Inside Awala

Your backstage tour to Internet censorship and how we're planning to circumvent it with Awala, hosted by its author, Gus Narea. This show will be particularly relevant to people coming from countries subject to severe censorship, as well as anyone with an interest in using technology to make a dent in the world.

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Latest episodes

08 November 2024

S00E03: How we built the Awala network

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.

References

Awala on the Open Technology Fund website: https://www.opentech.fund/projects-we-support/supported-projects/awala/
Awala security audits: https://awala.app/en/about/#security-audits
Mozilla Builders, Summer 2020, Open Lab winner: https://twitter.com/mozillabuilders/status/1324427116809580544
Lowering the barrier to adopt Awala: https://awala.app/en/blog/lowering-adoption-barrier/
‘Wednesday night massacre’ as Trump appointee takes over at global media agency: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/17/media/us-agency-for-global-media-michael-pack/index.html
Letro: https://letro.app/en/
VeraId: https://veraid.net/
What my desktop looked like whilst building and testing Awala: https://twitter.com/0xgnarea/status/1307340115115741186

Discuss this episode on Reddit! https://www.reddit.com/r/Awala/comments/1gr2gk9/inside_awala_podcast_s00e03_how_we_built_the/

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18:57

27 October 2024

S00E02: The founding and funding of Relaycorp

Learn the story behind Relaycorp, the company behind Awala, and how I managed to secure funding to build Awala whilst all I had was a prototype and the documentation for how I'd go about building it. I also share my rationale for creating a for-profit company, as opposed to a charity.

References

Relaycorp: https://relaycorp.tech/
Open Technology Fund (OTF): https://www.opentech.fund/
The project’s website, relaynet.link, as it looked like during the concept note phase: https://web.archive.org/web/20190207150351/https://relaynet.link/
Mastodon project on GitHub, "Add Relaynet support so people can use Mastodon when the Internet is down": https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/10267

To discuss this episode, please go to r/Awala on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Awala/comments/1gdzh8a/inside_awala_podcast_s00e02_the_founding_and/

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18:22

13 October 2024

S00E01: How North Korea shaped Awala

In this episode, I share the story of how Awala started as a research project, and why I chose to use North Korea as a reference for the kind of censorship that the technology would have to circumvent in theory. What I'm sharing is the upshot of my research at Oxford, before founding Relaycorp and securing funding to build Awala.

References

Awala: https://awala.network/
FireChat – the messaging app that’s powering the Hong Kong protests: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/29/firechat-messaging-app-powering-hong-kong-protests
Internet over Avian Carriers: https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/pigeon-powered-internet-takes-flight/
North Korea’s Hidden Revolution by Jieun Baek: https://www.jieunbaek.com/north-koreas-hidden-revolution/
“Compromising Connectivity: Information Dynamics between the State & Society in a Digitizing North Korea” by Nat Kretchun, Catherine Lee and Seamus Tuohy: https://usakoreainstitute.org/research/special-reports/compromisingconnectivity/
Osama bin Laden’s Sneakernet Email System: https://techland.time.com/2011/05/13/osama-bin-ladens-sneakernet-email-system/
Chinese hackers breached US court wiretap systems, WSJ reports: https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/chinese-hackers-breached-us-court-wiretap-systems-wsj-reports-2024-10-06/
Got my mind set on you by George Harrison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpUPFnk1NAs
Telcos band together to re-connect Kaikoura: https://media.one.nz/article/telcos-band-together-re-connect-kaikoura
Memorabilia: https://imgur.com/a/AJrz4mk

Discussion

Questions? Feedback? Let's discuss this episode on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Awala/comments/1g2vhgz/inside_awala_podcast_s00e01_how_north_korea/

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27:44

24 September 2024

S00E00: Introduction

In this introductory episode, we look at Internet censorship and how we're planning to circumvent it with Awala. You'll get a sneak peek at what’s to come in future episodes, including behind-the-scenes insights into its development and the challenges faced when building technology for regions impacted by Internet disruptions.

References:

Awala network: https://awala.network
Internet Freedom Status by Country (2023): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nudAfFpisAHcA7qRjyndVieawDIzMrCgrVmVcL9ICes/edit
Freedom on the Net 2023 report: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2023/repressive-power-artificial-intelligence#key-findings
Warming increases the risk of civil war in Africa: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19934048/

Discuss this episode on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Awala/comments/1foneil/inside_awala_podcast_s00e00_introduction/

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05:52