On Mon, Oct 21, 2019 at 06:27:42AM -0400, grarpamp wrote: > On 10/17/19, coderman <[email protected]> wrote: > >> There are many, many analogies you can draw about a network of this > >> type to an ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) network. > > > > > > i'm old enough to remember writing XTI/STREAMS code for ATM networks. (blast > > from the past!) > > > > ATM CBR SVCs would be a perfect fit for padding schemes, if they existed for > > consumer use :) > > > Telco generated clocked TDM bucket brigades... > Suggested for years overlays can still emulate them to good use... > full time chaff padding fill all node-to-node links at negotiated maintained > rates, displace chaff with wheat as it comes in, reclock and enforce > the line contracts, keying, etc at the switchports (overlay nodes). > *VC padding requires lots of management overhead and signaling > between layers in overlay net to avoid user traffic saturating paths, > finding bw routes, etc, forget that. Chaff fill at node-to-node > link layer is easier... just as physical link crypto over fulltime fill > works in background between switchports (there are proposals > for ethernet to do this, embedded PHY instead of aftermarket > anti-SPY gadget). Nodes already know what other nodes the > upper layer wants to talk to, so they nego fill with them before > swapping out lower fill for upper wheat on demand. Tor-like circuit > extends in upper layer still works. User traffic in upper layers rides > happy till users fill their own circuits they provisioned into the net, > no different than tor or any other overlay today.
I'm parsing most of that, but not all. "Negotiating" chaff for wheat is the issue - who to trust, or rather, how to achieve a functional, --against GPAs/ government adversaries-- model/ improvement over Tor! If we rely on layers below end-user control, we lose a major element of security we're trying to achieve here. We can begin with low bw links for wheat in the chaff text messages - bittorrent floods at all times would kill backbones in a sense - that's why unlimited plans ultimately shape.
