? about PB and PBdotnet

Hi all. Found an article about Piratebox on BGR and started looking in to building one.
Going through the forum here, I can honestly say this stuff is way beyond my abilities.
My first question is going to be about pricing at "PirateBox.net"

[www.thepiratebox.net]

Is this correct? Once a box is built up, I will have to sign up this service/price plan?

The next question is signal strength. If I live out in the boonies and have always been playing catch up with technology
(meaning, going from dial up to satellite to hybrid satellite and now to tethering through smartphone) is the PB really going to work for me?

Last question will be: Since the Gestapo has gone after Megaupload and many more, what's to stop them from going after DDarts/PB and force the forums and sites down?
Thanks in advance for any help with answering these questions
zonker

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

These are some good questions, and I will answer them as you have listed them:

1. thePirateBox.net is just a parked domain for me, there is no website there. Regardless, I can tell you this right now:
There will never be a service or price plan for the PirateBox. It is entirely open-source and free. The only cost involved is actually making one (hardware) and the time spent on it.

2. The PirateBox is entirely offline. It's only got what you or others put on it (and it's only the administrator of the box that can delete files). What this means is that you might be the only user on the box, as it's LOCAL. Anybody can access it, but they have to be within around 50m of the device.

3. They have no case against the PirateBox. There are absolutely no laws that can be interpreted to be against it. What's more, it's entirely impossible to block. The feds can neither search for it, nor have the authority to take it (unless you host CP on it, I guess). BUT, even if the feds ever start to ban any HTTP connections sans internet, I can assuredly say that they would have an impossible time to find the devices. In theory, the PirateBoxes could be completely hidden too, and only accessible if you knew the password and location. Additionally, if this site or any like it were taken down time and time again, we'd move to the deep web (TOR/Onion accessible).

3. TL;DR: The Pirate Box isn't illegal in any sort of way, and very, very hard to track/find. The feds would have to search the entire world physically. Moreover, the Pirate Box can be made extremely hard to find, and if it were found, you can always encrypt the volumes with TrueCrypt, making the device entirely secure. You can also remote control a small explosive device to be triggered if anyone tampered with it or you saw the feds coming.

Thanks for the quick reply Kanud. So what your telling me is this thing will not be a viable option out here in the boondocks? The closest house from me is farther then 50 meters and non cetainly will have a PBox.

Also, your telling me I don't go through my wireless smartphone at all?
I really don't understand that part at all.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

I think you're misunderstanding what the PirateBox is. It is not connected to the internet in any sort of way. It creates it's own wireless network that you can access, and upload/download files to. It's basically just a flash drive, like the one you connect to your computer, but instead of going directly via a USB-port into a computer, it goes via WiFi (http, port 80 technically).

Kanud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In theory,
> the PirateBoxes could be completely hidden too,
> and only accessible if you knew the password and
> location. Additionally, if this site or any like
> it were taken down time and time again, we'd move
> to the deep web (TOR/Onion accessible).


Can you explain how can we add a password ?

If we

    vi /etc/config/wireless 

we change change line 12

 option disabled 0 

but how can I set the password ?

thks

@kanud: You have thepiratebox.net -- lol! I'm looking forward to your website

Yes, piratebox is locally only. The range of 50m can be increased with other antennas...

Mh! Law is different in the countries. If you provide copyright protected material on your box, police may shutdown your box also... but the problem is detecting or finding your device- a stranger may advice the box to the police.
But the dissuasion-lawer in germany won't find you and the problem is solved.
Not only CP is a problem- porn is a problem, too. You have to protect children from it...

Using an encrypted usb will not prevent to police to get a dump via the open wlan. But you might have CPU power problems.

With adding a password to your wlan, only informed people can use it... do you really want it?

Quote
Matthias
@kanud: You have thepiratebox.net -- lol! I'm looking forward to your website

Oh, no, it isn't mine. I'd use a more original name than "thepiratebox.net". Plus, I dislike .com, .net & .org since they are in the jurisdiction of the US. I'll probably use the good ol' .se when I setup the website for the custom piratebox & Raspberry Pi(rate) OS

Kanud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'll probably use the good
> ol' .se when I setup the website for the custom
> piratebox & Raspberry Pi(rate) OS

"Raspberry Pi(rate) is clever

Kanud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'll probably use the good
> ol' .se when I setup the website for the custom
> piratebox & Raspberry Pi(rate) OS

"Raspberry Pi(rate)" is clever