PirateBox

A PirateBox is a portable electronic device, often consisting of a Wi-Fi router and a device for storing information, creating a wireless network that allows users who are connected to share files anonymously and locally.[1] By design, this device is disconnected from the Internet.

PirateBox
Original logo of the PirateBox
Introduced2011
Discontinued2019
LanguageEnglish

The PirateBox was originally designed to exchange data freely under the public domain or under a free license.

History

The PirateBox was designed in 2011 by David Darts, a professor at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at New York University under Free Art License. It has since become highly popular in Western Europe, particularly in France by Jean Debaecker, and its development is largely maintained by Matthias Strubel. The usage of the PirateBox-Concept turns slowly away from common local filesharing to purposes in education, concerning public schools[2] or private events like CryptoParties[3] a crucial point also being circumvention of censorship[4] since it can be operated behind strong physical barriers.

On 17 November 2019 Matthias Strubel announced the closure of the Pirate Box project, citing more routers having locked firmware and browsers forcing https.[5]

Set up

As of version 1.0, there is an improved installation path, with only a few steps followed by an automatic install.[6]

Raspberry Pi Setup

The PirateBox can be set up in Raspberry Pi. The steps can be followed in the reference article.[7]

Uses

Users connect to the PirateBox via Wi-Fi (using a laptop, for example) without having to learn the password. They can then access the local web page of the PirateBox to download or upload files, or access an anonymous chat room or forum.[1] All such data exchanges are confined to the PirateBox's local network and are not connected to the Internet.[8]

Several educational projects use the devices to deliver content to students allowing them to share by chat or forum. The PirateBox is also used in places where Internet access is rare or impractical.

Devices which can be converted to a PirateBox

Wi-Fi routers

Not an exhaustive list:

  • TP-Link MR3020 – the first device modified by Darts[14]
  • TP-Link MR3040[15]
  • Zsun WiFi Card Reader - hacked by installing OpenWRT,[16] and there are efforts to produce easy installation instructions for PirateBox on this device.[17]

The PirateBox official wiki has an up-to-date hardware-list of compatible devices.[18]

gollark: I see.
gollark: They can't both have the same name.
gollark: I thought of that but those are really boring and ungrammatical.
gollark: What should the achievements for beating Tic-Tac-Toe AIs 1 and 2 be called?
gollark: Hmm, surprisingly little content is hooked into it.

See also
When online is offline

References
  1. SideFx (2016). Goldstein, Emmanuel (ed.). "The Piratebox". 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. 33 (3).
  2. "Pedagobox ou comment bricoler son serveur de fichier wifi personnel". CRDP de Limoges. Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  3. "Frankfurt". CryptoParty. Besva.de. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  4. S., Raghavendra (26 November 2013). "Create your own version of The Pirate Bay". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  5. https://forum.piratebox.cc/read.php?9,23070
  6. "openwrt:diy [ PIRATEBOX ]". Piratebox.de. 13 August 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  7. MathanKumar.P (25 June 2018). "7 Steps for setting up Pirate box in Raspberry Pi [ PIRATEBOX ]". dynumic.com. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  8. Anderson, Nate (31 January 2011). "PirateBox: an "artistic provocation" in lunchbox form". Ars Technica. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  9. "Fun2Code: PirateBox". Fun2code-blog.blogspot.de. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  10. "PirateBox - Android Apps on Google Play". Play.google.com. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  11. "Run PirateBox on your Laptop from USB [Linux PirateBoxLive]". Forum.daviddarts.com. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  12. "raspberry_pi [ PIRATEBOX ]". Piratebox.cc. 22 November 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  13. "ChiPirate-BOX: the chipest and cheapest Pirate-BOX ever - raspibo". www.raspibo.org. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  14. "PirateBox DIY – OpenWrt by David Darts". Daviddarts.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2015. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  15. "openwrt:hardware_firmware_recommendations [Matthias' Piratebox-Scripts]". Piratebox.aod-rpg.de. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  16. emeryth (24 April 2016). "Hacking the Zsun WiFi SD Card Reader". Warsaw Hackerspace. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  17. "Piratebox on the Zsun". Piratebox.cc. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  18. "openwrt:hardware [ PIRATEBOX ]". Piratebox.cc. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
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