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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