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Cameroon Innovator Beats Internet Shutdown With SMS App (qz.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Hampered by an internet shutdown in Cameroon's troubled English-speaking regions in January 2017, Zuo Bruno, a young ethical hacker, was inspired to develop a car-tracking application using SMS. The application named Zoomed, whose adoption has been fast in Cameroon, is now on the verge of spreading across the continent.
Cameroon has been interrupting internet intermittently in those regions over the last 20 months in an attempt to stifle dissent following mass protests by English-speaking teachers and lawyers which erupted in 2016, first tampered with internet connectivity on Jan. 17, 2017. The internet shutdown lasted 94 days. The internet was again plug off in October same year, taking the duration of the shutdown to a record 230 days, according to Access Now.
[...] The Zoomed app does car-tracking based solely on specific SMS commands which gives it an advantage in a continent where shaky internet connection and low penetration makes internet-based solutions less effective. Bruno prices it at FCFA 120,000 ($ 212) and takes less than an hour to get the app installed into an auto-mobile.
Cameroon has been interrupting internet intermittently in those regions over the last 20 months in an attempt to stifle dissent following mass protests by English-speaking teachers and lawyers which erupted in 2016, first tampered with internet connectivity on Jan. 17, 2017. The internet shutdown lasted 94 days. The internet was again plug off in October same year, taking the duration of the shutdown to a record 230 days, according to Access Now.
[...] The Zoomed app does car-tracking based solely on specific SMS commands which gives it an advantage in a continent where shaky internet connection and low penetration makes internet-based solutions less effective. Bruno prices it at FCFA 120,000 ($ 212) and takes less than an hour to get the app installed into an auto-mobile.
Out of band control using simple 2G or 3G service for message passing was how quite a number of things worked back in the day. I'm sure this will be news to the Kids Today that don't remember life before pervasive LTE, but for commercial/industrial purposes this isn't especially new.
SMS is reliable enough in these situations, but for truer independence they'd want to look into mesh relays using other spectrum.
Hire a Linux system administrator, systems engineer,
An "ethical hacker" is guaranteed to be neither.
Is this about the Cameroon government interrupting internet connectivity to stifle dissent or a guy's app to track cars via SMS?
I'm guessing at $212 US, the target must be business or wealthy families. Only problem is that if the gov't has enough control to remove Internet access from the whole country, there's a good chance they can control the cell towers too. Or the carrier that grants access to the network.
If they've already resorted to violence and depriving the citizens of Internet access, what's a few more steps towards silencing the dissenters?
What if I told you there are no cars or Internets in Cameroon? Is your mind now blown?
While they're killing each other for cobalt, they can have a *have a good night rest knowing that their cars are safe.*
I think this is pretty typical of the "tinkerer's blessing", the period when emerging markets repair/hacker/TechSector is the best job available for the smartest and most honest workers. Singapore did it, S.Korea, Guangdong, and if you go back a ways, Japan. Countries earning under $3k per capita per year jump to 10K per person per year in about a decade, and its when guys like this figure out ways to protect the cars of the wealthy, set up hospital blood banks, rig cell phone towers, etc. They create the "critical mass of users" that makes satellite, cell towers, internet cable etc investable.
Gently reply
What the fuck is an "ethical" hacker?
C'mon, folks. This is slashdot!
Hacking isn't a registered profession. Thus, there is no professional "code of Ethics" for hackers to follow, and it's impossible to be an "Ethical Hacker." Please stop feeding the trolls who sell "ethical hacker" bullshit course-ware.
Neither is programming a registered profession. Thus, there is no professional "code of Ethics" for programmers to follow, and it's impossible to be an "Ethical Programmer." There fixed it for ya!
Why do they present this as an innovation?
About 8 to 10 years ago, I bought a GPS tracker with exactly this functionality.
You could send it an SMS with some command, and it would send back its current location.
No internet necessary (although it could also send regular updates over GPRS).
Cost? About $50 on DealExtreme.