FireChat App Creates Networks without Internet or Cell Service
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Protesters in Hong Kong finally have a solution to governmental control of internet and cellular connection. A new app called FireChat has come out that will allow groups of people who gather to protest a chance for communication and updates simply by using their phone hardware.
FireChat helps people create what are known as “mesh networks.” These connections go between devices, using a phone’s hardware to link people in a daisy chain. Right now, FireChat can connect devices up to 200 feet apart.
The more connections a group of people (or nodes) has, the more quickly information can flow through the edges. This is very important for staged protests for changes in election policy in mainland China’s Hong Kong. This can allow for isolated individuals to gather together to create a larger network, effectively creating a structurally balanced group (where people who all share the same view are connected against a larger cause). This group will most likely be more effective at maintaining order and purpose, supporting each other when there are problems because there will be quick communication within a large radius (200 feet around each user.. with a crowd in a city, this distance could cover at least a mile). Overall, an interesting development from a networks perspective: Less reliance on intermediate technology like the internet and cellular service in an area where those technologies are fastidiously controlled allows for more freedom for the protesters.