Reticulum as new democratic and privacy-aware by design network

As a hamradio OM (HB9ERY), specially focused on SDR, embedded devices, electronics, unix, linux, communications security, I found the project Reticulum.

If, like me, you are those that find the Internet broken, bloated, heavyweight, cosmetic oriented instead of contents, insecure, surveillance issues like still unsolved metadata protection censor-weak, user-tracking, ads, unrequested contents.

Well, reticulum is a full network stack, designed from the start to solve all those critical issues. It does not require any infrastructure, but can dynamically take advantage of it. There is no authority, no user account, no gatekeeper to connect, deny, blacklist. Anyone that can physically interface, can join the network, anywhere.

Encryption, authentication, privacy, are building blocks of the stack, no leaking source.

Protocol stack designed to be able to run on specially high latency networks as well as optical fiber links. Reticulum is not meant to interface with ip, such as Tor network would provide with exit nodes.

Reticulum uses mesh networking, specially radio LoRa communications.

You are free to build private networks, route edges to integrate larger, connect with anyone…etc.. it is up to to you to decide. This is a real game change. This means that you can build small local private network, family, friends, school, community based, whatever you want. And you decide if you integrate or set interface nodes that connect to bigger or other networks. There are no enforce rules. You design your networks as you need them, no more.

Radio devices can be custom built, hardware purchased, software flashed, customized as it is fully opensource project. It runs on cheap hardware, and can intercnnect with mix of different interfaces (wifi local to AP, bluetooth, ethernet, tnc packet HF radio).

What I really enjoy as values carried by the project, this is not anymore a paradigm focused for rich cities with fully modern, all comfort. A core design is to be able to provide communications with high latency network conditions, or intermittent presence.

This means that the same stack will adapt whatever the conditions are met in real situations. That kind of network is also an incentive about non-addictive or non-permanent links. There is no reason to get notified for any stupid publication.

You’ll get messages when you connect. That’s it, enjoy your time at something else in between. Right, this is a fully different paradigm else as anxiety of being able to catch any news as they get published. Reminds me of non-addictive usage of the social network secure scuttlebutt. SSB si very interesting as it models after social habits, not the other way around.

Reticulum network is great for not relying on governance. Shaping as the groups and communities evolve. That kind of dynamic structure will be best fit to adjust people needs, not more, not less. Delegating, moderation, blacklisting, to the user, rather than a group of people is more efficient, considering that Reticulum won’t encourage massive vertical popularity as it’s a distributed network designed for privacy first, no tracking, no surveillance.

The full stack integrating powerful hardware abstraction layer is the correct response for wide integration and mix of carriers. Internet is critically broken because security and privacy where not seriously considered at early days. This network stack takes care to correct all these issues at the network layer directly.

Internet will not be a serious place for privacy, unless using overlay networks such as Tor, I2P, Metadata protection involves core network layer, and considering how hard ipv6 adoption is, Internet for privacy won’t happen anytime soon.

Relying on tcpip as one of possible interface for Reticulum network is awesome, Internet is resilient, nightmare for privacy, but resilience is achieved goal.

The other aspect that Reticulum really offers, by design, power to the users, actors of the network. ISP tend to enforce the user as just a limited customer of a commercial service. With Reticilun, any user is actor of the network, valuable as others. This is probably the best part. It encourages people to be active, actors of their communications.

Reticulum may also forecast crisis with ongoing climate change, incoming oil resource ROI issue. Developing such a distributed network with small low enery devices, solar panels, even on cheap HF devices, recycled wifi, etc.. it might be a required feature of the future to keep communications possible and safe. This network relying on people, not on pubic services or private companies.

The project is not yet fully mature to blindly use it in production, however we can already gain experience with it, contribute to the project. With time, Reticulum can become the mesh democratic project based on privacy by besign.

Stay tuned, more to come deeper with mesh radio project in 2025.