[liberationtech] Independent Communications Platform - Need Programming Crew

[David Majlak]

I keep seeing false calls for new visionaries, revolutionary software or
products, or liberating and uplifting inventions. Excuse my dismay at
having to type another lengthy email in the hopes that my idea can be taken
seriously. I also never realized that liberationtech was a stanford thing.
Liberationtech tweets are the highlights of my twitter feed and I
communicate with the account constantly more than anyone else. I'm an
inventor, an artist, a dreamer, coming from a line of engineers. It takes
money to make money, and if I had any money, I'd be everywhere. I also
regret not growing up with an interest in programming, because then I
wouldn't need money to make money.

I'll try to structure this as cleanly as possible, both intellectually and
in terms of the vision and goals this idea revolves around.

Thesis: To provide an independently and individually(collectively)
controlled communications platform in order to decentralize human reliance
on corporate platforms and testy government infrastructure (i.e.
dictatorships, censorship, etc).

*Stage 1*
Create an application that can communicate via chat/sms over the internet.
The application will also provide its own email program/function for
sending/receiving, and storing of emails in a fashion similar to twitter.
These functions should be able to be delayed, waiting until an internet
connection is located in order to transmit. (Provides durability/modularity)
*Stage 1A*
Make the application capable of being hosted, routed, transmitted, and
uploaded, independently from the same executable.
A single person with an internet connection should have the ability, via
this program, to host the software as a communication server (like Tor),
router, data storage/access, and email server, etc.
If anyone, or any company or government is taken down, rebellion or global
supporters can provide external support. (similar to Tor access links
hosted globally)
*Stage 2*
Provide a simple web browser for times internet access/bandwidth is
available in large enough quantities to perform higher level functions like
uploading pictures, data, etc.
*Stage 3*
The program should be able to host and access independently created forums.
The program should be able to create these forums on its own. This will be
done by coding the program in a way that provides boxes that can be moved
around and transmitted to other running programs as if it were an active
group chat happening in real time..
The forums are comprised of nested boxes the program creates, and provides
administrative control to what users can join a forum.
If this confuses you, just imagine a simple forum construction provided by
the program, and give it capability like twitter/email for transmitting
communication, but on a group/mailing list scale that only shows up in the
forum/tab of the application.
The forums within these programs function like a conversation, and are able
to be transmitted via email as well as provide invitation in the same
manner, allowing sensitive groups to remain hidden unless given an
invitation.
*Stage 4*
The program will have platform support for twitter, facebook feeds, rss,
blogs, etc as much as is simple enough to do, similar to the way some Apple
App Store programs bundle them into the same application.
This means to reach the most users, coding will likely be done in java or
something similar to support apple products. This may require a programming
language change in the future in case corporations/government install
backdoors into the hardware/OS's of the devices to which there are no civil
paths for discourse.
*Stage 5*
The program will be designed with the GUI in mind, with the ability for
users to structure the appearance in whatever way they find most
constructive. This alone will provide a level of efficiency unheard of, as
the user can tweak efficiency and layout to their liking - thus speeding up
data transmission and jacking up ease of use.
The program will have "distance to click" in mind for efficiency.

Note: This program can be released in stages, slowly building up a userbase.

Abstract: This program's vision is designed ideally to organize the
internet into a single location, and shave seconds off switching between
OCD and nervous ticks that force internet users to constantly shift between
checking their facebook, twitter, and email accounts. Locating and
organizing information for storage and consumption becomes more efficient
as communication is localized to the application. (There was an article
about google competing with Yahoo, and being designed for power users, of
which there were 10,000 nerds. Google trickled down, and look where it is
now.) As the program becomes more efficient, and incapable of being
controlled by "investments" or any other monetary means, the program
becomes a tool for the digital population. Having forums available also
provides the ability to self-organize, and share information in an
organized fashion similar to twitter. This program's side vision is
designed to provide a communications platform that cannot be taken down,
with privacy and security taken into account. If the servers, network, or
company shuts down or becomes unpopular for lack of a better word, the
population isn't left without a method of efficient communication. The
program is designed to allow the individual to host their own data servers
which retain uploaded forums, email caches, sms, and updates etc. It allows
the individual to become a routing and transmission server to forward
stored messages, email, and uploaded data or forums. If the platform is
taken down as a whole, the individual can download a data server of
information (subject to privacy options each person will be advised of) in
order to store and in the future, put an identical data server online in
the general internet - similar in fashion to the way ThePirateBay.org
uploaded their entire site structure to promote survivability and
multiplication.

The Short: If we put all forms of communication under the same program and
separate each section within frames (doesn't have to be made that way) but
if you can divert your attention to another program that's already in your
field of view, the mind can scan what it hasn't already been fed, and saves
time that would be wasted from switching applications, or using several at
a time. Providing the program with chat and email and organization
capabilities takes the dependence of government and corporate control and
returns independence to the community. The only achilles heel is that no
independent ISP construction method exists, at least not affordably, to
maintain survivability of the digital independent spirit. Further, once you
provide independent communication that makes each user capable of
retaining, supporting, and promoting said infrastructure, there is no
shutting it down, and no controlling it, just like the internet as a whole.
This program should be developed in conjunction with the EFF, and perhaps
the IEEE. Bringing the FCC to the table only opens the program and its
development to government scrutiny and intrusion. The only other
consideration besides redundancy and independence is privacy and the
ability of the program and the community that will follow to self-prune, as
the internet does.

Imagine DemandProgress, the ACLU, DemocracyNOW, and other organizations
like it providing automatic forms in a single location that can turn
ordinary users into activists without having to seek the information or be
exposed to rights movements. It's a very simple application on paper, and
in terms of programming, but once it starts to develop, it will be a whole
other beast entirely. So forget about where it can go, let's instead focus
on what it can do, and what its intended purpose is. Updates and changes
can be made on the fly and into the future.

Apologies if the design and/or intellectual portions of this email are
sloppy. Everything always seems better organized in your head, and I think
i did a decent job. Also, I can only function in a production manager,
digital artist, and mock prototypist role. I cannot program. Here's hoping
this idea goes somewhere and stays as whole as possible. Good luck email.
You're out of my hands now.-
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