neighborhood ad hoc network

[nippin]

Hello, this looks like an amazing project for the right application. I am curious to know the limitations and restrictions of setting up a mesh network in a suburban neighborhood.

I am a novice when it comes to programming and networking, but I had an idea, did a little digging and came across this platform.

Before I dig too far in to this to determine if it would work, I had a few concerns about security, data transfer limitations, signal strength, etc.

The idea is a "neighborhood network" where neighbors could share movies, news, etc. Sort of like a private neighborhood facebook/twitter/netflix type of service. Share certain files with certain neighbors, etc.

Suppose I had a cache of movies and set up Byzantium on a Raspberry Pi and every neighbor also had it, would there be any disruption from someone say 5 blocks away?

Could I share specific files with a specific person over a network like this - and have it secure enough to not be intercepted?

Is there anything else I'm not aware of that would limit this type of application from working?

[Nedie OfSilverhand]

I think what you are talking about is running something like a kodi or plex server as a service. Plex has built in encryption but requires internet based accounts to authenticate users (not much use in a grid down synario). However it should be possible. If you want only authorized users you could add a vpn as a service and have Plex only available to VPN clients. Then the level of encryption is based on the VPN and only those logged into the VPN can see that the service is there. Keep in mind that video streaming raw data takes a large bandwidth and the greater the level of encryption the more bandwidth. For example to send a text message to say hi would require 16bits plus header and footer without encryption. Now add 128 bit encryption and hi becomes 256bits plus header and footer. Use 2048 bit encryption and you may down the entire network with just 1user watching a video..... If I'm wrong someone please tell me... But I am pretty sure that is roughly how that works.