[iDC] Re: lambda lambda lambda

[oli at zeromail.org]

Hi everyone, this is the first time I post here. Got on the list during the
Event/Conference thread.

Concerning non-profit, community based wifi-networks: yes, there are a lot.
During last Chaos Computer Club Congress in Berlin I did an interview with
Elektra, who is on of the main programmers of an open-source, bsd-licensed
software called olsr. better said, it is even a new protocol. this is from
the site olsr.org:

"The olsr.org OLSR daemon is an implementation of the Optimized Link State
Routing protocol. OLSR is a routing protocol for mobile ad-hoc networks. The
protocol is pro-active, table driven and utilizes a technique called
multipoint relaying for message flooding. olsrd also implements a popular
optional link quality extension."

the freifunk.net people are a community with over 250 nodes in berlin,
connecting large parts of friedrichshain.

Elektra stated in the interview, that nodes and whole mash-nets occur even
in remote places and she is overwhelmed by the success. The point here is:
it is basically an independent net, with its own protocol. but some nodes to
have access to the internet. She has installed such things in places like
Bangladesh, where it the was connected to satellites, to make international
phonecalls available on low budget!

Elektra also stated that even the U.S. military is observing the project,
and, from time to time, suggesting codepieces for better performance. A
problem that almost made her stop any commitment. It is clear why this
institution is keen on mesh net technology: it is independent and highly
ad-hoc. One can build up a temporary infrastructure easily, parallel to
existing communication stuff.

The most popular service used through the mesh net is making telephone calls.

The interview will be send on 13th of march, 14h, on Freies Sender Kombinat
in Hamburg, in german only, webstream is her: stream.nadir.org

Best, Oli





Ryan Griffis wrote:
> On Feb 21, 2006, at 11:01 AM, idc-request at bbs.thing.net wrote:
> 
>> do you (or anyone else) know of
>> community based groups using a similar model? the technology is not
>> particularly interesting here but what fascinates me is a model of a
>> flat hierarchy (ok, not exactly the case with WiFi-NY) in which there is
>> no central governing body.
>