The Sneakerweb

sneakerweb.org105 pointsby GalaxyNova24 comments

Discussion summary

Discussion about Sneakerweb, a peer-to-peer offline web sharing protocol, with users exploring its use cases and implementation details.

What the discussion says

  • Some see it as a modern take on sneakernet for sharing websites offline.
  • Others compare it to existing tools like NNCP or static site sharing.
  • There is interest in integrating it with tools like copyparty.
  • Users discuss the lack of packages and potential Linux support.
It is. Just with web tacked on to make it worse.
a96
Nice, modern day samizdat. Looks simple enough to use.
iamnothere

Comments

Hacker News

Seems like a mobile app is needed for this. My phone has tons of storage that is unused and always with me.

by philips

How does it work in practice is it like a whisper protocol for distributing sites among different USB drives. So my USB will start storing other sites when I meet someone to exchange data?

by hahahaa

It is. Just with web tacked on to make it worse.

by a96

Nice, modern day samizdat. Looks simple enough to use.

I wonder if there’s a Linux distro that includes tools like this. It’s not a bad idea.

by iamnothere

It would be cool to add this as a tool in copyparty! I have had a few friends come over and copy files from my home server they want to use.

by philips

How does this differ from just, say, giving someone an HTML dump of a static site? I don't quite understand what this protocol offers.

How exactly is it peer-to-peer if it's essentially an offline, transfer via hardware?

by ryanisnan

From what I can tell, you can basically take your USB drive of "websites" to your friend, and sync it with their local folder of "websites", and now you both have the most up to date versions of your combined group of "websites". (if your usb has Website A version 1 and Website B version 2, and you sync with someone who has Website A version 2 and Website C version 1, you'd both end up with Website A V2, Website B V2 and Website C V1)

The application also apparently has protections in place so you can't just create an updated version of someone else's website and distribute it the same way to impersonate them

by voidUpdate

This looks like a partial reinvention of NNCP's sneakernet transport, but for a much more limited use-case: http://www.nncpgo.org/index.html

You can also run NNCP over networks if you want to.

by myself248

my cellphone has been named “sneakernet” for years. it’s a throwback to a time when it was faster to walk a zip disk across campus than it was to send it.

by jaxn

And if you use your cellphone as a USB mass storage device, it still is!

by myself248

A simpler time, with South Park on RralPlayer. And before with Leisure Suit Larry.

by edoceo

I'd walk with my CRT monitor and tower (stuffed all cables, mouse, keyboard inside) over to my friend's to play games/mess with computers a couple decades ago. We called it the "sneakernet", too.

by mc3301

Cool and reminds me of a project from like 15 years ago. Forgot what it was called but basically it was just people hiding thumb drives and finding them like a geocache. Fun idea but then I remember Stuxnet and I'm like nah.

Edit: found it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_dead_drop

Pirate box is mentioned on that page. I forgot about that. I used to carry around an old android phone running pirate box. Sometimes people would connect at a coffee shop and that's how I found out about the band Death Grips

by NDlurker

>Edit: found it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_dead_drop

I wanted these to exist so badly, it was a fun and quirky concept, but people kept bashing it online as the stupidest idea ever, and the few dead drops that existed in my city routinely got destroyed.

I also built my own PirateBox too, but the only thing that was ever uploaded to it was a creepshot of me and my PirateBox. Turns out when Public Wi-Fi exists, they're actively ignored.

by greyb

Join the discussion

Write your take first — we'll ask for email only when you're ready to publish.

  • Hacker News
  • Seems like a mobile app is needed for this. My phone has tons of storage that is unused and always with me.
    by philips
  • How does it work in practice is it like a whisper protocol for distributing sites among different USB drives. So my USB will start storing other sites when I meet someone to exchange data?
    by hahahaa
  • I thought this was going to be related to:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sneakernet

    by tiffanyh
  • It is. Just with web tacked on to make it worse.
    by a96
  • Nice, modern day samizdat. Looks simple enough to use.

    I wonder if there’s a Linux distro that includes tools like this. It’s not a bad idea.

    by iamnothere
  • by zaik
  • It would be cool to add this as a tool in copyparty! I have had a few friends come over and copy files from my home server they want to use.
    by philips
  • How does this differ from just, say, giving someone an HTML dump of a static site? I don't quite understand what this protocol offers.

    How exactly is it peer-to-peer if it's essentially an offline, transfer via hardware?

    by ryanisnan
  • From what I can tell, you can basically take your USB drive of "websites" to your friend, and sync it with their local folder of "websites", and now you both have the most up to date versions of your combined group of "websites". (if your usb has Website A version 1 and Website B version 2, and you sync with someone who has Website A version 2 and Website C version 1, you'd both end up with Website A V2, Website B V2 and Website C V1)

    The application also apparently has protections in place so you can't just create an updated version of someone else's website and distribute it the same way to impersonate them

    by voidUpdate
  • This looks like a partial reinvention of NNCP's sneakernet transport, but for a much more limited use-case: http://www.nncpgo.org/index.html

    You can also run NNCP over networks if you want to.

    by myself248
  • my cellphone has been named “sneakernet” for years. it’s a throwback to a time when it was faster to walk a zip disk across campus than it was to send it.
    by jaxn
  • And if you use your cellphone as a USB mass storage device, it still is!
    by myself248
  • A simpler time, with South Park on RralPlayer. And before with Leisure Suit Larry.
    by edoceo
  • I'd walk with my CRT monitor and tower (stuffed all cables, mouse, keyboard inside) over to my friend's to play games/mess with computers a couple decades ago. We called it the "sneakernet", too.
    by mc3301
  • Cool and reminds me of a project from like 15 years ago. Forgot what it was called but basically it was just people hiding thumb drives and finding them like a geocache. Fun idea but then I remember Stuxnet and I'm like nah.

    Edit: found it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_dead_drop

    Pirate box is mentioned on that page. I forgot about that. I used to carry around an old android phone running pirate box. Sometimes people would connect at a coffee shop and that's how I found out about the band Death Grips

    by NDlurker
  • >Edit: found it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_dead_drop

    I wanted these to exist so badly, it was a fun and quirky concept, but people kept bashing it online as the stupidest idea ever, and the few dead drops that existed in my city routinely got destroyed.

    I also built my own PirateBox too, but the only thing that was ever uploaded to it was a creepshot of me and my PirateBox. Turns out when Public Wi-Fi exists, they're actively ignored.

    by greyb

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