A loose group of developers are testing out the idea that the
combination of bitcoin and orbital communication might provide a means
for stopping governments or other powerful entities from suppressing
news they don’t like.
Censorship is a worldwide problem, with one of the more recent
examples include a new law strengthening the Russian government’s control over the internet,
which pundits worry will be used to censor information that reflects
poorly on it. As such, technologists have long tried to chip away at
this problem with technology that ranges from privacy browser Tor to the
walkie-talkie messaging app Zello, the latter of which Venezuelans used
to read information that’s uncontrolled by the government and to
organize protests a few years back.
A more recent effort is being waged by a small but global group of
developers who are sending messages using satellites paired with
software from the bitcoin technology startup Blockstream, initially
deployed with the grand goal of allowing people worldwide access to bitcoin even if they didn’t have internet.
Passionate hobbyists around the world have re-purposed this
technology to send out news that — theoretically — can’t be censored by
corporations or governments.
Bitcoin plays a crucial role in this scenario because the messages
themselves need to be paid for. That’s because users can’t send as many
messages as they want, given the space limitations for such content. And
using bitcoin, which by design is censorship-resistant, makes more
sense than a paying with other digital payment systems, which could
hypothetically be shut down by the same parties that are trying to
censor the messages.
One pseudonymous bitcoiner going by the moniker SafetyFirst has broadcasted dozens
bundles of news, a package he dubs “BlockSat.” They’re calling it a
test for “proof of news,” a play on the phrase “proof of work.”
The idea is that once the messages are aired, the messages are
distributed across the globe. Anyone, as long as they have a satellite
receiver that costs approximately $100, can receive them.
As SafetyFirst argued in a tweet:
“The future of open access to information is happening right in-front of our eyes.”
In a message to CoinDesk, he elaborated on the idea: “It seemed like
info you can receive without any third party interference would be of
value to parts of the world where information controls (by the
government or anyone) try to stifle […] access to news, information, or
anything in between.”
Why space is censorship-resistant
Using satellites to stop censorship is actually far from a new idea.
For example, in 2012, hacker activist Nick Farr put out a call to action that led to the creation of the Hackerspace Global Grid (HGG),
an effort to fuel research of uncensorable communications via
satellite. Hobbyists then deployed miniature satellites, called
CubeSats, into space.
“Since the founding of the Chaos Computer Club, we stand for the
human right of free (at least) worldwide communication. [Glass] fiber
located on federal territories could become a problem for unhampered
communication. People in charge could shut them down to produce a
congestion. The task of the Hackerscene is to establish communication
ways, that do not stop at borders. The creation of earth near networks,
where governments cannot interact with, is one big role for free
communication,” the original call to action explained.
Let’s go back to how they work. As CoinDesk explained in an earlier article about such transmissions, users are mostly using the simple website spacebit.live to send the messages by satellite with just a small fee paid in BTC.
“The news is immutable in the fact that anyone worldwide with a basic
satellite dish, some software, and a little knowledge can receive it.
No controls on internet, cellular data, or state control can stifle it.
There are numerous oppressive countries that censor everything from
whole sites to certain keywords. In a world of companies kneeling to
these demands, it seems only right to provide people with all the
available information,” SafetyFirst contends.
That said, since Blockstream is in control of the satellites, there’s
a degree to which they and the companies it’s leasing satellites from
are in control. But SafetyFirst argues that, at the very least, the
satellites offers a worldwide alternative.
Countries often shutdown the internet in times of turmoil (in fact, the dictator of Chad has shut down the internet for over a year).
When this happens, people still have satellites as an option for
retrieving information these entities might be trying to hide.
To this end, SafetyFirst notes that he’s been trying to help users
send their messages anonymously. “This is the […] reason I created a
hidden service (darkweb) .onion link so they can broadcast over the
satellites without fear,” SafetyFirst explains. This website can only be
accessed on special privacy-minded browsers, such as Tor or Brave.
Where bitcoin fits in
Again, bitcoin factors into this arrangement because the messages
need to be paid for, explains Grubles, community manager for
Blockstream.
The number of messages that can be sent are limited by available bandwidth, according to Grubles.
The fees have generally been very low thus far. It costs just a few
cents to send a message to space right now, since the system is not
hitting this limit. But in the event that more people start trying to
broadcast messages at the same time, there’s a bidding feature. If there
are too many messages trying to be sent at once – the one that pays the
most bitcoin wins.
“The bandwidth is limited so we let users choose to expedite their
data in the event there is more demand than available bandwidth,”
Grubles said.
And when paying to send controversial or politically charged message,
bitcoin makes more sense than, say, PayPal, which generally has an
identity tightly linked to it and could face sanction or funds freeze.
Philosophically, the leaderless online money seems almost like a
natural fit as it’s a currency that is worldwide, not being limited to a
particular country, and unable to be censored by any particular
company. If you need a currency to pay for the messages, one can see why
it’s a natural link.
Farr noted this, arguing: “I think tying bitcoin to it is one of the
best use cases for the original vision of bitcoin: A way to unify a
global effort.”
It’s also important that the satellite system runs on a particular new type of bitcoin: lightning.
Lightning allows users to send “micropayments,” small payments, which current financial apps just can’t handle, because processing fees are too high.
“Lightning is great for this since you can pay and quickly broadcast a
message if needed, and also pay very small amounts of bitcoin if your
data, or message, is small,” Grubles added.
Too crazy an idea?
That said, just because the pairing bitcoin and satellites to send
out messages that are harder to censor is possible doesn’t mean people
use it.
Farr was quick to note this. While he called a decentralized network
of satellites — like the one he helped to start at HGG — is the “holy
grail of censorship resistance,” he also stressed that: “[L]ike the
search for the holy grail, it’s an incredibly complex set of problems to
solve that really elude even very well coordinated hobbyist efforts.”
While it’s “technically viable,” he said, there are other problems.
“I think we’re at the point where the obstacle is coordination. I see
this piece as a part of the way to get there,” he told CoinDesk, noting
that people have been working on this type of satellite technology for
“a decade now.”
That said, he noted that the open-source operating system Linux started off feeling like a very unrealistic effort as well.
“Before Linux proved it could be done, we never would have thought a
global worldwide effort of folks could come together and create an
operating system, for free. Now that operating system runs the world.
Once all of those disparate groups get coordinated, once there are so
many cube sats in orbit, interoperability standards and pieces liking
together existing old tech (like Linux drivers for old devices), we’re
basically there. Once launch capabilities are no more difficult to put
together than a data center, you’ll see this plan come into place,” Farr
added.
Now Linux is by far the most popular operating system in the world.
That kind of success that, perhaps, is why bitcoiners are still so
optimistic about the technology.
“I really believe all in all the satellites can be a new age of
information sharing. Just look at this guy posting about his worries for
Hungary today,” SafetyFirst said, pointing to an article broadcast over Blockstream Satellite where a blogger outlined some political concerns in the country.
SafetyFirst added:
“I have no idea if his concerns are valid, but I do think
it’s a great thing he has an outlet to post where it can be seen and
cataloged.”
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