How do you communicate when your government censors the internet? With a peer-to-peer mesh broadcasting network that doesn’t use the internet. Perhaps there is a message here for everyone else, protestors and non-protestors alike: when your government is spying on you and even blocking your online cellular and internet access, use an alternate method of communicating.
Thanks to San Fransisco startup Bridgefy’s Bluetooth-based messaging app, the Hong Kong protesters can communicate with each other — and the public — without using any cellular network or even the Internet. Instead, they use the Bridgefy app installed on their cell phones or tablet computers. Bridgefy connects to other Bridgefy-connected devices over Bluetooth, not by wi-fi, not by a cellular network, and not via the Internet.
The Bridgefy app can connect people via standard Bluetooth across an entire city, thanks to a mesh network. Chatting is speediest with people who are close, of course, within a hundred meters (330 feet), but you can also chat with people who are farther away. Your messages will simply “hop” via other Bridgefy users’ phones until they find your intended target. You can communicate with one other specific individual or else “broadcast” messages to every Bridgefy-equipped person within range of other Bridgefy-equipped cell phones or tablets.
You can read more in an article by John Koetsier in the Forbes web site at: https://tinyurl.com/privacy190903.
You can learn more about Bridgefy for iPhones and iPads https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bridgefy/id975776347 and also learn about Bridgefy for Android at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.bridgefy.main&hl=en_US.
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Categories: Online Privacy & Security
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