«Medium» — the first decentralized internet provider in Russia

Few local residents are unfamiliar with the rather controversial and already quite notorious bill higher level of isolation, as if one controller is broken, the problem is confined to that specific context). on the 'sovereign Runet'.

In this article, I would like to share information about the already functioning decentralized provider in Russia that allows access to network resources I2P, as well as invite interested citizens to join the project and boost their access point.

1) This is a long read.

Image: medium.i2p | CC BY-SA 2.0

What is this?

The 'Medium' project was originally conceived as a Mesh network downward API support (simultaneously with this in in the Kolomna urban district, however, after some time, it became quite obvious that there were not enough willing participants to realize the idea.

For this reason, after a while, 'Medium' transformed into an independent and free service provider for access to the I2P network — enthusiasts set up their wireless access points so that connecting to them allows for the use of I2P project resources.

From a security perspective, this approach has some fundamental drawbacks — for instance, it is possible to freely intercept traffic between the subscriber and the router they are currently connected to. It should be noted that Tor also has a similar problem — but concerning exit nodes..

This issue is mitigated by using a transport layer for security — TLS, SSL, et cetera this is quite enough to feel confident when using network resources. And, of course, one should not forget about PGP the principles of asymmetric cryptography when exchanging messages.

Thanks to I2P, it becomes impossible to determine not only the router from which the traffic originated (see the basic principles of 'garlic' traffic routing), but also the end user — the 'Medium' subscriber.

As a nice bonus, the impossibility of blocking the network and access to the computing resources of its participants — for this, it would be necessary to restrict the operation of the entire internet at a physical level. Turn it off and never turn it back on.

From a legal standpoint (according to Federal Law No. 97-FZ of May 5, 2014.), 'Medium', located on the territory of the Russian Federation, although partially falling under the legal restrictions, does have the following nuances to consider:

1. «Medium» is not a legal entity; each participant is an independent ISP with the same name.
2. Access points to «Medium» may be open (default connection does not require a password), but they are hidden: a person who does not know the name of the network will not be able to connect to it.
3. «Medium» provides access to the I2P network, not the Internet (although it is possible to access the network via outproxy — at the discretion of the operating «Medium» operator; for this reason, «Medium» can rightly be called an ISP).

Why is this needed?

We believe that the Internet should be politically neutral and free — the principles on which the global network was built are no longer tenable. They are outdated.. They are unsafe.. We live in a Legacy. Any centralized network is compromised by default — and this is one of the reasons why we are deploying «Medium».

We believe that privacy is one of the foundations without which a person's calm and measured life is impossible.

We believe that every individual has the right to privacy and integrity of their data.

We believe that «Medium» can notably assist in the development of the I2P network — for with each new established point, «Medium» creates a new transit node in the I2P network.

How is this?

The essence of the decentralized ISP «Medium» is to provide end users with the ability to utilize resources of the I2P network without direct payment for Internet traffic.

The ISP «Medium» concept is quite straightforward — many interested individuals are setting up their wireless access points to the I2P network without the ability to browse Internet traffic by default (using outproxy is permitted but not encouraged: «Medium» should promote the growth of transit points and sites in the I2P network). The infrastructure is deployed on a volunteer basis — pure enthusiasm.

At the very beginning of the project's establishment, particular attention was focused on ensuring users could freely use the resources of the I2P network — even if not exactly as envisioned when creating the concept of the 'invisible internet', but nevertheless circumventing the paradigms of the internet as we know it — which is already a good thing.

And also, to ensure that connecting subscribers to the network isn’t overly complicated: the ability to connect via Wi-Fi is no longer something extraordinary for an average user.

What we have: volunteers (system operators) who manage the access points in the 'Medium' network and the subscribers themselves who use the network's resources. Since I2P only utilizes a small portion of the overall channel capacity, system operators shouldn't find it difficult to keep 5-10 subscribers connected at the same time.

Where is this?

At this stage of development, 'Medium' has several access points in in Kolomna and one in Samara.

We hope for the active support of the community in developing the 'Medium' project — instructions for setting up your own authentic access point can be found here. There you can also submit a PR to add your point to the public list of all network access points.

I want to become a volunteer! What do I need to do?

Lift your access point and join the discussion of the project on GitHub. This thread discusses all the most significant nuances of the long-term development of the 'Medium' network.

Our friendsThank you theklacy for deploying access points in Samara.

Be extremely cautious: this article is written solely for educational purposes. Remember that ignorance is strength, freedom is slavery, and war is peace.

They are already on their way to you.

Source: habr.com