Neal Ungerleider at fastcompany.com has posted an article describing how the communications of Wall Street occupiers are made difficult and what is being done to keep them going and secure them against eavesdroppers.

For one thing, the electricity generators, used to keep the lights on and to charge and run communications equipment, have been confiscated by the Police, ostensibly to prevent anyone from starting a fire. Bicycle-type generators were brought in to keep going.

But more importantly, the WiFi and phone networks available in the area are insecure. Anyone with sufficient technical knowledge can listen in on what is being discussed and we can be sure that police and intelligence agencies are not lacking that kind of knowledge. The solution: establish a virtual private network (VPN) for the protesters.

Apart from dedicated Wi-Fi networks, Zuccotti Park and many other Occupy sites worldwide are blanketed by free Wi-Fi services. However, users on these networks are exposed to surveillance by law enforcement, intelligence services, and private parties. Even the private networks of the Occupy protesters, unless they have ironclad security, are easy pickings for Deep Packet Inspection.

Although, with the help of the Free Network Foundation, the Occupiers have their own Wi-Fi service set up at Zuccotti Park, a new campaign now aims to create a dedicated VPN for Occupy protesters worldwide. The Free Network Foundation is currently soliciting funds on the IndieGoGo fundraising platform to build a dedicated autonomous system for Occupy protesters in multiple cities that will be secure and hacker-resistant. In 10 days of fundraising, the group has already raised approximately $12,000 toward their $75,000 goal.

The Free Network Foundation’s project is built around the idea of constructing autonomous systems for protesters that can either connect to the Internet or be used exclusively for internal communications. These autonomous systems are intended to provide greater security than conventional Wi-Fi networks, while also promoting the idea of a cooperatively owned, non-profit Internet.
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