(II) Meshnets, digital democracy and the Occupation movement

(Had some permissions errors getting this up on the group, a little
bit of the original convo is here:
http://groups.google.com/group/cincihackerspace/browse_thread/thread/8b493232895aba81?hl=en)

My name is Coulter Loeb. I am a full-time social-media manager for
Occupy Cincinnati. I tried to post this to the H13 google group and
reach all of your members, but it bounced back after I realized I
didnt have publication permissions.

The Occupation movement has evolved a lot since September, and after
our encampment in Piatt Park was removed by the police last month we
have started to think more long-term than just a hodgepodge collective
of tents and tarps. One of the ideas we are playing with is creating a
permanent encampment. Instead of a tent city we would actually be
building structures (high-density housing like the capsule hotels in
Japan, a kitchen, first-aid, a technology core, information
services...)

We think that a decentralized internet/ P2P communications network is
going to be an essential tool in the advancement of democracy and
information technologies. With threats like the Stop Online Piracy Act
(SOPA) always looking to encroach on our online rights, we see the
ability for a high-ranking CEO or public official to shut off parts of
the interent with the flip of a switch as a glaring problem in today’s
telecom infrastructures.

I came here to see if Hive13 had any interest in using this future
occupation encampment as a playground for experimenting with meshnets
(Links: project subreddit, http://darknetplan.org/) and other
decentralized computer networking technologies? The Occupation may be
able to foot a part of the bill, and it would provide both groups with
an opportunity to experiment with how digital technologies can enable
the democratic process. In addition to a meshnet-style infrastructure,
we could also use digital technologies to enable the decision making
processes of the group - our IT crew has been throwing around a few
designs for digital democracy.

I live just up the hill from the Hive, at the top of Ravine, and would
love to stop by some time to open a discussion with anyone interested.
I can be contacted at this email <coulter.loeb@gmail.com>

i am very interested in this. a few of us are meeting up tonight
(dec. 2nd) for cinci2600. i will be at the next open shop night (7
december) or you can hit me up off list.

This week I'm headed to photograph political actions in DC (I'm
trained as a photojournalist), but I'll stop by soon, or if you are
interested in meeting at Roxx some time...