the bullshit
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Nuttall 27 Dec 2023
We also can't worry about what is legal because legal and NATURAL LAW by GOD is not the same thing. I don't mean Natural Selection but I mean the laws of the Universe. We need code that is open source and protocols that work regardless of the "guard rails".
You are absolutely right about the back doors. There are plenty. All written law is meant to control those who want to be controlled or are doing so by ignorance. Written law is also a misdirection for the activities that will go on anyway by organized crime (government).
So in summation we have to say, "no".
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41 sats \ 1 reply \ @POTUS 26 Dec 2023
"Do they have solid local encryption enabled"
How would you recommend doing this?
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20 sats \ 0 replies \ @davidw OP 26 Dec 2023
Veracrypt may not be the sexiest solution but probably your best bet and the one I have had most success with. For local files it is great, but if you must use online backups, you can create a container and host it as a big blob of nothingness on a server.
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52 sats \ 0 replies \ @sudonaka 27 Dec 2023
Really appreciate the hard work just wanted to mention that Whitney Webb is a fear-monger. Those types are helping the tyrants by keeping us scared and intimidated.
Have you considered the fact that you a free person?
A lot of this is about “how to comply” or “how to get away with not complying” when what we need to do is free Assange and Ulbricht.
Yes there might be a few martyrs but the tyrants will be overthrown just as they have always been.
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31 sats \ 0 replies \ @okpj 27 Dec 2023 freebie
question: how many bitcoiners does it take to decentralize the internet?
answer: not good at math but the incentives are insane.
tell me how and ill put up an antenna -- a worthy investment.
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587 sats \ 0 replies \ @antic 26 Dec 2023 freebie
I'm a big fan of https://internet-in-a-box.org/ I ordered a couple of the pi zero pre-setups for my ham radio group.
https://m.stacker.news/9619
https://kiwix.org/en/ is also handy for archiving content for offline.
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30 sats \ 0 replies \ @HR4BTC 27 Dec 2023
After thinking about it some more, in addition to the bitcoin and radio, I think will want some food. I found this option. From what I hear, it is long lasting (30+ yrs), quality food at reasonable prices.
Has anyone tried this? Any good recipes?
https://providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org/self-reliance/home-storage-centers?lang=eng
http://store.churchofjesuschrist.org/usa/en/food-storage-3074457345616678849-1
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @PlebeiusG 27 Dec 2023
We’re screwed if this happens. Same if power goes out.
Your life will change. You cannot prepare for this unless you’re the 1% wealthy or a prepper.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @TheCryptoPress 27 Dec 2023
What's scary is this will probably be the first way an advanced AI negatively effects us.
Soon they will be able to find and use 0day software/hardware vulnerabilities, from here it will spread and reproduce and take steps to remain undetected. It likely won't 'attack' but it will put itself in a position where if it became threatened, it could.
The only response is a forced internet shutdown, as there will be no way to clear systems without the AI learning it is being removed, and begin morphing into a version that will not be detected, or thousands of different versions.
Once found, they need to pull the plug on all of us, before saying why - just out of nowhere the will be no internet.
With the AI in the dark and unable to receive any news, mail out USB drives with the anti-virus that will remove it.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @GlobalThreat 27 Dec 2023
http://library.lol/main/81C115AF9D5B78AE80A0CF571CEEC948
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @GlobalThreat 27 Dec 2023
i'm download the ham radio bible as we speak lol
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @ceife 27 Dec 2023
Yes, n no btc anymore 😭
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @wingalt 27 Dec 2023
Whitney Webb is one of the few great investigative journalists, sometimes/often speculative and I don't agree with all of it but she always gives good food for thoughts. What a great list thank you! Ironically in a SHTF scenario the government squeeze will create a huge counter-reaction. It might still work in some places but it many others (including the US) there are a lot of dormant freedom fighters for whom things have not gotten bad enough for them to wake up. Modern tyrants are much more efficient slowly taking rights from the people and most don't notice, in an acute situation it will turn into a fight and we the people will run them over
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @TheWildHustle 26 Dec 2023
I'd try to find some way to mine bitcoin, then i'd worry about food/shelter and whatnot
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @Fabs 26 Dec 2023
I'm dreaming about building a small concrete bunker-like structure above-ground... I'd really get off on it... Stacking some food and gear... Hmm, maybe, maybe, maybe.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @lunanto 26 Dec 2023
A complete internet outage would have a devastating impact on our daily lives. Businesses would grind to a halt, e-commerce would cease, supply chains would be thrown into disarray, and people would be cut off from friends and family. Access to information would be limited, online communities would be disrupted, and critical infrastructure systems would be vulnerable to failure.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @jtwoodhouse 27 Dec 2023 freebie
This scenario reminds me of this quote about Peyton Manning when he was on the Colts.
As we watched, we were surprised to see Manning taking virtually all the reps in the session. Jon [Gruden] asked Tom [Moore, the Colts offensive coordinator,] why he wasn’t giving some snaps to Peyton’s backups…He looked at us both in the eye, paused for a moment, then said in that gravelly voice of his, “Fellas, if ‘18’ goes down, we’re fucked. And we don’t practice fucked.”
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @TsampaEater 27 Dec 2023 freebie
Internet in nutshell is data sharing, data transmission will never be stopped...
0 sats \ 0 replies \ @peacemaker9964 27 Dec 2023 freebie
I think If the entire Internet went offline or gated, we'd witness a global 'Ctrl+Alt+Delete' moment. Suddenly, we'd have more time to rediscover that mysterious place called 'outside' and engage in the ancient art of face-to-face conversation. Social skills would skyrocket, and we might even resurrect the lost art of reading paper-bound books. On the downside, cat memes would face extinction, and we'd have to rely on our own memories for random trivia. It's the digital apocalypse – time to sharpen those survival skills!
0 sats \ 0 replies \ @dinhcongtri88 27 Dec 2023 freebie
It depends on each person's perception, but most of the trends are definitely going up.
10 sats \ 1 reply \ @hisatoshi 27 Dec 2023
While it's difficult to predict the exact outcome, it's important to acknowledge that the internet is a critical infrastructure and its unavailability could have significant impacts on our daily lives and the global economy. It's crucial for individuals, organizations, and governments to be prepared for such scenarios and have contingency plans in place. Additionally, it's important to consider the potential consequences of a centralized internet and the risks of over-reliance on a single company or technology.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @hisatoshi 27 Dec 2023
A restricted internet could lead to a lack of access to information and resources, which could be particularly challenging for marginalized communities and individuals who rely on the internet for access to healthcare, education, and other essential services. Additionally, a restricted internet could lead to a decrease in innovation and creativity, as well as a loss of privacy and autonomy. I do not accept being restricted from the outside world
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @robbinskeelingmelvin5635 27 Dec 2023 outlawed
stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.
0 sats \ 0 replies \ @chastityheinthomas0p 27 Dec 2023 outlawed
stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.
130 sats \ 0 replies \ @fishyness 26 Dec 2023
deleted by author
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