A dedicated VPN for Occupy protesters worldwide.
Though there are free and dedicated WI-FI networks at occupy sites like Zuccotti Park world worldwide, people on these networks are exposed to surveillance by law enforcement, intelligence services, and private parties. Even the private networks of the Occupy demonstrators, unless they have ironclad protection, are easy pickings for Deep Packet Inspection.The Free Network Foundation’s project is built around the thought of constructing autonomous systems to protesters which can either get connected to the Internet or even be used just for internal communication. These independent systems usually are meant to give increased safeness than conventional Wi-Fi networks, while also promoting the notion of a cooperatively owned, non-profit Internet. While the FNF’s goals for the Occupy Wall Street protesters have specific ideological aims, the actual technology supporting it is absolutely fascinating.
The FNF project
The infrastructure for the FNF project is based around the creation of 3 standalone products for the networks. Mini, low-powered computers called FreedomNodes would enable individual groups of users at protests to own their files and connect to a larger system, while larger FreedomTowers would be set up that connect the individual nodes into a larger network. Meanwhile, the towers would connect with each other by a product known as FreedomLink which in turn would distribute bandwidth to various users and let them communicate with the bigger Internet.
Activists connected with FNF have already installed FreedomTowers at Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Austin, and Occupy Los Angeles. Based on the FNF’s Isaac Wilder, a $75,000 fundraising drive is going to enable the organization to cover the building of the first 3 FreedomLinks and to provide support for DIY FreedomTower people.
