<h2id="org6cce212">I don't have a static IP address. Can I still install this system?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-org6cce212">
<p>
Yes. The minimum requirements are to have some hardware that you can install Debian onto and also that you have administrator access to your internet router so that you can forward ports to the system which has Freedombone installed.
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<h2id="orgf4ff4e5">Why not support building images for Raspberry Pi?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-orgf4ff4e5">
<p>
The FreedomBox project supports Raspberry Pi builds, and the image build system for Freedombone is based on the same system. However, although the Raspberry Pi can run a version of Debian it requires a closed proprietary blob in order to boot the hardware. Who knows what that blob might contain or what exploits it could facilitate. From an adversarial point of view if you were trying to deliver "bulk equipment interference" then it doesn't get any better than piggybacking on something which has control of the boot process, and hence all subsequently run processes.
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@@ -289,9 +289,9 @@ So although the Raspberry Pi is cheap and hugely popular it's not supported by t
Github is paradoxically a centralized, closed and proprietary system which happens to mostly host free and open source projects. Up until now it has been relatively benign, but at some point in the name of "growth" it will likely start becoming more evil, or just become like SourceForge - which was also once much loved by FOSS developers, but turned into a den of malvertizing.
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<h2id="org8e169c">Keys and emails should not be stored on servers. Why do you do that?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-org8e169c">
<p>
Ordinarily this is good advice. However, the threat model for a device in your home is different from the one for a generic server in a massive warehouse. Compare and contrast:
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<h2id="orgcffb66f">Why can't I access my .onion site with a Tor browser?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-orgcffb66f">
<p>
Probably you need to add the site to the NoScript whitelist. Typically click/press on the noscript icon (or select from the menu on mobile) then select <i>whitelist</i> and add the site URL. You may also need to disable HTTPS Everywhere when using onion addresses, which don't use https.
<h2id="orge470d0f">What is the best hardware to run this system on?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-orge470d0f">
<p>
It was originally designed to run on the Beaglebone Black, but that should be regarded as the most minimal system, because it's single core and has by today's standards a small amount of memory. Obviously the more powerful the hardware is the faster things like web pages (blog, social networking, etc) will be served but the more electricity such a system will require if you're running it 24/7. A good compromise between performance and energy consumption is something like an old netbook. The battery of an old netbook or laptop even gives you <ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_power_supply">UPS capability</a> to keep the system going during brief power outages or cable re-arrangements, and that means using full disk encryption on the server also becomes more practical.
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<h2id="org5e09402">Can I add more users to the system?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-org5e09402">
<p>
Yes. Freedombone can support a small number of users, for a "<i>friends and family</i>" type of home installation. This gives them access to an email account, XMPP, SIP phone and the blog (depending on whether the variant which you installed includes those).
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<h2id="org62b803e">Why not use Signal for mobile chat?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-org62b803e">
<p>
Celebrities recommend Signal. It's Free Software so it must be good, right?
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</ul>
<p>
To give credit where it's due Signal is good, but it could be a lot better. The real solution for private chat is to run your own XMPP server, as you can with Freedombone, or to have someone within your community do that. <i>There is no substitute for a good decentralised solution which is within the control of your community</i>.
To give credit where it's due Signal is good, but it could be a lot better. The real solution for private chat is to run your own XMPP server, as you can with Freedombone, or to have someone within your community do that. <i>There is no substitute for a decentralised solution which is within the control of your community</i>.
<h2id="org9117d6e">What is the most secure chat app to use on mobile?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-org9117d6e">
<p>
On mobile there are various options. The apps which are likely to be most secure are ones which have end-to-end encryption enabled by default and which can also be onion routed via Orbot. End-to-end encryption secures the content of the message and onion routing obscures the metadata, making it hard for a passive adversary to know who is communicating with who.
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<h2id="orgbec18bf">How do I change my encryption settings?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-orgbec18bf">
<p>
Suppose that some new encryption vulnerability has been announced and that you need to change your encryption settings. Maybe an algorithm thought to be secure is now no longer so and you need to remove it. You can change your settings by doing the following:
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<h2id="orgc61d5c1">How do I get a "real" SSL/TLS/HTTPS certificate?</h2>
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<p>
If you did the full install or selected the social variant then the system will have tried to obtain a Let's Encrypt certificate automatically during the install process. If this failed for any reason, or if you have created a new site which you need a certificate for then do the following:
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<h2id="orgfdebda1">How do I renew a Let's Encrypt certificate?</h2>
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<p>
Normally certificates will be automatically renewed once per month, so you don't need to be concerned about it. If anything goes wrong with the automatic renewal then you should receive a warning email.
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<h2id="orga144d62">I tried to renew a Let's Encrypt certificate and it failed. What should I do?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-orga144d62">
<p>
Most likely it's because Let's Encrypt doesn't support your particular domain or subdomain. Currently free subdomains tend not to work. You'll need to buy a domain name, link it to your dynamic DNS account and then do:
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<h2id="orgd1bce3a">Why use self-signed certificates?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-orgd1bce3a">
<p>
Almost everywhere on the web you will read that self-signed certificates are worthless. They bring up <i>scary-scary looking</i> browser warnings and gurus will advise you not to use them. Self-signed certificates are quite useful though. What the scary warnings mean - and it would be good if they explained this more clearly - is that you have an encrypted connection established but there is <i>no certainty about who that connection is with</i>.
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<h2id="orgec4a764">Why not use the services of $company instead? They took the Seppuku pledge</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-orgec4a764">
<p>
<ahref="https://cryptostorm.org/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=2954&sid=7de2d1e699cfde2f574e6a7f6ea5a173">That pledge</a> is utterly worthless. Years ago people trusted Google in the same sort of way, because they promised not be be evil and because a lot of the engineers working for them seemed like honest types who were "<i>on our side</i>". Post-<ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nymwars">nymwars</a> and post-<ahref="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)">PRISM</a> we know exactly how much Google cared about the privacy and security of its users. But Google is only one particular example. In general don't trust pledges made by companies, even if the people running them seem really sincere.
<h2id="orge130dc1">Why does my email keep getting rejected as spam by Gmail/etc?</h2>
<divclass="outline-text-2"id="text-orge130dc1">
<p>
Welcome to the world of email. Email is really the archetypal decentralized service, developed during the early days of the internet. In principle anyone can run an email server, and that's exactly what you're doing with Freedombone. Email is very useful, but it has a big problem, and that's that the protocols are totally insecure. That made it easy for spammers to do their thing, and in response highly elaborate spam filtering and blocking systems were developed. Chances are that your emails are being blocked in this way. Sometimes the blocking is so indisciminate that entire countries are excluded. What can you do about it? Unless you control the block list at the receiving end you may not be able to do much unless you can find an email proxy server which is trusted by the receiving server.
