[HacktionLab] Emailing under internet blackout

[a.praetorius at serapath.de]

https://keet.io

Try keet, it has no problem with the chinese firewall.
The biggest issue is probably getting it installed if the website is
blocked, but you can get it from github or even somehow get the AppImage to
them.

It works offline first, so they can write and if somebody is nearby, they
can sync messages and if that person then travels physically to where the
internet works, the messages will reach other recipients and it works the
other way around too. I think keet is by far the most mature option that
exists - nothing else compares right now.

While keet is closed source I know and more or less trust the team that is
developing it. They have a decades long record of doing open source p2p
software and the stack and runtime it is build on top of is entirely open
source.


On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 at 01:20, brentc <brentc at riseup.net> wrote:

> Thanks all, good advice, I've passed on.
> On 15/01/2026 21:28, Tim Dobson wrote:
>
> I'd probably avoid emailing them for the moment.
>
> I'm less sure you'll get them in trouble, and more worried that whatever
> you email may be outdated by the time it arrives - wait til there's more
> clarity, and then raise comms by asking how they're doing (which is a very
> neutral question and should be answerable easily even if they're worried
> about interception).
>
> I hope your friends come through this fine.
>
> On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 at 21:22, Patrice Riemens <patrice at puscii.nl> wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> As far as I can judge from here (Rural SW France ;-), it's going to be a
>> tough job to contact yr friends in teheran in the present circumstances.
>> Won't surely work over gmail. The Guardian had a good explainer on how the
>> blackout works - it appears to be very precise and even Musk's Starling is,
>> at least partially blocked - using Russian technology form the war in
>> Ukraine. yet some messgs seem to filter thru. I'd think a relay of friends
>> of friends who know a friend who manages to ... etc. Pb is that you need to
>> have contact with yr friends to be able to cantact the friend of a friend
>> who etc ... Not easy, but you might have luck, or tough luck if yr queries
>> fall in the wrong hands.
>>
>> Now pray the ugly theocracy falls sooner rater than later. It will.
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "brentc" <brentc at riseup.net>
>> To: hacktionlab at lists.aktivix.org
>> Sent: Tuesday, 13 January, 2026 22:01:35
>> Subject: [HacktionLab] Emailing under internet blackout
>>
>> A question came up about emailing to Iran: "I have some contacts in
>> Tehran who are anti-authoritarian educators I was supposed to be
>> recording a presentation for them to show at their seminar series (I've
>> done this for them before) - next week. I'm not sure what to do now, I'm
>> assuming if I email them [they on gmail] I won't get through. Big/stupid
>> ask - Does anyone tecchy know how an internet blackout is likely to
>> work? I.e. I'm not sure whether to email my contact, could it be
>> intercepted and get him in trouble?"
>>
>> I didn't have conclusive answers. Any thoughts? I don't know exactly how
>> sensitive the comms are and I gather encrypted comms hasn't been set up.
>>
>> b
>>
>>
>>
>>
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