# Critical Sarcasm for the knees

# Old Ass Sudotask

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## Oh The Outernet

Outernet is an interesting concept. Free information to all peoples in the world without censorship. They are currently running a campaign to launch more cubesats, produce this lantern device, and general funding.

Why is Outernet interesting? The technological concept behind it all is essentially broadcast Internet. Devices such as the lantern, as well as diy satellite dish setups, receive the broadcast information and store it locally.

The data stored on the device is able to rebroadcast this content via wifi. Any device close enough to connect will be able to browse all of the stored data. This will allow for a library in every village, or in the case of the lantern, a library in every home.

While, in theory, anything could be broadcast with a setup like this, they claim that they will be focusing on what is most important. At the moment, they find things such as Wikipedia, farming information, and the weather to fit that criteria. As they progress they intend to have a democratic system on what else to broadcast from the Internet in addition to news, weather, etc.

Living in first world nations, where everyone is connected, some may ask: Why bother? Why not just use the Internet? Anonymity. Outernet is a one way system. If I collect information in my lantern device, and then browse it with my Firefox phone, no one can track that. This really is the most amazing part of the system, unfortunately it's likely not to be all that useful.

There are many flaws in the Outernet plan and I would like to highlight a couple:

No censorship. Any country that doesn't want their people viewing the information could easily jam the signal. Also, if the data is sent to the satellites by one company, Outernet, that makes them the gate keepers. Outernet gets to decide what information people get, and what information people don't get. Even if Outernet is forever the benevolent gate keeper, governments don't seem to have much trouble yanking the keys from any company it fancies, so that's a bit of a bust.

Anonymity It is true, there is no way to track who receives the data, but... In the remote third world village people are starting to get smart phones. Chances are that they don't have any satellite dishes lying around so they connect to the village Outernet receiver to gain information. Those base stations could potentially track individual phones that connect to it. It is possible for a system to remember which mac addresses connect to it, the data it typically seeks, and the times that data is referenced. If someone was looking at a lot of anti-government propaganda, it wouldn't be hard for the local government to out that person based on the meta data alone.

So I funded the Outernet Indie go go. I'm skeptical that it'll work all that well, but I'm still hopeful. Worst case scenario, assuming the device ships, I have a fun little solar object for me to dissect. I would also like to direct you to a Nay sayer about the project as well as the response from an Outernet employee.

So how about you? Would you risk an investment with Outernet? Comment below! (or wherever)