Topic: How do we deal with an internet blackout? - page 5. (Read 6791 times)

The problem with the question is that there are so many scenarios.

You could have a scenario like Syria, Iran or Libya, or you could have something bigger.

In the case of the middle east blackouts it's probably as simple as buy a sat phone and hope it doesn't get jammed, or put a ham radio on the back of a truck and hope you don't get huff-duff located. Or carrier pigeon?  Don't need much bandwidth for an offline transaction, even encrypted with PGP.

However, I've found that things rarely work out how you expect. First of all blackouts are usually unexpected. Syrian rebels were lucky and saw it coming.

Still, you usually find you're missing someone's PGP key or your copy of Skype is out of date or whatever. Or the radio doesn't work because there power supply is too bad etc etc.

So you could pass offline transactions to someone who has connectivity to the blockchain.

But I'd like to think that Bitcoin could somehow carry on without the internet, per sec. People passing round the blockchain offline and doing offline transactions, something like a digital huwala, but the connectivity needed is so high it doesn't seem at all feasible.

How's about a series of bunkers with the blockchain passively updated over radio (receive only)? Or a copy downloadable via tor?

All this I think though isn't a big deal. I think a much bigger threat would be the USA outlawing/confiscating, shutting it down as much as possible, then 51% other attacks all at the same time

I think this is something that bitcoincard will address. Only one card in the ad-hoc network would need access to an internet connected node. It could be land-line, wireless, or even satellite based.

The only thing you can't do without the internet locally is spend your coins. You can receive them, you don't need to worry about the blockchain, you just can't spend them. For that you need someone who does have access to the network in order to send the transaction.

I could envision a service that would allow incoming telephone calls where users could just tell their public and private key in order to make a transaction.

I know da2ce spoke about some "sneaker net" type solutions using freenet but I think that project has died due to lack of interest. (see http://agoristradio.com/?p=347 )

With certain parts of the world currently dealing with internet blackouts it would be great to develop multiple strategies for broadcasting transactions. I know there is also the "bitcoincard" project which is interesting as well.

Here is another way of posing this question: What if the "internet" is shut down in your country tomorrow - what would you do with your bitcoin?

Yes, agreed. But let's talk about the specific methods of changing our mode of operation. What would you do to continue transacting/protecting your bitcoin? The average person only knows the internet that they pay a monthly fee for through an ISP.

EDIT: Perhaps a basic "how to" guide would be useful so dummies like me could prepare in advance. 

The Internet was invented precisely because it can not be blacked out. Though if you are talking about blacking out access to the Internet, then I guess that's a possibility. In that case, electronic bitcoin transaction will be impossible, though physical bitcoins can still be used as cash.

I know there's been some discussion on this at various sources but what are the latest strategies to prepare for, and deal with this type of scenario? Specifically, what are the specific actions that one can take so he can continue to transact with bitcoin?