[sudo-discuss] [Mesh] EFF: Mesh Networking, Good. Overbroad Patents, Bad.

[Alcides Gutierrez]

I was just reading a document last night that was published last year
warning of the possible dangers of mesh networking to surveillance and
government scrutiny.

Alcides Gutierrez
http://e64.us
On Jun 21, 2013 11:54 AM, "Eddan Katz" <eddan at clear.net> wrote:

> 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-patents-bad
>
> JUNE 21, 2013 | BY JULIE SAMUELS<https://www.eff.org/about/staff/julie-samuels>
> Mesh Networking, Good. Overbroad Patents, Bad. Help Us Protect Mesh
> Networking.
>
> Earlier this year, we announced<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/eff-partners-challenge> that
> along with the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet
> and Society <http://cyberlawclinic.berkman.harvard.edu/>, we were
> challenging six patent applications that, if granted, could threaten the
> development of 3D printing technology. We asked you<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/10/join-effs-efforts-keep-3d-printing-open>—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<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/mesh-networking-good-overbroad-patents-bad#prior-art-requests> 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<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/response-nsa-we-need-new-church-commission-and-we-need-it-now> 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<https://www.eff.org/free-speech-weak-link>”
> 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<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/08/barts-cell-phone-shutdown-one-year-later>,
> while activists in countries such as Egypt<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/02/egypts-internet-blackout-highlights-danger-weak>,
> Libya, and Syria<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/syrian-internet-goes-dark-leaving-questions-and-uncertainty-0> 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 <http://wiki.freifunk.net/Kategorie:English>, a
> system for internet access in remote areas of Afghanistan and Kenya
> (FabFi)<http://blog.laptop.org/2011/06/21/olpc-and-fabfi-mesh-networks-bring-internet-to-afghanistan/>,
> and community controlled telephone systems in Nigeria, Columbia, Puerto
> Rico, South Africa, East Timor, and Brazil (VillageTelco)<http://villagetelco.org/about/>.
>  Harvard Law Professor Jonathan Zittrain and former FCC chairman Julius
> Genachowski recently advocated for the use of mesh networks<http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130430-connected-networks-in-a-crisis> 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<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/02/deep-dive-software-patents-and-rise-patent-trolls>
> , lawsuits that can threaten growing businesses<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/1-800-contacts-buys-patent-squelch-competition>,
> and threats that target entire areas of technology<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/help-save-podcasting>.
> 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<http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/prior-art-request+pre-grant> 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<http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/4082/apparatus-and-method-for-enhancing-wireless-mesh-network-communications-patent-a>
>
> ADAPTING EXTENSIBLE AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOL FOR LAYER 3 MESH NETWORKS<http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/4086/adapting-extensible-authentication-protocol-for-layer-3-mesh-networks-patent-app>
>
> MESH NETWORK GATEWAY AND SECURITY SYSTEM<http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/4087/mesh-network-gateway-and-security-system-patent-application-prior-art-request>
>
>
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