Activists creating decentralized mesh network that can't be blocked, filtered or silenced

[Anthony Verevkin]

> From: "Mel Wilson" <mwilson-4YeSL8/OYKRWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org>

> On 02/27/2012 10:01 AM, Anthony Verevkin wrote:
> > Would you guys have any suggestions on what kinds of applications
> > such
> > network could run? The ones where traffic would both originate and
> > terminate in the Mesh. Say, there are 30-200 nodes in such network.
> 
> I had thought Son of Fidonet.  There is a real problem in keeping
> interest alive long enough to form a critical mass that's big enough
> to
> keep interest alive.  The communities that we've formed in our
> current
> Global Village (GTALug, for example) are not line-of-sight
> communities.
> 
>      Mel.


How about the following idea, do you think it might be viable?

Providing Free Internet access to the neighborhood. The network has
three servers - 1) Web proxy, allowing access, 2) Email with web interface,
available from both inside and outside, and 3) Bulletin board/Forums to 
discuss community matters.

In order for the Web proxy to give you some free Internet you should 
register on the Bulletin board and join some discussion. Every message
you post counts for the certain amount of traffic and certain amount of 
days it's valid. The Bulletin board is moderated to clean up the abusing 
messages and block the users who wrote them. Community websites like local 
schools, etc. can be made accessible with no registration.

Email is always accessible from both inside and outside, but has limits 
for the amount of storage (which might be dynamically increased with time).

Both email and Bulletin Board are showing local ads, the banners from the
local restaurants, convenience stores and dry-cleaning services, etc. That's
what pays for the expenses.

If a person agrees to put a retransmitting station on his house he gets
free internet with no obligations in exchange.

Users would be encouraged to share the content, including the copyright
materials, but this would not be accessible from outside which provides a
certain level of protection against claims. Again, no copyright materials
would be stored on the servers so the network would also not be held
responsible. It is even possible to run a local torrent tracker to
facilitate the sharing. The tracker can also calculate the amount of data
you shared and that can also count toward the user's Internet traffic 
allowance.

Once the network attracts enough interest, it might start growing 
independently.


Regards,
Anthony
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