[DIYbio] Retrosharing

Hey all,
So, I was going to write up a "How and Why to use Retroshare" document,
and then point everyone at it. But, I never got around to it, and I've
got too much going on between work, play and family right now.

So, here's the suggestion: All of you should go download Retroshare,
install it on your computers, and connect to any other DIYbioers (and
others!) you personally know and trust.
Main page and link to informative wiki is here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/retroshare/
Backup access to downloads:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/retroshare/files/RetroShare/0.5.3b/

Degrees of separation are tiny in communities like DIYbio. We'll rapidly
be connected to the same network, and will have a nice decentralised
sharing platform for projects, blogs, documents and such. It would also
provide a decentralised forum, which many people seem to prefer over email.

Retroshare includes the following:
-> Secure communications and sharing through p2p encryption and bridging
through shared friends and friends-of-friends^x.
-> Ability to share specified directories, making it easy to share loads
of things, while still being pretty selective about what you share.
-> Email, Forum, Chat, Group Chat, "Channels" (think blogs).. all
encrypted, and most providing strong anonymity if desired. Private
forums, channels and chats are optional, too, and the system is even
designed to conceal the existence of such private services if desired.
-> File search that can locate/fetch documents across the whole network,
not simply in your friends' folders.
-> Optional listing of your shares with friends, so they can see what
you are sharing in organised folders. The alternative is for them to be
able to find files by searching, but not knowing who's sharing them.

I'm already connected to several DIYbio people and Irish Hackerspace
peeps out there, and I'm impressed with the system enough to recommend
it. Please bear in mind that I'm unlikely to add anyone to my personal
group of shares if I haven't met them in person. That's OK though,
because if we're connected by a common friend, we can see one another
and communicate/share/etc.

To connect to your first few friends, you must *exchange* certificates;
you export your certificate (counterintuitively) by going to the "Add
Friend"->"Import Friend's Certificate" option, then clicking "Export my
Certificate File".
Send your cert to a friend through email or other means, and get theirs,
and you'll both connect when you import one another's certs.

I think this system has a lot of potential for the sort of document
sharing that we're prone to, but without the awkwardness of hosting
files on things like scribd or requiring an FTP server for large files.

All the best, looking forward to seeing more DIYbio people on the
network. To better facilitate such sharing, I'm looking into setting up
a dedicated "empty" account to which any poorly-connected people can
connect as a "way in", but automated import of certificates would need
setting up, and the hazard of network invasion/attack might need to be
looked into.

All the best,
Cathal

--
www.indiebiotech.com
twitter.com/onetruecathal
joindiaspora.com/u/cathalgarvey
PGP Public Key: http://bit.ly/CathalGKey

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