another legal aspect of the sudo-mesh project is patent busting prior art research. ...
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/mesh-networking-good-overbroad-patent…
> JUNE 21, 2013 | BY JULIE SAMUELS
> Mesh Networking, Good. Overbroad Patents, Bad. Help Us Protect Mesh Networking.
> Earlier this year, we announced that along with the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, we were challenging six patent applications that, if granted, could threaten the development of 3D printing technology. We asked you—the community—for help, and your input was invaluable. We're still waiting to hear from the Patent Office on those applications, but our work is not done. We need your help again, this time to challenge dangerous patent applications that threaten mesh networking technology.
>
> Mesh networking allows users to form their own networks without a centralized infrastructure, making them inherently resistant to censorship, surveillance, and disruption. Given recent revelations showing widespread surveillance of the phone calls and online activities of innocent Americans and others around the globe, the development of mesh networks more important than ever. Governments and commercial actors have taken advantage of intermediaries as “weak links” in order to censor, surveil, and disrupt communications and social movements. Already in the United States, cell towers have been deactivated in response to planned protest, while activists in countries such as Egypt, Libya, and Syria have suffered massive blackouts that shut down all access from within the country to the wider Internet. Mesh networking technology can help activists fight back.
>
> Wireless Mesh Networks
>
> For more than a decade the open-source community has been developing networks that use multi-hop connectivity to bypass the current ISP-dominated model of Internet access. These Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) have tremendous potential for enabling the free flow of information without exposure to censorship and monitoring. Because they lack a central access point, mesh networks are also harder to take down, as the removal of one node won’t terminate the entire network. And WMNs, by not relying on infrastructure provided by ISPs, can provide connectivity in areas where that infrastructure is inaccessible, damaged, or prohibitively expensive.
>
> The open source community has developed innovative tools and applications of mesh networking technology including the B.A.T.M.A.N. routing protocol developed by Freifunk, a system for internet access in remote areas of Afghanistan and Kenya (FabFi), and community controlled telephone systems in Nigeria, Columbia, Puerto Rico, South Africa, East Timor, and Brazil (VillageTelco). Harvard Law Professor Jonathan Zittrain and former FCC chairman Julius Genachowski recently advocated for the use of mesh networks to provide phone access during times of crisis when mobile networks are overloaded.
>
> The Problem
>
> Wireless Mesh Networking is still in its nascent stages, and the innovations and experimentation of the open source community are playing a vital role in advancing the technology. However, there has also been significant proprietary and military interest in the technology, and companies are seeking patents in many areas of WMN already explored by the open source community. We unfortunately know what can happen when overbroad patents get granted—the rise of patent trolls, lawsuits that can threaten growing businesses, and threats that target entire areas of technology. We don't want to see that happen to mesh networking.
>
> This is where you come in!
>
> We have identified several patent applications that we believe particularly threaten the free development of mesh networking technology. There is a danger that these patents, if granted, will lock up the basic mesh network infrastructure and restrict advancement of and access to the technology.
>
> We have been using the Patent Office’s new Preissuance Submissions procedure, which gives third parties an opportunity to tell patent examiners when they think a patent application shouldn't be granted. The procedure requires those third parties to submit publications predating the application that prove the ideas in the patent were not novel.
>
> Which is why we need your help. We are again partnering with Ask Patents so you can help us identify the best prior art to reign in these applications. While prior art for issued patents must date back many years, these are recently filed applications for which relatively recent publications may be helpful. Look at each “Request for Prior Art” we post to learn the exact priority date.
>
> Working together we can protect the mesh networking community from overbroad, illegitimate patents that threaten to stifle innovation and access to technologies that preserve personal freedoms.
>
> APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ENHANCING WIRELESS MESH NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS
>
> ADAPTING EXTENSIBLE AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOL FOR LAYER 3 MESH NETWORKS
>
> MESH NETWORK GATEWAY AND SECURITY SYSTEM
Tonight, we found the sudo room bike locked up outside the door on 22nd St.
It had only a light chain locking it to the post. Then an evil man stole
it! >.<
...
Just kidding. Marc cut the chain with our boltcutters from home and brought
it back up to the space. Please don't do this with the lovely bike Matt put
together for us all with his very own sweat, tears, and freecycled parts!
Or paint it hot pink! With 3D printed flair!
On agenda for next week: Bike protocol :)
Be well,
Jenny
http://jennyryan.nethttp://thepyre.orghttp://thevirtualcampfire.orghttp://technomadic.tumblr.com
`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories."
-Laurie Anderson
"Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it."
-Hannah Arendt
"To define is to kill. To suggest is to create."
-Stéphane Mallarmé
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
sudoers!
With your support, the plan to mesh the world is progressing rapidly.
If you are interested in becoming part of the mesh by hosting a mesh node
in the near future, then please add yourself to the node map:
http://meshmap.sudoroom.org/
Hosting a node involves:
1. Letting us mount a router on your roof, or on the side of your house,
or pointing out your window (they come in different sizes, but even the big
ones are pretty small and unobtrusive) and run a single cable (choice of
colors!) to your existing modem / access point / router.
2. Paying for the routers power usage. They use only 8 watts of power,
which is less than 5.9 kilowatt-hours a month, which at an average bay area
price of 22.8 cents each comes to about $1.35 a month.
3. Optionally paying for the router! $25 to $110 depending on distance to
nearest other mesh node.
4. Optionally donating e.g. 10% internet bandwidth to the mesh if you
already have an internet connection (strongly encouraged!).
Add yourseeeelf!!!:
http://meshmap.sudoroom.org/
--
Marc
Mesh the planet!
hey all,
a few of us went to a screening this evening of edible city, a documentary
about the food justice movement in the bay area (and what was particularly
awesome is that the filmmakers and lots of the people in the movie were at
the screening and answered questions!).
the whole movie is available here:
http://ediblecitythemovie.com/help-us-grow/
- marina
hey friends,
if you are interested in all things wiki-related, join us for the 2013
annual wiknic this sunday by the gazebo at lake merritt for an in-person
bay area wiki meetup. details below.
- marina
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Marina Kukso <marina.kukso(a)gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 11:02 PM
Subject: 2013 Annual WIKNIC This Sunday 6/23 at Lake Merritt!
To: "oaklandwiki(a)googlegroups.com" <oaklandwiki(a)googlegroups.com>,
oaklandwiki-announcements(a)googlegroups.com
Hi everyone,
Join all kinds of wiki enthusiasts, Oakland Wikiers, Wikipedians and
beyond, for this year's Wiknic 2013!
The Wiknic is a global annual tradition put on by Wikipedia volunteers to
bring together volunteers who live near each other so that they can meet.
This year, things are spicing up as Wikipedians and Oakland Wikiers will be
co-organizing the event.
Join us at 12:34PM on Sunday 6/23 near the gazebo at Lake Merritt!
More details here: http://oaklandwiki.org/2013-06-23_Wiknic
Tell your friends and see you soon!
Marina
I ran into a guy who visits sudoroom at the west oakland skatepark. The little kids are rad here!!! The park is a lot nicer and prettier since I first went two or three years ago
Start a sudoroom nerd skate team!!
---
Romy Ilano
Founder of Snowyla
http://www.snowyla.com
romy(a)snowyla.com
Is it beer? Yes. Subiir batch 4, the best brew as of yet. Hoppy and
well-carbonated IPA. It pops.
Is it in the fridge? Yes. The drawer (mid-left, with a big sign) is now the
place to get your beer-fix.
Is it free? *No!* It's not free to make, and the hacker-brewers are not in
a position to gift it. Please put in $2 per bottle in the little box in the
beer-drawer (you will see it). It covers our expenses, and any amount
beyond that, a) to invest in equipment for brewing larger batches and b) to
sudoroom.
Make a great day. Beerified.
*Morten*
