A PirateBox is a portable electronic device, often consisting of a

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

router and a device for storing information, creating a

wireless network A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and business installations avoid the costly process of introducing c ...

that allows

users Ancient Egyptian roles * User (ancient Egyptian official), an ancient Egyptian nomarch (governor) of the Eighth Dynasty * Useramen, an ancient Egyptian vizier also called "User" Other uses * User (computing), a person (or software) using an ...

who are connected to share files anonymously and locally. By design, this device is disconnected from the Internet. The PirateBox was originally designed to exchange data freely under the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

or under a

free license A free license or open license is a license which allows others to reuse another creator’s work as they wish. Without a special license, these uses are normally prohibited by copyright, patent or commercial license. Most free licenses are wo ...

History

The PirateBox was designed in 2011 by

David Darts David Darts is an artist and Chair of the Department of Art and Art Professions at New York University. He holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia and was previously a faculty member in the School of Art at the University of Arizona. ...

, a professor at the

Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development The New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development (commonly referred to as Steinhardt) is the secondary liberal arts and education school of New York University. It is one of the only schools in the world of i ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

under

Free Art License The Free Art License (FAL), (french: Licence Art Libre (LAL)) is a copyleft license that grants the right to freely copy, distribute, and transform creative works. History The license was written in July 2000 with contributions from the mailin ...

. It has since become highly popular in Western Europe, particularly in France by Jean Debaecker, and its development is largely maintained by Matthias Strubel. The usage of the PirateBox-Concept turns slowly away from common local filesharing to purposes in education, concerning public schools or private events like CryptoParties, a crucial point also being circumvention of censorship since it can be operated behind strong physical barriers. On 17 November 2019, Matthias Strubel announced the closure of the Pirate Box project, citing more routers having locked firmware and browsers forcing https.

Set up

As of version 1.0, there is an improved installation path, with only a few steps followed by an automatic install.

Raspberry Pi Setup

The PirateBox can be set up in Raspberry Pi. The steps can be followed in the reference article.

Uses

Users connect to the PirateBox via

(using a

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

, for example) without having to learn the password. They can then access the local web page of the PirateBox to download or upload files, or access an anonymous chat room or forum. All such data exchanges are confined to the PirateBox's local network and are not connected to the Internet. Several educational projects use the devices to deliver content to students allowing them to share by chat or forum. The PirateBox is also used in places where Internet access is rare or impractical.

Devices which can be converted to a PirateBox

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

(v2.3+) devices: unofficial porting allowing to run a PirateBox on some

rooted In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

Android devices (example:

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

and

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being comput ...

). PirateBox for Android is available from Google Play (since June 2014). * PirateBox

Live USB A live USB is a portable USB-attached external data storage device containing a full operating system that can be booted from. The term is reminiscent of USB flash drives but may encompass an external hard disk drive or solid-state drive, thou ...

: allows one to turn a computer temporarily into a PirateBox * Raspberry Pi * Chip

Wi-Fi routers

Not an exhaustive list: *

TP-Link TP-Link Technologies Co., Ltd. (), is a global manufacturer of computer networking products based in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. History TP-Link was founded in 1996 by two brothers, Zhao Jianjun ( ''Zhào Jiànjūn'') and Zhao Jiaxing ( ' ...

MR3020 – the first device modified by Darts *

MR3040 * Zsun WiFi Card Reader - hacked by installing OpenWRT, and there are efforts to produce easy installation instructions for PirateBox on this device. The PirateBox official wiki has an up-to-date hardware-list of compatible devices.

References

External links

Official Pageofficial forum

Linuxjournal.com

A Pirate Box for Sharing Files

PirateBox Takes File-Sharing Off The Radar and Offline, For Next To Nothing
( TorrentFreak, March 2012)
PirateBox: an "artistic provocation" in lunchbox form
{{Portal bar, Anarchism , Freedom of speech File sharing Computer art