Gus Narea
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gus.engineer
Gus Narea
@gus.engineer
140 followers 98 following 46 posts
Fighting Internet censorship with @awala.app, @letro.app, @veraid.net and @ddos.report. Host of the Inside Awala podcast. Founder of @relaycorp.tech. Ex Auth0. Oxford alumnus. Either optimist or naive. More on https://gus.engineer.
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gus.engineer
Gus Narea @gus.engineer · Nov 8
Episode 3 of Inside Awala is out! Four years, around a dozen freelancers, and more than $750k in non-dilutive funding from the Open Technology Fund, Mozilla Corporation, and others. That's what it took to build the Awala network, despite significant challenges.
Reposted by Gus Narea
eff.org
BREAKING: We are suing DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management to stop the brazen and illegal data sharing of federal employee data with the “government efficiency” group.
EFF Sues DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management to Halt Ransacking of Federal Data
EFF and a coalition of privacy defenders have filed a lawsuit today asking a federal court to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the private information of mil...
www.eff.org
February 11, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
dell.bsky.social
WIRED is tracking numerous reports of Musk-related shenanigans across the federal govt.

We're looking for fed employees open to discussing the activity they're seeing or to help confirm other reports. Anonymity offered.

Please use @signal.org (contact dell.3030). Do not use work networks/devices.
February 3, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
eff.org
We want to draw attention to one of the new Administration's Executive Orders that directly impacts the freedom tools that people around the world depend on to fight censorship, and protect their security and anonymity.
Executive Order to the State Department Sideswipes Freedom Tools, Threatens Censorship Resistance, Privacy, and Anonymity of Millions
In the first weeks of the Trump Administration, we have witnessed a spate of sweeping, confusing, and likely unconstitutional executive orders, including some that have already had devastating human c...
www.eff.org
January 30, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
dgap.org
In his contribution for @ipq.bsky.social, our Senior Research Fellow @weberv.bsky.social analyses Elon #Musk's worldview and foreign policy positions, urging that 🇪🇺 must focus on accumulating tech power in response to his rise in 🇺🇸 politics. /2
How Europe Should Deal with Trump’s Oligarch-in-Chief
As Donald Trump takes office again, tech billionaire Elon Musk will go from speaking for six companies to speaking for a $27 trillion economy. In response, Europe needs to concentrate on accumulating ...
ip-quarterly.com
January 7, 2025 at 12:27 PM
gus.engineer
I adapted the season finale of the Inside Awala podcast, on how I see the future of Internet censorship and @awala.app's role, to a blog post: awala.app/en/blog/2025... - TL;DR below 👇
January 6, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
pragmaticengineer.com
How AI-assisted coding will change software engineering: hard truths. About how these AI tools really work and how they could be the start of the return of software, as a craft.

Based on a guest post by @addyosmani.bsky.social. Read it here: newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/how-ai-wil...
January 5, 2025 at 4:39 PM
gus.engineer
The finale of Season 0 of Inside Awala is out! Join me as we dive into the future of Internet censorship and explore @awala.app's role. 👇
January 3, 2025 at 11:03 PM
gus.engineer
Smuggled Starlink devices allegedly used to defy India’s internet shutdowns

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Smuggled Starlink devices allegedly used to defy India’s internet shutdowns
Civilian and armed groups in conflict-ridden state of Manipur using SpaceX’s satellite internet, sources say
www.theguardian.com
January 3, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
awala.app
The 2024 Cost of Internet Shutdowns report is out. 648.4 million people affected by 167 self-imposed internet outages across 28 countries. 88,788 hours of government-sponsored disruptions, of which 49,101 were Internet blackouts. See: www.top10vpn.com/research/cos...
Government Internet Shutdowns Cost $7.69B in 2024
Our annual report analyzes every major intentional internet shutdown in 2024 and reveals that they cost the world economy $7.69 billion.
www.top10vpn.com
January 2, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
jsrailton.bsky.social
NEW: #China #Russia #Iran & #Israel spying on 🇺🇸Americans w/telecom vulnerabilities per #DHS

Concerning on heels of #SaltTyphoon breaches.

All US carriers exposed.

We know this thanks to @wyden.senate.gov 's tireless work.

Story by @josephcox.bsky.social 1/
www.404media.co/dhs-says-chi...
Excerpted text from letter quoted in the story. You can follow links to find it. Karsten Nohl, founder and chief scientist of cybersecurity company Security Research Labs and who has extensively researched SS7, told 404 Media in an email that “We definitely observe geopolitical adversaries abusing SS7 weaknesses with impunity.” In the newly released document, Senator Wyden’s office says the DoD confirmed it believes that all U.S. carriers are vulnerable to SS7 and Diameter surveillance, and that DoD has not reviewed third-party audits carried out by U.S. carriers of their own networks. “The DoD has asked the carriers for copies of the results of their third-party audits and were informed that they are considered attorney-client privileged information,” the DoD writes. Diameter is something of an efficiency upgrade to SS7, but it can still be attacked.
December 17, 2024 at 11:04 PM
gus.engineer
It was incredibly painful to record this episode, but here it is: Listen to my journey attempting to test @awala.app in the real world. After facing significant funding challenges with my initial plans, I decided to *extend* Awala's scope to incorporate a VPN, initially targeting China.
December 17, 2024 at 6:44 PM
gus.engineer
The title is somewhat clickbait, but it's still great to see people within the FBI and CISA publicly advocating for end-to-end encryption.

www.nbcnews.com/tech/securit...
U.S. officials urge Americans to use encrypted apps amid cyberattack that exposed live phone calls
FBI and CISA officials said it was impossible to predict when the telecommunications companies would be fully safe from interlopers.
www.nbcnews.com
December 4, 2024 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Gus Narea
eldomador.bsky.social
My latest collaboration with the NYT is finally out! (it’s been months in the making)
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Undersea Surgeons (Gift Article)
The cables at the heart of the lightspeed, globe-spanning internet run across the grimy, perilous, inaccessible deeps of the sea, in places no one ever sees or visits – until the cables break.
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2024 at 12:14 PM
gus.engineer
I highly recommend this video to anyone using AI, even if you're just using a chatbot like ChatGPT.

youtube.com/watch?v=ujnL...
youtube.com
November 26, 2024 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
theregister.com
China has utterly pwned 'thousands and thousands' of devices at US telcos
China has utterly pwned 'thousands and thousands' of devices at US telcos
Senate Intelligence Committee chair says his 'hair is on fire' as execs front the White House The Biden administration on Friday hosted telco execs to chat about China's recent attacks on the sector, amid revelations that US networks may need mass…
dlvr.it
November 25, 2024 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
vinifortuna.com
Governments are ramping up VPN blocking, targeting protocols and networks to control access. Freedom House’s report shows how the internet is closing.

freedomhouse.org/article/anot...

We need new approaches to fight back. 🧵

#InternetFreedom #VPNBlocking #Censorship
Another Door Closes: Authoritarians Expand Restrictions on Virtual Private Networks
To access the internet, users in unfree countries rely on circumvention tools that are increasingly targeted by repressive rulers. Democratic governments and technology companies can do more to keep t...
freedomhouse.org
November 22, 2024 at 6:24 PM
gus.engineer

Exciting news! The next episode of the Inside Awala podcast drops next week—slightly delayed, but for a good reason. We're gearing up for a big announcement! 🎉 This episode dives into our real-world testing of @awala.app and reveals a surprising plot twist involving China. Stay tuned! Links below 👇
November 20, 2024 at 10:49 AM
Reposted by Gus Narea
awala.app
Good idea! Behold the Internet Freedom community starter pack: go.bsky.app/TqwPxE6
November 18, 2024 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
awala.app
Internet Freedom technologists like Tor and yours truly: bsky.app/profile/awal.... This list is seriously lacking though. Someone ping us when Briar, Equalit.ie and others join!
November 15, 2024 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Gus Narea
awala.app
Internet censorship researchers like @citizenlab.ca, @jsrailton.bsky.social, @IODA.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy, @netblocks.bsky.social and @radar.cloudflare.com: bsky.app/profile/awal... (someone ping us when OONI joins!)
November 15, 2024 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Gus Narea
awala.app
Internet Freedom advocates like @freedomhouse.bsky.social: bsky.app/profile/awal... (someone ping us when Access Now, OTF and others join!)
November 15, 2024 at 11:54 AM
Reposted by Gus Narea
ignactro.bsky.social
Here is an starterpack of those interested/working/researching in Internet networks go.bsky.app/GkKxDea Will update as more join. Ping with requests
November 11, 2024 at 4:55 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
rjgallagher.co.uk
This is a really useful chrome extension for finding people on Bluesky who you follow on Twitter github.com/kawamataryo/... Thanks @kawamataryo.bsky.social!
GitHub - kawamataryo/sky-follower-bridge: Instantly find and follow the same users from your X(Twitter) follower on Bluesky.
Instantly find and follow the same users from your X(Twitter) follower on Bluesky. - kawamataryo/sky-follower-bridge
github.com
November 14, 2024 at 1:56 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
mattburgess1.bsky.social
These two Bluesky tools are really useful for finding people to follow:

Network analyzer: See which accounts people you follow are following, but you don’t. By @theo.io bsky-follow-finder.theo.io

Bluesky Directory: 6,000+ starter packs. By @mubashariqbal.com blueskydirectory.com/starter-pack...
November 12, 2024 at 4:11 PM
Reposted by Gus Narea
awala.app
The first half of the independent security assessment of Awala is now complete! TL;DR: No major issues found. awala.app/en/blog/2024...
Security audit of Awala: Part 1
The core of Awala recently underwent an independent security audit, and no major issues were found.
awala.app
November 11, 2024 at 1:23 PM