Sascha Meinrath

Sascha Meinrath
Born New Haven, Connecticut
Education Yale University
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Occupation Director, X-Lab - The New Venture Fund
Employer X-Lab - The New Venture Fund

Sascha Meinrath is an Internet freedom activist.[1][2] He is the founder of X-Lab, a future-focused technology policy and innovation project, and promotes the "Internet in a Suitcase"[3][4] effort to create ad hoc mesh wireless technologies. Sascha founded the Open Technology Institute[5] in 2008 and directed the Institute while also serving as Vice President of the New America Foundation. He is also the co-founder and executive director of the CUWiN Foundation, a non-profit launched in 2000 that aims to develop "decentralized, community-owned networks that foster democratic cultures and local content,"[6] and in 2007 founded the Open Source Wireless Coalition, "a global partnership of open source wireless integrators, researchers, implementors and companies dedicated to the development of open source, interoperable, low-cost wireless network technologies."[5] In 2012 he was elected as an Ashoka Global Fellow for leading support for Internet freedom in the United States and around the globe,[7] as well as named to Newsweek's Digital Power Index Top 100 influencers among other “public servants defining digital regulatory boundaries” for his efforts to develop open-source, low-cost community wireless networks and his role in fighting Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).[1] In 2013 Time named Meinrath to the TIME Tech 40: The Most Influential Minds in Tech for his work to protect Internet freedom.[8]

Education and career

Meinrath was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Yale University in 1997, where he was a Sterling Scholar. His undergraduate thesis, on "The Effects of Academic Grouping on Students' Perceptions of School Climate",[9] received first place for "Best Graduate or Undergraduate Research and Presentation" from the Society for Community Research and Action.[10]

Sascha received his Masters of Arts in Social-Ecological Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where his thesis was titled: "Reactions to Contemporary Activist-Scholars and the 'Midwestern Mystique': A case study for utilizing an evolving methodology in contentious contexts". He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, where he is also a fellow. The focus of his research is wireless networks and participatory networks.[11]

In 2004 Sascha worked as a policy analyst for Free Press, a national media reform organization. In 2007 he moved to Washington, D.C., to become the Research Director of the Wireless Futures Program at the New America Foundation.[12]

Open Technology Institute

Sascha launched the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation in 2008 to "serve as a hub of impartial research, open discourse, innovative fieldwork, and new tech development".[13] Sascha resigned his role as the Director of the Open Technology Institute in March 2012,[14] and severed ties with New America a year later.[15] The Institute houses leading technologies, policy analysts, community organizers, lawyers, and academics. Although formally based in Washington, DC, staff extend to both coast of the United States as well as advisors and fellows in Europe. Major projects include Measurement Lab and Commotion Wireless. In naming Sascha to the Digital Power Index Top 100 Influencers Newsweek highlighted the Open Technology Institute's efforts to develop open-source, low-cost community wireless networks, particularly in underserved areas.[1]

Measurement Lab

Together with Google and a wide range of academics, researchers and institutions, Sascha launched Measurement Lab (M-Lab), an open, distributed server platform for researchers to deploy Internet measurement tools founded in 2009. The project has grown to have 99 servers at two-dozen locations around the globe supporting a range of broadband and computer networking measurement tools.[16] The largest measurement platform of its kind in the world, Measurement Lab currently collects 500 Gigabytes of data daily. All the data collected by M-Lab is made available to the research community.

Commotion Wireless

Commotion, is an open source “device-as-infrastructure” communication platform that integrates users’ existing cell phones, Wi-Fi enabled computers, and other wireless-capable devices to create community- and metro-scale, peer-to-peer communications networks.[17] The project builds on existing mesh wireless technologies and gained widespread attention when, in 2011, the State Department announced funding for Commotion to lower barriers for building distributed communications networks. The project has been described as the "Internet in a Suitcase" by the New York Times."Internet in a Suitcase".[3] Community wireless networks have been deployed with local community organizations in communities such as Philadelphia, Detroit and Brooklyn in the United States as well as Dahanu and Dharamshala, India, and Somaliland, Ethiopia,[18] Additionally, Commotion was deployed with Occupy DC as well in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.[19][20]

Opposition to SOPA and PIPA

Meinrath and Issa at Internet Defense League DC Launch

Sascha was a leading voice against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). He highlighted the human rights concerns raised by legislation including the likely collective punishment resulting from empowering law enforcement to take down an entire domain due to something posted on a single blog, as well as the implications for Internet freedom policies.[21] In naming Sascha to their Digital Power Index Top 100 Influencers, Newsweek noted his role as “one of the more prominent Internet culture leaders” to fight against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act.[1] Following the defeat of SOPA and PIPA, Sascha hosted the Washington, DC launch party for the Internet Defense League.[22]

International Summit for Community Wireless Networks

Sascha hosts the regular International Summit for Community Wireless Networks (IS4CWN), a convening of leaders in community networks, mesh networking, and next-generation wireless technologies. The first summit was held in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois in 2004 launching the community wireless movement.[23] Past locations have also included St. Charles, Missouri, Washington, DC, and Vienna, Austria.[24] The eighth and most recent IS4CWN was held in October, 2013 in Berlin, Germany.

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Digital Power Index". Newsweek. June 24, 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  2. ↑ Gustin, Sam (June 17, 2013). "TIME Tech 40: The Most Influential Minds in Tech". Time. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  3. 1 2 James Glanz and John Markoff (June 12, 2011). "U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors". The New York Times. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  4. ↑ King, Richie S. (July 26, 2011). "Building a Subversive Grassroots Network". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  5. 1 2 "Sascha Meinrath". New America Foundation.
  6. ↑ "CUWiN Core Staff".
  7. ↑ "Open Technology Institute Director Named Ashoka Global Fellow". Retrieved 10 October 2012.
  8. ↑ Gustin, Sam (17 June 2013). "TIME Tech 40: The Most Influential Minds in Tech". Time. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  9. ↑ Meinrath, Sascha. "The Effects of Academic Grouping on Students' Perceptions of School Climate". Archived from the original on March 23, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Program Agenda: 6th Biennial Conference on Community Research and Action". Archived from the original on September 29, 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  11. ↑ Meinrath, Sascha. "CV". CV.
  12. ↑ "Sascha Meinrath Named Research Director of New America Foundation's Wireless Future Program," New America Foundation (August 15, 2007)
  13. ↑ "New America Foundation Launches Open Technology Institute". New America Foundation. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  14. ↑ http://www.newamerica.org/tags/x-lab-press-releases/
  15. ↑ https://www.newamerica.org/new-america/x-lab-celebrates-one-year-anniversary-spins-out-as-an-independent-tech-tank/
  16. ↑ "Measurement Lab About". Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  17. ↑ "Commotion Wireless". Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  18. ↑ "Open Technology Initiative: How Geeks, Wonks, & Field Operatives are Fighting to Transform Inside-the-Beltway Policy-Making". Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  19. ↑ Singel, Ryan (12/15/11). "U.S.-Funded Internet Liberation Project Finds Perfect Test Site: Occupy D.C.". Wired. Retrieved 21 January 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  20. ↑ Zandt, Deanna (11/10/2012). "What Sandy Has Taught Us About Technology, Relief and Resilience". Forbes. Retrieved 21 January 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ↑ James Losey & Sascha Meinrath (December 8, 2011). "The Internet's Intolerable Acts". Slate Magazine. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  22. ↑ "Sascha D. Meinrath discusses the Internet Defense League". Retrieved 21 January 2013. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  23. ↑ "POSTCARDS FROM THE BLEEDING EDGE". Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  24. ↑ "National Summit for Community Wireless Networks to Explore the Future of Internet Access". Retrieved 21 January 2013.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, May 01, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.