PirateBox Offline File-Sharing Solution
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Offline file-sharing is nothing new. This was the main source of file-sharing long before online file-sharing was popular. Now that the government has made it their duty to shut down all online forms of file-sharing, whether it is in this county or elsewhere, PirateBox has seen fit to return to the days of old.
What PirateBox has actually done is combine the old technology of offline file-sharing with the power of traditional pirate radio. The creator of PirateBox, NYU art professor David Darts, uses “a WiFi hotspot and server providing easy and anonymous access to the files held within.” The boxes are also very reasonably priced. Anyone could own one of these boxes for no more than $50.
The previous box was created out of a lunchbox using a router and USB stick and was reported to cost around $100. The newer incarnation’s price cut was due to new hardware usage such as the TP-LINK TL-MR3020 3G Wireless Router. This can be purchased from Newegg for just $39.99. The DIY directions for setting up one of these routers are now available on David Darts”s wiki page.
“Simply turn the PirateBox on to transform any space into a temporary communication and wireless file sharing network,” said Darts. “When users join the PirateBox wireless network and open a web browser, they are automatically redirected to the PirateBox home page. Users can then immediately begin chatting and/or uploading or downloading files.”
Users will be able to remain completely anonymous while using the PirateBox because of the lack of Internet. This also means that no one, including authorities working on copyright cases, will be able to identify the people using this service.
It is very likely to start seeing these boxes everywhere as the level of intensity is increased on file-sharing websites. Users will be glad to know that the entire PirateBay can be downloaded easily onto the USB stick being used, so finding torrents will be very easy with the largest torrent network available anonymously.
