i2p Includes Bittorrent File Sharing w/o DNS ID

Well this is a pleasant surprise. I’d known that i2p let you do anonymous Bittorrent file sharing / downloading. What I’d not appreciated was how easy they make it to do anonymous UPLOADING.

For a while now I’ve wanted to make some Raspberry Pi images that could just be “downloaded and launched” without all that configuration and such work. Basically instead of a “cookbook”, the results of the cooking.

BUT…

Running a Bittorrent Server requires some way to find you that involves either an IP address, a “Cloud Server instance”, or a “magnet link” that can then lead to the IP Address. I’m not so willing to “out myself”…

BUT…

Built in to i2p is a Bittorrent server, i2pSnark, and using the i2p handles, it is anonymous. Yay!

The “downside” is that in order to download from it, you must also already be using i2p. So a “bootstrap” into i2p via downloading a pre-built image is not possible using i2p. There’s still a “first install i2p”. Which, conveniently, is trivial. It is already in the repository for Debian / Devuan, so it’s just an “apt-get install” and you have it.

What this means is that now I’m going to make a few pre-built R. Pi images, compress them, and put them up for Bittorrent download over i2p.

There’s also a small issue that at i2p install / first launch time, it makes a crypto-key. You can’t just clone an image and go as then several folks end up with the same identity… and routing is confused. So what I’ll need to do is just make a little script to do that step and include it.

Now what I need to do is lay out all the things to put in such a build.

From i2p itself, we get encrypted email, bittorrent file sharing, Web Server, Dark Net services in the .i2p domain, IRC chat client, and a bit more. What I’m thinking of adding is:

Miniirc chat server
Pleroma Social Media Server (‘tweets’ / facebook) federated server
Firefox pre-configured to proxy into the .i2p network
Tor Browser pre-configured for faster anonymous regular clearnet-internet browsing

Any suggestions of other stuff to have pre-installed?

https://www.ghacks.net/2007/06/06/anonymous-bittorrent-with-i2psnark/

The i2p install:

Here is what has to be done to setup the anonymous bittorrent client:

Download the I2P installer for Windows or Linux

Install the application. Just run the executable in Windows

Go to the start menu and open the I2P folder there. Click on Start I2P (restartable)

You have to configure a local proxy now. You do that the following way:
Firefox: Go to Tools > Options. Click on Advanced > Network and select the Settings button under Connection. check Manual Proxy Configuration and add localhost as the HTTP Proxy and the port 4444
Internet Explorer: Click on Tools > Internet Options. Select Connections from the Tab and click on the LAN settings button. Activate Use a proxy server and enter the same data. (Localhost and 4444)
Opera: Select Tools > Preferences and click on the Advanced tab. Choose network from the menu and click on the Proxy Servers buttons. Add localhost and the port 4444 to the HTTP and all other protocols that you want to use.

Opening the console for i2p and launching the bittorrent instance:

Visit http://localhost:7657/index.jsp to load the main interface. You do have many options such as chatting anonymously on IRC or starting the anonymous bittorrent client.

Click on I2PSnark in the header to load the bittorrent interface.

You may now add Torrents by either browsing your local computer or pasting a url with the torrent information.

The speed seems to be a little bit lower than usual which is caused by the anonymization. I think that the download rates are still acceptable if you consider that you download and share anonymously.

For my installation, all I did was click on “torrents” in the left hand menu / bar in the main console and it launched the Torrents window, ready to add a ‘torrent’ file. I’ve run a bittorrent before, so it will be a short learning curve to find out how this one is different. Hopefully I’ll have some test file up sometime later today (or maybe tomorrow…)

i2p Torrents panel

The only real downside to this is that a large uSD image of, say 380 MB is going to take a long time at 38 kB / second… we’re talking a few hours…

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Gates To Gate Internet “Truth”

Someone is wrong on the Internet! And Bill Gates wants to “fix” it…

From:
https://xkcd.com/386/

From:
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/microsoft-heads-big-tech-project-to-judge-truthfulness-of-online-information

If this doesn’t scare the hell out of you, you are not fully awake yet.

Microsoft heads Big Tech project to judge truthfulness of online information

Critics view the Big Tech coalition’s ‘content provenance specifications’ as the makings of a dystopian future in which free thought is effectively banned.

Tue Feb 23, 2021 – 8:53 pm EST

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February 23, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Several of the world’s largest tech and media companies have joined forces in a new globalist effort to combat “disinformation, misinformation and online content fraud” in a move that has raised concerns about the complete governance of the internet.

A press release issued February 22 by Microsoft stated that the computer and software company would be joined by Adobe, Arm, BBC, Intel, Microsoft, and Truepic, who would together form the “Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA).” The C2PA would have as its aim the tackling of what Microsoft termed the “prevalence of disinformation, misinformation and online content fraud through developing technical standards for certifying thesource and history or provenance of media content.”

In order to effect this, the C2PA announced its plan to “establish a standardized provenance solution with the goal of combating misleading content.” Under the “solution” mentioned, the C2PA seeks to enable vast numbers of internet users to take part in locating any piece of information deemed “misinformation.” The statement reads: “C2PA member organizations will work together to develop content provenance specifications for common asset types and formats to enable publishers, creators and consumers to trace the origin and evolution of a piece of media, including images, videos, audio and documents.”

In other words, orchestrated organized Group Think based on the most fanatic screamers who volunteer or are paid by Soros & his NGOs. Resistance if futile, you will be absorbed into The Body…

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Friends Of Australia Friday LamMac & Angove Rose

It’s once again an Australia Time Friday! It’s FRIDAY!!!!

The Tucker

The Spouse wanted a Nostalgia Moment so asked that I re-create a comfort food dish from her childhood, but with lamb instead of beef. So her 1/2 pound of Lamburger (minced lamb) was divided into 2 to 3 cm bits and fried in olive oil. The exterior browned while the interior stayed moist and tender.

This was then added to a roughly equal volume of Kraft Mac & Cheese, stirred a little to make an even mix, and plated. Only added seasoning was a bit of salt on the lamb in the cook. It achieved the goal of a comfort food retro moment.

My 1/2 pound was seasoned with salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of dry garlic granules, cooked 3 to 4 minutes on a side, and placed on a “bun” made of the end bit of a loaf of home made bread (basic French Bread recipe but with an added Tbs of coconut oil in the mix to make a softer crust in a regular loaf pan). Mayo and Mustard.

The Wine

For something different tonight, I have a bottle of Angove Family Vinyard Nine Vines Grenache Shiraz Rose – 2018. A lovely peach color in the bottle and glass. Light fruity aroma. A little carbonation tingle on the tongue. Then… then…

Something unexpected happened.

At first I wasn’t sure why but it just seemed “wrong”. Not bad, but, “what?” Then I realized it wasn’t about the wine, it was all about me. I was bringing my Rose Bigotry with me. Most rose here tends to the sweet or at least semi-sweet like fruit punch with alcohol in it. This was not that. It wasn’t that, and that told my bias it was not getting what it expected.

The flavor is not pronounced, but present. A very nice light fruitiness to it. But with an acidic tang. Not tannic, yet semi-dry. There’s a hard to describe overtone of sweet, but not sweet. It isn’t cloying at you saying “Fruit Punch!”. Rather it is a light and delicate flavor with a hint of sweet fruit behind a tang of ambition. It feels dry in the mouth, yet it retains the essence of “something sweet was here a while ago”… I’ve not had a wine quite like this before. A surprise, given the miles on my tongue, that is most welcome! “Different is good!” (To quote Groundhog Day ;-)

A bit of cracker or cheese (or big bite of Lamburger with Mustard and Mayo) lites it up even more. This wine does like to wash down a bit of food. It doesn’t overpower the food like a brash young Zinfandel. It doesn’t bury it in sweet like a White Zin (which was what I’d expected as they have the same peach color). It just agrees to “go along to get along” and lights up the tongue with a bit of sparkle and touch of acid, topping it with a fruit nose and afterglow.

I’d not pair it with a Lasagna or with a Pizza or even with a Mexican Taco (and hot sauce) as then it might seem thin. But boy does it go with a Burger & Fries. It would also be at home with butter sauteed shrimp with a squeeze of lemon or a simple piece of fried chicken.

I’ll certainly be buying more of this one, for all those times when a Cab or Zin or Shiraz is just too much for the meal, and all those times when “Alcoholic Fruit Punch” is just too cloying. Something that pairs with Mac & Cheese, as much as with Garlic Butter Shrimp with Avacado & Lemon…

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A Tale Of 2 Strategies – Lockdown vs Open

To my eye, it looks like all a prolonged “lockdown” of an economy, with all the attendant economic destruction, managed to do was move the “hump” of infections further out in time. Instead of “one and done” we got 2 or three “humps” with long periods of misery in between. Take a look at these graphs and see if you can spot who has done “lockdown” vs who did not (or just could not).

Perhaps you can even spot when a particular location decided to ease restrictions and see if the general area under any given curve looks similar? I’d assert that places like Australia, still doing strong isolation, must either stay that way or go for massive vaccination programs, while those who have ‘past the hump’ and are ‘tailing off’ are likely already near herd immunity.

Poster Child for “No way to lock down or vaccinate”, India:

India Daily New Covid 25 Feb 2021

Or “Why Bother?” South Dakota:

South Dakota Daily New Covid 25 Feb 2021

Poster Child for “Lordy We MUST lock down”: U.K.:

U.K. Daily New Covid 25 Feb 2021

Or “Lockdown R Us” California:

California Daily New Covid 25 Feb 2021

Can you pick “lock down” (and maybe a bit of when) vs. “not” out of these? Or maybe when their people just said “Screw it, I want my life back” vs “still under lockdown”:

Florida Daily New Covid 25 Feb 2021

France Daily New Covid 25 Feb 2021

Italy Daily New Covid 25 Feb 2021

Michigan Daily New Covid 25 Feb 2021

Oman Daily New Covid 25 Feb 2021

New Mexico Daily New Cases 25 Feb 2021

New York Daily New Cases 25 Feb 2021

Spain Daily New Covid 25 Feb 2019

West Virginia Daily New Cases 25 Feb 2021

The interesting thing to me is just how much the USA and several other places look like this thing is “on the way out”. Well BEFORE any significant percentage of the population has been vaccinated and after “restrictions” have largely been removed or just ignored.

Honorable Mention to Australia. As an island, they were able to effectively shut themselves off from the rest of the world, and extirpate the virus in most areas. But now the question is “What happens if they rejoin the world?”. IMHO, they will either take their big lump then (which, it looks to me, is a small part of the population, about 500,000 / 350,000,000 = 0.14% if the USA data are good, or wait until they have vaccinated EVERYONE (and find out what the death and debility rate for the vaccines might be…)

Australia Daily New Cases 25 Feb 2021

Graphs from Worldometers:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

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