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

[Jenny Ryan]

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Jenny
http://jennyryan.net
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 "Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories."
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 -Hannah Arendt

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-Stéphane Mallarmé
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On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 1:30 PM, Alcides Gutierrez <alcides888 at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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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>>
>>
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