(10:30AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)
With the recent influx of my mailbox and the heart wrenching hopeless nature of some of the messages, I feel that the day has come upon us that this information needs to be given to you.
OpenNIC (a.k.a. “The OpenNIC Project”) is an organization of hobbyists who run an alternative DNS network. OpenNIC is owned and operated by the OpenNIC community. Membership is open to all who share an interest
in keeping DNS free for all users. Our goal is to provide you with quick and reliable DNS services and access to domains not administered by ICANN.OpenNIC provides resolution to all ICANN domains as well as OpenNIC’s own TLDs:
.geek, .free, .bbs, .parody, .oss, .indy, .fur, .ing, .micro, .dyn and .gopher
OpenNIC root servers are run by dedicated volunteers planet-wide. Since this is a volunteer effort, please be aware that server outages say occur from time to time.
OpenNIC is unable to guarantee the privacy of your Internet connection if you use one of our root servers, nor can we vouch for the integrity of the results you receive from OpenNIC. You absorb all risk
associated with use of OpenNIC servers. If this is of concern to you, we recommend setting up your own personal DNS server.Join us as we create a new surfing experience. OpenNIC domain registrations are free of charge — simply register your domain, agree to the terms of the specific TLD you’re registering with, and point your domain to whatever online services you have to offer.
This allows you to go “off the grid” and onto another internet that isn’t governed by ICANN. I have been making a new site for this place, that’s true, but here instead of on an ICANN registered domain.
Now you might be saying, “ok, but they can still monitor my traffic and will see me going to those domains”. Here, a simple “proxy” won’t work. That’s why there’s I2P:
I2P is an anonymizing network, offering a simple layer that identity-sensitive applications can use to securely communicate. All data is wrapped with several layers of encryption, and the network is both distributed and dynamic, with no trusted parties.
Many applications are available that interface with I2P, including mail, peer-peer, IRC chat, and others.
Now this brings us to communication during such a “blackout”. This can be done on something called
IRC.
You can get to know this chat client by using it by either downloading an IRC Client such as XChat, mIRC, Chatzilla, or if you want to have something that’s an IRC and more (like an AIM type chat client) there’s Pidgin.
You can use this IRC to talk to people who can help you setup the Open NIC on your computer in this IRC channel:
IRC – irc.freenode.net
Channel – #opennic
FAQ’s
Will this actually work if the “kill switch” is flipped?
Short answer? I don’t know, nobody does. From the reports on what something like this is and does are varied so it’s hard to say what they have to use in order to get this accomplished.
What we DO know is that they’re most likely going to “cut off parts of the internet” at certain points (such as the domain hosting a site) which could disconnect users from their sites.
Will any of this give me viruses, malware, spyware, etc. if I go onto the servers from Open NIC?
All I can say about this is no. These are Top Level Domains and if anything “malicious” is on there and got past the people who maintain it, it’s government/corporate hackers. It’s cleaner than the “actual” internet anyways.
How do you know all this and is there more you’re not telling us?
First rule of Fight Club….
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Author
‘Great Firewall’ ; we should keep an eye on what they’re up to.
I have to use a proxy sometimes, since some US sites block my country…
is actually wicked expensive. 12 volt camper batteries don’t really last that long without rigorous power management strategies. The water pump draws five amps, each light 2 amps, save of the experimental lights I have plus without me in the mix my fellow campers become agitated at having to do stuff they don’t normally have to. It is that breakdown of people dynamic I have to stress here. A 20 lb propane lasts about two weeks and ten gallons of gas properly managed might get you two weeks with that most efficient of generators, the Honda 2000. Otherwise you are screwed.
Two weeks.
…a truly neutral-access internet free of corporatist corruption and control.
One idea I had was to create a language that would work through wi-fi; if computers were in close enough proximity they could communicate by wi-fi, and relay to others in their own range. If enough were up and running the coverage area could be large, particularly in high-population-density areas. It would of necessity be slow, but completely free of middlemen; and if the idea spreads, it could become a hobby of people who would look for “dead zones” to set up in, thereby creating a relay station for “Free Net”. But that still has the problem of universality because of the necessity of being in proximity to others, which the alternative-DNS idea is not bound by.
Great idea. I’ll check it out–and hope it takes over!
T&R
God (fpz).
Or Spartacus.
Hopefully we won’t ever need it, but I’m gonna go check out those links.
OK, this diary was on the front page just a few minutes ago. Now it’s not. In fact, I can’t find it anywhere unless I look at my own comments page, wherein I commented in this diary and there’s a link to it. Sheesh.
Author
I get to see the glorious promotion below the title:
yay!