Hong Kong Protesters Bypass Chiness Snooping Using Offline App

The Hong Kong protest is becoming more and more fierce while the Chinese government is determined to hunt down people trying to rebel against them. Hong Kong citizens have opted to use technology in response to the aggressive actions of the Chinese government.

Following Hong Kong internet censorship, rather than using conventional texting platform, the citizens have been shifted to using something truly uncommon.

Forbes reported that Hong Kong citizens are using Bridgefy Offline Messaging, which is a texting platform using a mesh network, to stay connected while being offline. In the past week, the app’s downloads have grown significantly with about 60,000 downloads and counting.

The technology that the apps might seem complicated. However, in realit, it is actually quite simple. It makes use of our phones’ standard BlueTooth to create a mesh network (something that is similar to a spider’s web) by tagging in those who have signed up.

Once everything is set, the mesh will tranfer the sender’s messages to the receiver. The closer the location of the receiver, the faster the message gets transferred. However, the sender as well as the receiver is not required to be within the sharing distance.

The technique used is known as “hopping.” For instance, if A sends C a message, the message will hop around in the mesh network, until it reaches the final target. The app not only supports one on one communication but also broadcast messaging, which is absolutely ideal for the protesters.

The mesh network, with so many people signing up, has grown strongly. In Hong Kong, it can help keep the snooping of the Chinese government away by seamlessly and securely sharing messages and updates.