China is in the midst of a social revolution. Proof of this are the constant and massive demonstrations that are invading the streets of Hong Kong Highways and squares full of citizens asking for more democracy for the country. In order to organize themselves, they use the social networks and messaging applications. WeChat, LINE or WhatsApp are the great messaging tools in the Asian market, as well as other social networksBut what to do when the government is capable of vetoing access to some of these services as has already happened with the social network Instagram? The answer has come from the application FireChat
And this messaging tool has a curious approach to avoid depending on connections to Internet for its operation. Thus, FireChat is able to work even offline, allowing you to send and receive messages through different connections such as Bluetooth or technology WiFi Direct Questions that have become the perfect tool for these mass demonstrationswhere the Chinese government has the power to open or close the faucet at will regarding the Internet
Special feature of this app allows protesters to contact direct, in group and without depending on other services that can be censored. All of this knowing that the application and contact network extends to places where users are close to each other, without there being a great distance between them, leveraging each terminal as connection point with the next user The only problem with using this application is that is not completely anonymous, being necessary to register an email address and a username to start using it. Therefore its creator suggests that protesters use nicknames and fake names if they decide to take advantage of this tool.
According to the media BBC, more than 100.000 people have joined the FireChat service in less than 24 hours Which would be one new user every second. The problem with not using Internet and the application's own servers is that they do not offer known official data of the number of people actively using it when working offline. However, its creator has confirmed that the group conversations over the Internet of this service have added more than 800,000 users in the last day Unprecedented growth.
With this application, users communicate and plan demonstrations knowing that, after disconnecting from the network, these conversations disappear And not only that, but once in the agreed place, users can use their own devices to stay in touch in the same place without intervention or espionage by the Chinese governmentAll of this without losing sight of the protests they are carrying out to demand universal suffrage and more democracy tools for all China Something in which technology and, more specifically, a simple application, is having a lot to do.
