Editing Sneakernet

{{short description|Informal term for the transfer of electronic information by physically moving media}}
{{use mdy dates |date=August 2023}}
[[File:Holding a cruzer 8gb.jpg|thumb|right|A [[USB flash drive]] allows the transfer of data between individuals without use of the Internet.]]
[[File:Memory-card-comparison.jpg|thumb|[[Memory card]]s are a popular physical medium for transferring files and have become smaller in size as technology has advanced.]]
{{fsb}}
'''Sneakernet''', also called '''sneaker net''', is an informal term for the transfer of electronic information by physically moving media such as [[magnetic tape]], [[floppy disk]]s, [[optical disc]]s, [[USB flash drive]]s or external [[hard drive]]s between [[computer]]s, rather than transmitting it over a [[computer network]]. Sneakernets enable data transfer through physical means and offer a solution in the presence of network connections that lack reliability; however, a consequence of this physical transfer is high [[Latency (engineering)|latency]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jaya |first1=Andika Candra |last2=Safitri |first2=Cutifa |last3=Mandala |first3=Rila |chapter=Sneakernet: A Technological Overview and Improvement |date=2020-12-16 |pages=287–291 |title=2020 IEEE International Conference on Sustainable Engineering and Creative Computing (ICSECC) |chapter-url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/icsecc51444.2020.9557509 |publisher=IEEE |doi=10.1109/icsecc51444.2020.9557509|isbn=978-1-7281-7588-1 }}</ref> The term, a [[tongue-in-cheek]] play on ''net(work)'' as in ''[[Internet]]'' or ''[[Ethernet]]'', refers to walking in [[sneakers (footwear)|sneakers]] as the transport mechanism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sneakernet |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119201437/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/sneakernet |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 19, 2015 |title=sneakernet|work=Oxford Dictionary| access-date=2016-09-09}}</ref>

==Summary and background==

[[File:Sinclair computer (ZX Spectrum), met adaptor, vier boeken en zeven cassettes met spelletjes, objectnr 77523-1-14.JPG|thumb|[[Compact cassette]]s were a natural way of transferring data between [[ZX Spectrum]] systems in the 1980s and 1990s.]]
Sneakernets are in use throughout the computer universe. A sneakernet may be used when computer networks are prohibitively expensive for the owner to maintain; in high-security environments where manual inspection (for re-classification of information) is necessary; where information needs to be shared between networks with different levels of security clearance; when data transfer is impractical due to [[List of device bandwidths|bandwidth limitations]]; when a particular system is simply incompatible with the local network, unable to be connected, or when two systems are not on the same network at the same time. Because sneakernets take advantage of physical media, security measures used for the transfer of sensitive information are respectively physical.

This form of [[data transfer]] is also used for [[peer-to-peer]] (or [[friend-to-friend]]) file sharing and has grown in popularity in [[metropolitan area]]s and [[college]] communities. The ease of this system has been facilitated by the availability of [[USB]] external hard drives, [[USB flash drive]]s and portable music players.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2002/08/54739 |title=Sneakernet Redux: Walk Your Data |last=Boutin |first=Paul |date=2002-08-26 |work=[[Wired News]] |access-date=8 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119134710/http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2002/08/54739 |archive-date=November 19, 2009 }}</ref>

The [[United States Postal Service]] offers a [[United States Postal Service#General domestic services|Media Mail]] service for [[compact disc]]s, among other items. This provides a viable mode of transport for long distance sneakernet use. In fact, when mailing media with sufficiently high data density such as high capacity hard drives, the throughput (data transferred per unit of time) as well as the cost per unit of data transferred may compete favorably with networked methods of data transfer.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://what-if.xkcd.com/31/ |url-status=live |date=8 February 2013 |title=FedEx Bandwidth |last=Munroe |first=Randall |author-link=Randall Munroe |website=[[xkcd]] what if?|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208011905/https://what-if.xkcd.com/31/ |access-date=18 September 2019|archive-date=February 8, 2013 }}</ref>

A quantum version of sneakernet was proposed in a paper by Simon Devitt and collaborators in 2016.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Devitt |first1=Simon J. |last2=Greentree |first2=Andrew D. |last3=Stephens |first3=Ashley M. |last4=Van Meter |first4=Rodney |title=High-speed quantum networking by ship |journal=Scientific Reports |date=2 November 2016 |volume=6 |issue=1 |page=36163 |doi=10.1038/srep36163|pmid=27805001 |pmc=5090252 |bibcode=2016NatSR...636163D }}</ref>

==Usage examples==
===Afghanistan===
In 2021 [[Taliban]]-governed [[Afghanistan]], "computer ''kars''" distribute Internet-derived content by hand: "Movies, music, mobile applications, iOS updates, and naughty videos. Also creating Apple IDs and social media accounts, and backing up and unlocking phones and recovering data." The ''kars'' collectively maintain an archive of hundreds of terabytes of data. Four terabytes of the latest Indian or American movies or Turkish TV dramas, dubbed in the Afghan national languages Dari and Pashto reportedly wholesale for about 800 afghanis, or nine US dollars, while the retail price of five gigabytes of content is 100 afghanis, or one US dollar. ''Kars'' report that their earnings have dropped 90% under Taliban rule.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kumar |first1=Ruchi |title=Can Afghanistan's underground "sneakernet" survive the Taliban? |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/11/26/1040459/afghanistan-sneakernet-content-dealers-kars-taliban |access-date=26 November 2021 |publisher=MIT Technology Review |date=26 November 2021}}</ref>

===Australia===
When [[Australia]] joined [[Usenet]] in 1983, it received articles via tapes sent from the United States to the [[University of Sydney]], which disseminated data to dozens of other computers on the country's Unix network.<ref name="marquis19830329">{{cite newsgroup | url=http://article.olduse.net/467@sdchema.UUCP | title=Australia joins USENET | date=1983-03-29 | access-date=14 February 2016 | last=Marquis | first=Bret | newsgroup=net.news.newsite | id=467@sdchema.UUCP}}</ref>

===Bhutan===
The Rigsum Sherig Collection project<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rigsum-it.com/research/projects/sherig/ |work=rigsum-it.com |access-date=8 August 2023 |title=Rigsum Sherig Collection }}</ref> uses a sneakernet to distribute offline educational resources, including [[Kiwix]] and [[Khan Academy]] on a Stick,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mujica.org/khan/ |work=mujica.org |access-date=8 August 2023 |title=Khan Academy on a Stick }}</ref> to hundreds of schools and other educational institutions in the Kingdom of [[Bhutan]]. Many of the schools in Bhutan have computers or IT labs, but no Internet connection (or a very slow one).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.kuenselonline.com/only-a-third-of-government-schools-have-internet-access |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615201815/http://www.kuenselonline.com/only-a-third-of-government-schools-have-internet-access |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 15, 2013 |title=Only a Third of Government Schools Have Internet Access |publisher=Kuensel |date=April 18, 2013}}</ref> The sneakernet, facilitated by teachers, distributes about 25&nbsp;GB of free, open-source educational software to the schools, often using external [[hard disks]].

===Cuba===
[[El Paquete Semanal]] is a roughly 1TB compilation of media, distributed weekly throughout [[Cuba]] via portable hard drives and USB memory sticks.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3048163/in-cuba-an-underground-network-armed-with-usb-drives-does-the-work-of-google-and-youtube |work=[[Fast Company]] |date=7 July 2015 |access-date=8 August 2023 |first=Sarah |last=Kessler |title=In Cuba, An Underground Network Armed With USB Drives Does The Work Of Google And YouTube }}</ref>

===Iran===
A weekly data dump compilation collected through the satellite system [[Toosheh]].

===North Korea===
[[North Korea]]n dissidents have been known to smuggle flash drives filled with western movies and television shows.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://techli.com/2012/05/north-korea-sneakernet-insurgency/ |title=Fighting The State, Without The Web: North Korea's Sneakernet Insurgency }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/2015/03/north-korea/ |date=1 March 2015 |title=The Plot to Free North Korea with Smuggled Episodes of 'Friends' |magazine=Wired |last1=Greenberg |first1=Andy }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://gizmodo.com/how-one-man-wants-to-free-north-korea-with-usb-drives-a-1688814490 |work=Gizmodo |title=How One Man Wants to Free North Korea With USB Drives and Pirated Movies |date=March 2, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/22/north-korea-s-secret-movie-bootleggers-how-western-films-make-it-into-the-hermit-kingdom.html |title=North Korea's Secret Movie Bootleggers: How Western Films Make It Into the Hermit Kingdom |newspaper=The Daily Beast |date=December 22, 2014 |last1=Crocker |first1=Lizzie }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/08/balloon-activist-sends-thousands-of-copies-of-the-interview-to-north-korea |title=Balloon activist sends 'thousands of copies' of The Interview to North Korea |newspaper=The Guardian |date=April 8, 2015 |agency=Agence France-Presse }}</ref>

===Pakistan===
The [[Death of Osama bin Laden|May 2011 raid]] of [[Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad]], [[Pakistan]], revealed that he used a series of USB thumb drives to store his email drafts.  A courier of his would then take the saved emails to a nearby Internet cafe and send them out to the desired recipients.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Apuzzo |first1=Matt |last2=Goldman |first2=Adam |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/13/how-bin-laden-emailed-without-being-detected-us/ |title=How bin Laden emailed without being detected by US |agency=Associated Press |publisher=[[The Washington Times]] |date=May 13, 2011 |access-date=June 29, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first= Declan |last=McCullagh |author-link=Declan McCullagh |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20062755-281.html |title=How bin Laden evaded the NSA: Sneakernet |work=Privacy Inc |publisher=[[CNET]] |date=May 13, 2011 |access-date=May 17, 2011 }}</ref>

===South Africa===
In September 2009, Durban company Unlimited IT reportedly pitted a [[Homing pigeon|messenger pigeon]] against South African ISP [[Telkom SA|Telkom]] to transfer 4&nbsp;GB of data {{convert|60|mi|km}} from [[Howick, KwaZulu-Natal|Howick]] to [[Durban]]. The pigeon, carrying the data on a [[USB flash drive|memory stick]], arrived in one hour eight minutes, with the data taking another hour to read from the memory stick. During the same two-hour period, only about 4.2% of the data had been transferred over the [[ADSL]] link.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8248056.stm |title=SA Pigeon 'Faster than broadband' |work=BBC News |date=September 10, 2009}}</ref> A similar experiment was conducted in England in September 2010; the [[IP over Avian Carrier|"pigeonnet"]] also proved superior.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/17/bt_bird/|title=BT feathers ruffled over pigeon-based file transfer caper |work=[[The Register]] |date=September 17, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11325452 |title=Pigeon flies past broadband in data speed race |publisher=BBC News Technology |date=September 16, 2010}}</ref> In November 2009 the Australian comedy/current-affairs television program ''[[Hungry Beast]]'' repeated this experiment. The experiment had the team transfer a 700&nbsp;MB file via three delivery methods to determine which was the fastest; A carrier pigeon with a [[microSD]] card, a car carrying a [[USB Stick]], or a [[Telstra]] ADSL line. The data was to be transferred a distance of {{convert|132|km|mi}} by road. The pigeon won the race with a time of approximately 1 hour 5 minutes, the car came in second at 2 hours 10 minutes, while the internet transfer did not finish, having dropped out a second time and not come back.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci2bFFGM8T8 | work=ABC Television/Hungry Beast | title=The Great Australian Internet Challenge | date=10 November 2009}}</ref>

Wizzy Digital Courier provided Internet access to schools in South Africa with poor or no network connectivity by implementing [[UUCP]] on USB memory sticks. This allowed offline cached email transport and scoops of web pages to back-fill a web cache.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://archive.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2004/04/63131?currentPage=all |title=Seeking Riches From the Poor |first=Megan |last=Lindow |date=23 April 2004 |magazine=Wired }}</ref>

===United States===
[[Google]] has used a sneakernet to transport large datasets, including 120 [[terabyte|TB]] of data from the [[Hubble Space Telescope]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6425975.stm |work=BBC News |title=Google helps terabyte data swaps |date=March 7, 2007 |access-date=May 23, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="FedExNet">{{cite web|url=https://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/03/73007|title=Google's Next-Gen of Sneakernet|last=Farivar|first=Cyrus|date=20 March 2007|work=[[Wired (website)|Wired]]|access-date=5 February 2013}}</ref> Users of [[Google Cloud Platform|Google Cloud]] can import their data into [[Google Cloud Storage]] through sneakernet.<ref>{{cite web |title=Offline Media Import / Export |url=https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/offline-media-import-export |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715134627/https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/offline-media-import-export |archive-date=2019-07-15 |access-date=2016-01-29 |website=Google Cloud}}</ref> [[Oracle Corporation|Oracle]] similarly offers its Data Transfer Service to customers to migrate data to [[Oracle Cloud|Oracle Cloud Infrastructure]] or export data from it.<ref>{{cite web|title=Overview of Data Transfer Service|url=https://docs.oracle.com/en-us/iaas/Content/DataTransfer/Concepts/overview.htm|access-date=30 April 2021}}</ref>

The [[SETI@home]] project uses a sneakernet to overcome bandwidth limitations: data recorded by the [[Arecibo Observatory|radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico]] was stored on magnetic tapes which were then shipped to [[Berkeley, California]], for processing.  In 2005, [[Jim Gray (computer scientist)|Jim Gray]] reported sending hard drives and even "metal boxes with processors" to transport large amounts of data by postal mail.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=864078 |title=A Conversation with Jim Gray |quote=Who would ever, in this time of the greatest interconnectivity in human history, go back to shipping bytes around via snail mail as a preferred means of data transfer? |journal=[[ACM Queue]] |volume=1 |issue=4 |date=July 31, 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091205080459/http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=864078 |archive-date=December 5, 2009 }}</ref>

[[Very Long Baseline Interferometry]] performed using the [[Very Long Baseline Array]] ships hard drives to a data reduction site in Socorro, New Mexico.  They refer to their data transfer mechanism as "HDOA" (Hard Drives On Airplane).

Data analytics teams in the financial services sector often use sneakernets to transfer sensitive corporate information and information obtained from [[data mining]], such as ledger entries, customer data and financial statistics.  There are several reasons for this: firstly, sneakernets can generally provide very high security (and possibly more importantly, they are ''perceived'' to be secure) due to the impossibility of a [[man-in-the-middle attack]] or [[packet sniffing]]; secondly, the volumes of data concerned are often extremely high; and thirdly, setting up secure network links between the client business and the analytics team's facilities is often either impossible or an extremely convoluted process.

In 2015 [[Amazon Web Services]] launched AWS Snowball, a {{convert|50|lb|kg|abbr=on}}, 50&nbsp;TB device for transporting data to the AWS cloud;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/7/9471381/amazon-snowball-data-transfer-device |title=Amazon made a huge plastic box called Snowball so people can ship data to the cloud |first=Jacob |last=Kastrenakes |date=October 7, 2015 |access-date=October 8, 2015 |website=[[The Verge]]}}</ref> and in 2016 AWS Snowmobile, a truck to transport up to 100&nbsp;PB of data in one load.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/aws-snowmobile-data-transport-truck-highlights-why-cloud-giant-is-so-damn-disruptive/ |title=AWS' Snowmobile data transport truck highlights why cloud giant is so damn disruptive |first=Larry |last=Dignan |date=November 30, 2016}}</ref>  For similar reasons, there is also a Google Transfer Appliance, an IBM Cloud Mass Data Migration device,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sharwood |first1=Simon |title=IBM packs 120TB into a carry-on bag, for snow-balling cloud uploads |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/19/ibm_cloud_mass_data_migration_appliance/ |access-date=19 September 2017 |work=[[The Register]] |date=19 September 2017}}</ref> and Microsoft's Azure Data Box Disk service.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is Azure Data Box? |url=https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/databox/data-box-overview |website=Microsoft Learn|date=July 26, 2022 }}</ref>

Observation data from the [[Event Horizon Telescope]] is collected on hard drives which are transported by commercial freight airplanes<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/04/black-hole-hard-disks-picture/587119/ |title=The Hidden Shipping and Handling Behind That Black-Hole Picture |website=[[The Atlantic]] |date=13 April 2019 |language=en |access-date=2019-04-14}}</ref> from the various telescopes to the [[MIT]] [[Haystack Observatory]] and the [[Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy]], where the data is analyzed.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mearian |first=Lucas |url=http://www.computerworld.com/article/2972251/space-technology/massive-telescope-array-aims-for-black-hole-gets-gusher-of-data.html |title=Massive telescope array aims for black hole, gets gusher of data |work=Computerworld |date=18 August 2015 |access-date=2015-08-21 |archive-date=June 3, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170603161606/http://www.computerworld.com/article/2972251/space-technology/massive-telescope-array-aims-for-black-hole-gets-gusher-of-data.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===USSR===
In later [[USSR]], the operating system called [[DEMOS]] was created and adapted for many types of Soviet computers by cloning versions of [[UNIX]] that were brought into USSR on magnetic tapes bypassing the [[Iron Curtain]]. This allowed to build [[Relcom]] country-wide [[UUCP]] network to provide global [[Usenet]] access for Soviet users which led to the registration of [[.su]] ("Soviet Union") [[top level domain]] in 1990.

==In media==

===Non-fiction===
{{blockquote|There's a lot of band-width in a [[station wagon]].|Fred Gruenberger, ''Computing: A Second Course''<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gruenberger|first1=Fred|title=Computing: A Second Course|date=1971|publisher=Canfield Press|location=San Francisco|isbn=978-0063834057|page=138|access-date=24 January 2017|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m2YgAQAAIAAJ&q=band-width}}</ref>}}

The first [[USENET]] citation is July&nbsp;16,&nbsp;1985,{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} and it was widely considered an old joke already.{{clarification needed|date=July 2023}}

{{blockquote|Never underestimate the bandwidth of a [[station wagon]] full of tapes hurtling down the highway.|[[Andrew S. Tanenbaum]]<ref>{{cite book| author-link=Andrew S. Tanenbaum| first=Andrew S.| last=Tanenbaum| title=Computer Networks| location=New Jersey| publisher=Prentice-Hall| year=1989| page=[https://archive.org/details/computernetworks02tane/page/57 57]| isbn=0-13-166836-6| url=https://archive.org/details/computernetworks02tane/page/57}}</ref>}}

Other alleged speakers included Tom Reidel, Warren Jackson, or Bob Sutterfield.

Although the station wagon transporting magnetic tapes is generally considered the canonical version, variants using trucks or [[Boeing 747]]s or [[Lockheed C-5 Galaxy|C-5]]s and later storage technologies such as [[CD-ROM]]s, [[DVD]]s, [[Blu-ray]]s, or SD Cards<ref>{{cite web |title=Fedex Bandwidths |url=https://what-if.xkcd.com/31/ |access-date=18 April 2023}}</ref> have frequently appeared.

The very first problem in [[Andrew S. Tanenbaum]]'s 1981 textbook ''Computer Networks'' asks the student to calculate the bandwidth of a [[St. Bernard (dog)|St. Bernard]] carrying [[floppy disk]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Updated Textbook Explores Theoretical Basis of Networks |journal=InfoWorld |date=6 Feb 1989 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OzoEAAAAMBAJ&q=St.+Bernard+carrying+floppy+disks.&pg=PT64 |access-date=16 April 2019}}</ref>

===Fiction===
* In ''[[Minority Report (film)|Minority Report]]'', the computer center of the "Precrime" police division operates by transferring data from one console to another using a thin, flat storage device.
* The [[Terry Pratchett]] novel ''[[Going Postal]]'' (2004) includes a contest between a horse-drawn mail coach and the "Grand Trunk Clacks" (a [[semaphore line]]) to see which is faster to transmit the contents of a book to a remote destination.
* [[William Gibson|William Gibson's]] novel ''[[Spook Country]]'' (2007) also features sneakernets, with [[iPods]] being the storage device used to clandestinely move information.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/aug/18/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.fiction?gusrc=rss&feed=books |first=Steven |last=Poole |author-link=Steven Poole |date=August 18, 2007 |title=Sign language |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=September 24, 2009 | location=London}}</ref>
* In [[Cory Doctorow|Cory Doctorow's]] novel ''[[Little Brother (Doctorow novel)|Little Brother]]'', the main character uses the term ''sneakernet'' to describe how he and his friends distribute the fictitious XNet software for encrypted communications.

==Similar concepts==
* [[Delay-tolerant networking|Delay-tolerant networks]], such as the Haggle project<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/srg/netos/haggle/ |title=Haggle |author=Ben Hui |date=March 1, 2006 |publisher=University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628135144/http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/srg/netos/haggle/ |archive-date=June 28, 2015 }}</ref> at [[Cambridge University]].
* [[IP over Avian Carriers]] (RFC 1149), an [[April Fools' Day RFC]] describing the transmission of messages via [[homing pigeon]].

==See also==

{{Div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Air gap (networking)]]
* [[Darknet]]
* [[Data Mule]]
* [[IP over Avian Carriers]]
* [[Jargon File]]
* [[Meatspace]] 
* [[Pod slurping]]
* [[Sideloading]]
* [[Twilight (warez)]]
* [[USB dead drop]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Wiktionary}}

{{Internet censorship circumvention technologies}}
{{Software distribution}}

[[Category:Computer jargon]]
[[Category:Computer networking]]
[[Category:Data transmission]]
[[Category:File sharing networks]]
[[Category:1980s neologisms]]