[Commotion-discuss] concerns about the NYT / mo jo mesh articles

[Anthony Townsend]

hear hear. sorry i stirred up a hornet’s nest. 

i’ve just been astonished, as i wade back into community wireless after a ten-year hiatus, how little of the strategic landscape seems to have changed. and in many ways (esp around surveillance) has gotten worse. just kind of rolling with my hunches, i guess.

On Nov 20, 2013, at 3:15 PM, Sascha Meinrath <meinrath at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Hi all,
> 
> We are very well situated to push back on the inevitable national security
> concerns -- FWIW, this is not a new phenomenon and dates back at least to 2005.
> What's crucial is that we continue to push out the positive angles of the work
> we do -- we support low-cost connectivity, human rights workers and democracy
> advocates, community empowerment, freedom of expression, Internet Freedom, etc.
> And let's not get distracted by intractable arguments.
> 
> I counter the argument by saying that Commotion is an incredibly powerful tool,
> much like a computer or a pencil.  And like any powerful tool, there's a tiny
> pool of people that will use it for malfeasance; however, the overall,
> remarkable positive impacts on society writ large make it a no-brainer that we
> should do everything we can to support R&D and adoption of these technologies.
> 
> - --Sascha