Decentralized Internet provider “Medium” - three months later

On May 1, 2019, the current President of the Russian Federation signed Federal Law No. 90- “On Amendments to the Federal Law“ On Communications ”and Federal Law“ On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection ” , also known as the draft law“ On sovereign Runet ” .

Based on the provision that the above law should come into force on November 1, 2019, a group of Russian enthusiasts in April of this year decided to create the first decentralized Internet service provider in Russia , also known as “Medium” .

Medium at no cost provides users with access to I2P network resources, which makes it impossible to calculate not only the router where the traffic came from (see the basic principles of garlic traffic routing ), but also the end user - the Medium subscriber.
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At the time of publication of the article, Medium already has several access points in Kolomna , Ozyory , Tyumen , Samara , Khanty-Mansiysk and Riga .

More details about the history of the formation of the network «Medium» can be found under the cat.

Privacy on the Internet is not a myth

“There was no classical or medieval Latin word equivalent to“ privacy ”; “Privatio” meant “take away” - Georges Duby , the author of the work “The History of Private Life: Revelations of the Medieval World”.

It should not be forgotten that the only right way to ensure your own privacy when using the Internet is to set up your working environment properly and follow basic information hygiene rules .

"The rescue of a drowning man is the work of the drowning man himself." No matter how many “good corporations” regretted their users with promises of confidentiality regarding the use of their personal data, only decentralized networks and open source solutions that imply the possibility of conducting an independent information security audit can truly be trusted.

The presence of a centralized system also implies the existence of a single point of failure, which at the first opportunity turned up will become a source of data leakage. Any centralized system is compromised by default, regardless of how well the information security infrastructure is developed in it. In fact, you can only trust two generous gifts from nature - humanity: mathematics and logic.

“They are watching? And what am I with that? After all, I am a law-abiding citizen ... "

Try asking yourself the following question - do government agencies today have enough information security expertise to guarantee the end user privacy and confidentiality regarding his personal data that they already collect ? Do they responsibly approach this case ?

It seems not quite . Our personal data does not cost you anything .

The approach of a “law-abiding citizen” is more or less acceptable in a society where the state apparatus is really used by citizens as a basic tool for the protection of their rights and freedoms.

Now we are faced with an extremely important task - to clearly define and defend our position regarding the free Internet.

“The ice has broken, gentlemen of the jury!”

Community members «Medium» take an active part in the life of the network.

Here is what we have already done :

1. In three months, we raised a total of 11 points of the Medium network in Russia and one in Latvia.
2. We restarted medium.i2p web service - now it has a .b32 address starting with “Medium” - mediumsqsqgxwwhioefin4qu2wql4nybk5fff7tgwbg2f6bgkboa.b32.i2p
3. We launched the web service connectivitycheck.medium.i2p for network operators “Medium”, which, if there is an active connection to the I2P network, returns an HTTP 204 response code. This functionality can be used by operators to test and maintain the health of their access points.
4. We held a meeting of the system operators of the Medium network points in Moscow
5. We have updated the project logo
6. We published the English version of the previous article about "Medium" on Habré

But what we have to do :

1. Increase the total number of access points in Russia
2. Discuss long-term plans for the development of the network "Medium"
3. Discuss the most common legal issues that may affect the work of the network «Medium»
4. Discuss providing Medium points of access to the Yggdrasil network
5. Discuss issues related to information security within the Medium network
6. Develop an OpenWRT fork with i2pd on board for fast deployment of Medium network points

Free Internet in Russia begins with you

You can provide all possible assistance to the establishment of a free Internet in Russia today. We have compiled an exhaustive list of what exactly you can help the network:

• Share your Medium network with your friends and colleagues. Share the link to this article in social networks or personal blog.
• Participate in the discussion of technical issues of the “Medium” network on GitHub
• Participate in the development of the OpenWRT distribution , designed to work with the network "Medium"
• Raise your Medium Network Access Point

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Be extremely careful: the article is written solely for educational purposes. Do not forget that ignorance is power, freedom is slavery, and war is peace.

For you already left.