U.S. Hopes "Internet in a Suitcase" Will Offset Internet Censorship

06-14-2011 • http://www.readwriteweb.com/

The U.S. government has created what it is calling an "Internet in a suitcase" to cheat the switches on the filtering regimes of repressive countries. A kit of hardware, the suitcase creates a "shadow Internet" within a country that allows users to communicate with each other and the outside world despite electronic censorship.

The suitcase was funded by a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of State, according to the New York Times.

"(T)he suitcase," the Times reported, "could be secreted across a border and quickly set up to allow wireless communication over a wide area with a link to the global Internet." It creates a mesh network of interconnected device, each acting as a sort of miniature cell tower.

This is only one aspect of a government-wide program to create alternative communications options that could be deployable in a number of different difficult situations.