We're not the only ones still talking about setting up alternative nets.    
   Here's another summary from Slashdot, with source link at bottom:   
      
   Internet Is Easy Prey For Governments   
      
   Posted by samzenpus on Sunday February 06, @09:02PM   
   from the all-your-tubes-are-belong-to-us dept.   
      
   Hugh Pickens writes writes "Douglas Rushkoff writes on CNN that the   
   revolution in Egypt starkly reveals the limits of our internet tools and the   
   ease with which those holding power can take them away. 'Old media, such as   
   terrestrial radio and television, were as distributed as the thousands of   
   stations and antennae from which broadcast signals emanated, but all internet   
   traffic must pass through government and corporate-owned choke points,' says   
   Rushkoff adding that when push came to shove over WikiLeaks in the US the   
   very same government authority was used to cut off "enemies of the state"   
   from access and funding. Rushkoff suggests that we use the lessons of the   
   internet to build a communications infrastructure that cannot be controlled   
   from the top. Back before the internet, many early computer hobbyists   
   networked on Fidonet, a simple peer-to-peer network and now digital activists   
   propose reviving such ideas with mesh networking over Wi-Fi networks that   
   could connect inhabitants of an entire city without anyone having an internet   
   service provider. 'Until we choose to develop such alternative networks, our   
   insistence on seeing the likes of Facebook and Twitter as the path toward   
   freedom for all people will only serve to increase our dependence on   
   corporations and government for the right to assemble and communicate.'"   
      
   Source 1 (regarding Egyption cutoff)   
   http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/05/rushkoff.egypt.internet/   
      
   Source 2 (regarding mesh networking)   
   http://www.activistpost.com/2011/01/get-internet-access-when-your_30.html   
      
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