This project, called Commotion, seeks to generate connections between the devices themselves in a horizontal way, completely decentralized and almost impossible to monitor, because the traffic will be "anonymous and encrypted", according to the French newspaper Le Monde.
This system works by turning a WiFi router, a computer or an advanced phone into a device capable of capturing the waves of telecommunications networks. Somehow, this 'software' hijacks existing networks to create a parallel, free and free network, a 'mesh' ('wireless mesh') of its own that allows the exchange of information and files.
According to Josh King, technical director of Commotion, "the only tool needed is a USB stick that contains the 'software' to be installed on each drive and that the network can work." Also, to provide security in communications through Commocion, it integrates TOR, which allows users to communicate on the Internet anonymously. Even in the future it could also integrate Freedom Box, which allows, for example, to send material such as photos or videos to a remote server as a weapon against censorship, thanks to the use of encrypted 'proxies'.
The system seems to drink directly from the philosophy of free networks, which proliferated a few years ago as open connection alternatives for very specific areas, such as neighborhoods or communities. It even recalls the way that the computers of the OLPC project, devised by Negroponte for the poorest countries, were going to create wireless networks locally between them.
Its leaders admit that its development will be subject to multiple criticisms, from telecommunications companies -because it is an 'unfair competition'-, to pressure groups such as copyright defenders, always afraid that the lack of control will lead to increase the so-called 'piracy' on the Internet.
Control?
The director of this project, which has the support of the US State Department itself, is led by Sascha Meinrath, founder of the 'Open Technology Initiative' (OTI) -belonging to the New America Foundation-, which seeks to build wireless networks that connect local communities.With an initial budget of 1.6 million euros ($2.3 million), the project has piqued the interest of the U.S. government (which will provide an additional 1.3 million euros) for many reasons.
It could be used to quickly recover connectivity in emergency situations or in remote areas without the possibility of accessing networks, and would even function as a tool at the service of dissidents in dictatorial regimes, as it does not depend on existing infrastructures.
Despite the support of the US Administration, Sascha Meinrath himself highlights in Statements Le Monde the "schizophrenia" of the Government of Washington, where there are officials "trained during the time of the Cold War who dream of blocking everything and supervising everything", until Obama arrived with his message of transparency.
"Privately," Meinrath says, "many State Department officials are angry at seeing their superiors violently criticized WikiLeaks," in relation to the constant leaks of classified material that are made from this website, whose visible head is Julian Assange. "According to this, this initiative could be an opportunity to show the world that the United States knows how to defend freedom of expression and transparency in all circumstances."
Source: El Mundo
