"Signal is being blocked in Venezuela and Russia. The app is a popular choice for encrypted messaging and people trying to avoid government censorship, and the blocks appear to be part of a crackdown on internal dissent in both countries..."

  • RedWizard [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    5 months ago

    Peer to peer apps do not work without a centralized relay to get you around the CG-Nat that cellphones live behind. So they're not really peer to peer. You would be playing whack-a-mole with the relays, having to spin them up as they get blocked. Many ISPs implement CG-NAT as well. Its really dependent on how the network providers structure things. Someone from the country with local knowledge would have to test it.

    • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
      ·
      5 months ago

      IPv6 doesn't need CGNAT. So as long as it's capable of doing IPv6, it can directly communicate peer to peer using globally unique addresses. How do I know this? Simple because my ISP on IPv4 is completely CGNAT and I cannot get anything past it. So I am completely forced to use IPv6 for any service I want to run and access from outside my network.

      • RedWizard [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        5 months ago

        Sure, but ipv6 is not widely adopted. I'm behind a CG-NAT but can't get an ipv6 so I have to operate a vps bridge to host my services. Some cell networks have ipv6 support but a few implement a NAT for it as well. AT&T only allows port 80 and 443.

        Its not consistent enough to be useful without a centralized relay.

        • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
          ·
          5 months ago

          I think that really depends on where you are. Here in the US, for example, IPv6 is pretty darn well adopted. And even 45% of Google's internet traffic is done over IPv6.

          • RedWizard [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            5 months ago

            Sure but if your looking to use a chat service, 45% is not a high enough watermark to have reliability. Its so contingent on the network operator to allow for an IPV6 connection. And like I said, places like AT&T have a NAT on their IPV6 network.

            • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
              ·
              5 months ago

              True, the only other option is something like simplex through tor. There are also p2p options like meshtastic as well.

          • RedWizard [he/him, comrade/them]
            ·
            5 months ago

            And... That doesn't change the fact it's not widely adopted enough for peer2peer chat services without the need of a relay.

    • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip
      ·
      5 months ago

      IPv6 doesn't need CGnet. So as long as it's capable of doing IPv6, it can directly communicate peer to peer using globally unique addresses. How do I know this? Simple because my ISP on IPv4 is completely CG NAT and I cannot get anything past it. So I am completely forced to use IPv6 for any service I want to run and access from outside my network.