Osg3 20110306 FREEDOMBOX

TOF   This is DR… A Columbia Law professor has set up a foundation with a modest goal – to design an internet that NO GOVERNMENT can turn off.

More after this from Charlie:
((SPOT))

After seeing various beseiged governments trying to snuff out revolutionary movements by switching off the Internet, Columbia law professor Eben Moglen decided to bring together software developers to build a system that CAN’T be turned off by ANY government.

The heart of the system is a cheap but extremely fast general purpose computer called the Freedom Box:

MoglenA

And here’s why it matters:  You know how from time to time your internet connection just stops for no apparent reason?  You don’t know whether it’s your ISP, the government, aliens – all you know is you’re off-line.

Moglen would program the Freedom Box so that could NEVER happen:

Moglen B

So in a place like Libya?

Moglen C  “Boxes like this could make a mesh…themselves”

Yes – the idea is – that if you need to send a message to Suzy and the internet is down, your Freedom Box will turn on it’s WifFi and contact a nearby Freedom Box.  And then that Freedom Box will contact the next one, and the network builds itself, until the message reaches Suzy.

Oh, I predict that some potentates are not going to like this:

Moglen D…we’re doing it.”

And if Eben Moglen pulls it off – the day is coming when a dictator can punch the Red Button until the mob is at the gates.

TOF