[Freedombox-discuss] Establishing Communication between Freedomboxes

[bertagaz at ptitcanardnoir.org]

On Sat, Jul 02, 2011 at 05:22:34PM +0200, Marc Manthey wrote:
> 
> On Jul 2, 2011, at 4:14 PM, Lukas Nagl wrote:
> 
> >
> >There are various ways to do this. Some centralized, some
> >decentralized, some require people meeting each other and some
> >don't.
> >
> >What possibilities do you see, and what do you propose?
> 
> an  idea.
> 
> 
> Every freedombox has some unique identifier or even a profile whitch
> could be so " annonymous"  as the user  want,
> it could be like a Vcard, avatar/profilepict , with public keys,
> tags, information about the user what he "likes" or is "interested"
> in.
> Remember it should be social !! ....;)

This Freedombox unique identifier could be a dedicated GnuPG key. In fact,

 * Each Freedombox could own several GnuPG key.
 
 * Each Freedombox GnuPG key can have several UIDs, describing what services
   are available under this Freedombox name.

 * This service UID would be signed by the GnuPG keys of its users.

 * A Freedombox user has several GnuPG key, one per identity.

 * An identity can use services from several different Freedomboxes.

 * Signing a Freedombox service UID with one of her identity GnuPG key
   advertises how it can be contacted (i.e has signed the
   https://some.freedombox.org service GnuPG key UID, where her webpages are
   hosted)..

 * Using the GnuPG key "keyserver" preference, users can define if this
   identity is public (and so uses the sks keyservers pool), or part of a
   private community (and thus designate a private sks server).

This is a very rough idea, so there might be downsides or issues, but it
sounds like a possible area where to dig. 

It might be compatible with MonkeySphere too.

> This information could be retrieved via an url  for e.g.  ://
> marxbox.freedom

Or in this case by querying sks key servers.

> Keep in mind that a freedombox can be used from several different
> people.
> 
> So this start dialog is nesessary after reboot or user change.
> 
> Then you hit  the "connect to freedom " button and you will be
> connected to a kind of "opendirectory " ? or some sort of thing
> where you see all the connected freedomboxes in realtime and can
> browse/explore or search them
> 
> I believe its absolutly unpracticle to exchange "keys" in real life
> because most of us might possibly never meet because
> we life on a different continent, in a different timezone , or speak
> another language. (But of course it should be optional )

Using the GnuPG signature mechanism could probably help in this area.

> So we can browse the "freedombox directory"  for services and
> information and request a "connenction" with another freedombox,
> these "peered" boxes we categorise  in different "colored circles"
> or whatver cloud symbols to  relations like ,
> ( my computer enthusiasts , my cricket club, my whisteblowers , my
> chinese connection .e.t.c )

Browse the "freedombox directory" -> explore the public Web Of Trust. 

> So we use a centalised "meeting point / rendevous server" ( identity
> provider? maybe to verify the software  compactibility also )
> for first connect or to explore NEW freedomboxes when we want to
> grow our network. (maybe we could display connectivity data/ranking
> so everybody who wants to connect to a specific box could see how
> much "worth" a conenction is , depending if  the box is connected to
> a fibrewire network for example or just connected via a 56k modem

> AND
> 
> build an independent peer 2 peer network from our personal relations
> and connenction, whitch could be totally independent if we have
> enough "neighbours " and thruput......So our network getting faster
> and better and more reliable  with any connection we make :)
> 
> 
> 
> greetings
> 
> Marc
> 
> 
> 
> --  Les enfants teribbles - research / deployment
> Marc Manthey- Vogelsangerstrasse 97
> 50823 Köln - Germany
> Tel.:0049-221-29891489
> Mobil:0049-1577-3329231
> blog: http://let.de
> twitter: http://twitter.com/macbroadcast/
> 
> 

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