Favoriting Techtonic with Mark Hurst: Playlist from November 4, 2019 Favoriting

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Favoriting November 4, 2019: NYC Mesh, a community-owned network: Scott Rasmussen and Jillian Murphy

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(Source: NYC Mesh)


Tonight we're talking about NYC Mesh, "a community-owned network," with organizers Scott Rasmussen and Jillian Murphy.

Pointers to NYC Mesh:

NYC Mesh homepage: "NYC Mesh is a community-owned network that provides low-cost, fast internet service to individuals, businesses, offices, or entire buildings. Our mission is to create an open, resilient, and neutral network that is accessible and affordable to all New Yorkers." All for $20/month ("suggested membership contribution").

We're connecting a whole block in Bed Stuy (Sep 24, 2019), by Willem, who writes how NYC Mesh worked with the 700 Jefferson Ave block association in Bed Stuy to "install six rooftop antenna locations that serve ten households - and counting." The new installations formed a "resilient mesh network. Now, if one antenna on the block went down, neighbors could still connect to the internet through another."

Brief bio of Scott Rasmussen. Scott writes: "On October 19th we held our first-ever 'Install-a-thon' on Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn and connected 16 units in just one day through the local block association. We had 60 volunteers involved in the effort."

Brief interview with Jillian Murphy: "I lead home installations, started organizing a monthly meeting, and write a newsletter for members."

How We're Connecting Neighbors (Oct 31, 2018) by Ehud. "Since our block network is part of NYC Mesh, it's connected straight to the Internet 'backbone,' bypassing the commercial ISPs. What this means: - Our connection speed isn't artificially throttled to hike the price - Our data isn't spied on or sold by corporate creeps. - We don't pay into the cable cartel, which means we don't fund their lobbying, advertising, lawyers, executive salaries, bonuses, and dividends. Instead we each donate a suggested $20/month per household so NYCMesh can maintain and grow the wider community infrastructure we rely on, and we extend this network by offering links to other network hubs."

Recent tech news:

I Got Access to My Secret Consumer Score. Now You Can Get Yours, Too. (by Kashmir Hill in the NYT, today, Nov 4). "As consumers, we all have 'secret scores.' ... [a company named] Sift does have a file on you, which it can produce upon request. I got mine, and I found it shocking: More than 400 pages long, it contained all the messages I’d ever sent to hosts on Airbnb; years of Yelp delivery orders; a log of every time I’d opened the Coinbase app on my iPhone... Sift knew, for example, that I’d used my iPhone to order chicken tikka masala, vegetable samosas and garlic naan on a Saturday night in April three years ago." (Thanks to Webhamster Henry, who writes that soon enough "AI will be eating this data and not need to keep it around, so it'll be assigning you categories used by customer services (or other services) that cannot be explained by human logic or accountability.")

Also: Google bought Fitbit; AirBNB's scam on Tech Pie this morning; Block Sidewalk is working to resist the Google surveillance state in Toronto , and there's a collection of essays about it now; Lyft changed its terms and conditions; and Blade Runner and Running Man are coming due in 2019.



- - -

Check out techtonic.fm for recent Techtonic interviews and Little Slice of Tech Pie segments.

PODCAST: Subscribe to the Techtonic podcast

Artist Track Album Label Images Approx. start time
  NYC Mesh provides high-speed Internet access *without* using Big Telecom companies. Organizers Scott Rasmussen and Jillian Murphy explain how it works.
Tomaš Dvořák  Game Boy Tune   Favoriting Machinarium Soundtrack  No label 
Favoriting
 
  Mark's intro      
Favoriting
 
  Interview with NYC Mesh organizers      
Favoriting
0:13:48 (Pop-up)
  Your comments      
Favoriting
0:35:39 (Pop-up)
Pink Tiles  Internet   Favoriting #1 Fan  The Pink Tiles    0:55:54 (Pop-up)


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Listener comments!

Avatar 6:01pm
Fredericks:

Hello, Technoids.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:01pm
ultradamno:

Hello Mark! Techton'r Treaters!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:02pm
Rand al'Thor:

I'm actually in the chat for once. Good evening, all!
  6:02pm
John from Florham park:

Hello fellow technoids
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:02pm
chresti:

Hi Mark and Techtoniclandia!
Avatar 6:02pm
geezerette:

Greetings, Mark and all!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Webhamster Henry:

The tones of tech means it's time for another show!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Ike:

Hi all!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
queems:

howdy mark, others
Avatar 6:03pm
Carmichael:

Heya Mark and Hour-Behinders.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:04pm
Bas NL:

Hi Mark! Techtonic-philes!
  6:04pm
John from Florham park:

@Queems howdy
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:04pm
Rand al'Thor:

Yay, good news show!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:04pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Yay, Mark! Put your Fitbit on and lead the Techtocharge!
  6:05pm
Dave Miss:

Good news?! I’m outta here.
  6:06pm
melinda:

Hi techtons
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:07pm
Webhamster Henry:

I know about "loudhailer.io", a local company, which is a mesh network too. However they are really interested in pushing ads in your face.
  6:07pm
Philippe bastille:

Hi all
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:07pm
coelacanth∅))):

greetings Mark & all
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:07pm
chresti:

I just heard that someone figured out how to hack smart devices by shining a laser or flashlight at it, (at the speaker?) , and are able to order things, open doors, etc
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:07pm
queems:

omg MARK i'm in mourning over my damn fitbit
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
Rand al'Thor:

I prefer carrying around my PokeBall Pro to track my steps.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
queems:

thank you for addressing my sadness
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
chresti:

haha queems
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
Webhamster Henry:

I have an old fitbit, I stopped wearing it because it would zetz me when I would applaud. Repeated shaking was a signal to turn it on and off.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:09pm
BigFreshMatt:

Chresti- kind of. They can issue commands to the smart speaker using a laser. So they could issue commands from outside through a window.
  6:09pm
Listener Robert:

Do any of the links explain what the red and blue dots and blue lines on the map mean?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
Daddy Hernlet:

I've never liked using air BNB
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:10pm
chresti:

!!!BigFreshMatt
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
queems:

i've never used airb&b
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
Daddy Hernlet:

And good evening techtonics!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
chresti:

Does anyone use Craigslist anymore?
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
BigFreshMatt:

Guessing the red dots are antennae / repeaters and the blue lines indicates the line of sight to their “base”.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:11pm
coelacanth∅))):

she deserves to get scammed then.
likewise uber users.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
Rand al'Thor:

The area where I live only really has Frontier/Verizon as an option.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
Fuzzy:

I use craigslist -- not airbnb though.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
Ike:

Jersey City residents, be sure to vote in the appropriate way on AirBNB tomorrow!

NYC residents, please get out and vote YES on ballot question #1 tomorrow (if you haven't voted early) so that we can get *ranked voting*.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
ultradamno:

"Destiny is just another word for 'inevitable,' and nothing's inevitable as long as you stand up, look it in the eye, and say, 'You're evitable!'" -Fred, Angel
  6:12pm
John from Florham park:

@Chestri nit since I lived in South Florida
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
chris:

hi, Mark and folks. i think the vice article was updated to say the FBI has contacted the journalist. so... at least there's that. then there's this: www.latimes.com...
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:12pm
BigFreshMatt:

And I bet the blue dots are antennae with wired backhaul.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:13pm
coelacanth∅))):

chresti i use craigslist. you just have to sift through the bullshit and know how to recognise scams.
...i'm probably a little triggerhappy when it comes to shooting down scams!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:13pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

@chresti - Start spreading a story that someone's ventriloquist neighbor was opening their doors on them.
  6:13pm
melinda:

Airbnb allows me to stay in Jersey City for marathon and still cook my own food, which I need to do for health reasons. Too bad they suck.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:15pm
coelacanth∅))):

most communities have privately owned taxi services. i don't know why anyone would call uber when private taxi companies exist.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
chris:

i use juno when in nyc, when a cab can't be found
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
ultradamno:

Well, as a term and/or condition, that's certainly a red flag. But is it enforceable?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
chresti:

coel, I use to enjoy perusing the free items, mostly junk, on craigslist
  6:17pm
Listener Robert:

The blue lines couldn't be lines of sight, because many more would exist than are drawn.
  6:17pm
Zydeco Phil:

Mark you should start one of these “community minded businesses”
  6:17pm
Zydeco Phil:

And perhaps run for office
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:18pm
coelacanth∅))):

i list things for free on craigslist, but often the person who wants my free stuff isn't willing to meet me on my terms (in town) to pass the item(s) on to them.
dipshits.
  6:18pm
melinda:

I use cabs, I hear some cities have crappy cab service but I think people generally do uber because it’s cheaper and not because service is better.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
Ike:

There's a bazillion entrepreneurs already. Shouldn't one of them be starting one of these ethical businesses? Don't make Mark do it.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:21pm
queems:

i solved this problem by not having internet in my apartment for the 6 years i lived there
  6:21pm
debt collector:

What is their legal structure? Co-op?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:22pm
coelacanth∅))):

i've asked a few uber users how much their rides cost them and so far they've always ranged from the same rate as a privately owned taxi service or a little more expensive.
maybe it depends on location.
  6:22pm
P-90:

Ohhh... “mesh” organizers, not “meth” organizers.
Read the title line on the app wrong, that’s what I get for joining 20 minutes late...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Ike:

NYC residents, NOTE, if you can't get NYC Mesh: When it was called Time Warner (Slime Warner), Spectrum behaved so badly that the government forced them to offer a bargain plan for $14.99/month. It's NEVER marketed. You must ASK FOR IT. It's perfectly fine for most uses, at least for a single person who's not torrenting shit all the time.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
chresti:

Haha P-90
  6:23pm
ignatatus666:

I work for a private fleet taxi service in the City of Peekskill. We are licensed through the local Police Department. Vehicles inspected 2x per year. Drivers fingerprinted,photographed, federal background check and drug tested. Uber/Lyft? Nope. Also our local rates are regulated by the City of Peekskill. Uber/Lyft? Nope.
  6:24pm
debt collector:

Who is providing the back haul for nyc mesh?
  6:24pm
melinda:

@coel some people must think it’s just better if it uses an app. Or they are young enough that making a phone call to a cab company is scary.
  6:24pm
Listener Robert:

What the guest just described is...how the Internet is supposed to work!
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:25pm
Folsom:

Do you get a routable ethernet address or is everyone behind a NAT with NYC Mesh?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:25pm
chresti:

I fear the big guys will try to shut you down
Avatar 6:25pm
geezerette:

Ike & Ignatus666; clap,clap,clap,clap!!! :D
Avatar 6:27pm
geezerette:

chresti, same. :[
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:27pm
coelacanth∅))):

Iggy666 you aren't the cabby i ran into a week or so ago on main street in new paltz who pointed out my fmu shirt and told me about meeting Michele and Frangry, are you?
  6:28pm
P-90:

What?! “No required payment”? Isn’t that socialism or something?
  6:28pm
Mandy:

Uber was a godsend when it came about. when I lived in the city back in 2006-2011 I had so many bad cab experiences. They would fight with each other and scream at me to get into their cab. they would drive away if I said I wanted to go to Brooklyn, or screamed at me the whole time to Brooklyn. they wouldn't pick me up when I was with my trans friends. cabs weren't that great back then, in my experience.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
queems:

this is great!!! come to new jersey
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:30pm
Ike:

@melinda@6:24, indeed, I hate talking to people on the phone. BUT, traditional NYC cabs have an app! Not that I use it -- I always take the subway anyway. The real issue is other cities, where smaller players like Juno don't operate....
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:30pm
queems:

i should have stayed in astoria wtf
  6:30pm
Listener Robert:

What Uber and Lyft are to do is make more efficient use of existing capacity. So many people have cars they aren't driving most of the time, and so many of them have time to drive, it makes sense to save resources that way.

Eventually with self-driving cars there'll be fewer cars around, because why own one and keep it parked during all those hours you aren't using them? So there'll be the equivalent of Uber and Lyft, just without drivers. Uber and Lyft are the intermediate stage toward this future.
  6:31pm
P-90:

@Mandy: That’s odd, when I’m in Brooklyn with my trans friends, everybody’s trying to pick us up...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:32pm
chresti:

The first time I visited NYC, there was a big cab strike, in 1978 or 79
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:32pm
Mandy:

Again my experience was pre-uber. It felt like there was no accountability.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
Webhamster Henry:

I used to get in the cab first (with the kids) before telling the driver to go to Brooklyn.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:33pm
coelacanth∅))):

Mandy that's unfortunately true in nyc, probably very often.
my sister has refused to leave a cab when brooklyn was refused. she and the driver sat there for almost an hour once (or over? -i wasn't there)
the law says they must take you there.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
chresti:

Just like in the movies, Webham
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Mandy:

@Henry, yeah me too but because I was a young woman I had many of them scream at or chide me the entire time. It was unbelievable. I was so happy when they finally had a competitor.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Webhamster Henry:

Lyft and Uber are up here in Kingston, but there are so few drivers neither is a real service in any sense of the word.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:34pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Mafia, plenty of mafia in NYC.
Avatar 6:35pm
geezerette:

Feel the same about wind, solar, and gardening; love it to be i every neighborhood across the continent. Rain barrels where workable also.
( etc. )
  6:35pm
melinda:

More municipal fiber everywhere!
  6:36pm
Glenn:

City administrator here in the process of trying to deploy a free wireless network to residents. Even we don’t have access to the right of way to lay fiber
Avatar 6:36pm
geezerette:

Gotta re-think, re-make, re-do everything differently.
  6:36pm
JakeGould:

@ListenerRober: Uber and Lyft do not make a profit. Their whole purpose in existence is to stay alive long enough to get rid of municipal taxi rules and regulations so they control the system. They do not want to pay taxes and will not put personal safety first. Their goal is to disrupt the system so they benefit.

TLC might be slow to act and change, but without them workers will be treated like crap, riders will not be as well protected, and all the $$$ they make will be sent to the corporate staff of those companies.

Workers rights are never given and Uber and Lyft will not do that without regulation.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
chris:

if we don't vote out the corrupt politicians who are getting richer on lobbying efforts for privatization of utilities, we'll never get widespread municipal utilities back. so please vote.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
chresti:

Haha Mark
  6:38pm
JakeGould:

I did early voting in NYC.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
Mandy:

In NYC now I use the NYC Cab app, which is a great alternative. It supports pro-union organizations but also holds individual drivers accountable for their behavior. I haven't had a problem with anyone when using it.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:38pm
Webhamster Henry:

Fiber would be nice, but getting other providers in the media consolidated world would be tough!
Especially when startups' business plan is 1) do somethig 2) attract attention 3) get acquired 4) $$$$
  Swag For Life Member 6:40pm
teod:

hey nyc mesh, any comment on guifi in spain?
  6:40pm
JakeGould:

On topic: I think NYC Mesh is a great idea. But right now it seems like the density is really only in an odd mix of neighborhoods,. I mean, the mapitself shows mainly a “hipster” and gentrified bent to locations. Get
  Swag For Life Member 6:40pm
teod:

also, any thought into a trans-hudson link to jersey?
  6:41pm
Listener Robert:

@JakeGould, if Uber and Lyft got rid of the regs, how could they control the system? Indeed there'd be no system to control!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:42pm
coelacanth∅))):

"go" shen.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:42pm
Tommy in Neversink:

Goshen.....long O
  6:42pm
queems:

“5 minutes if something”
  6:42pm
queems:

“of”
Avatar 6:43pm
geezerette:

hahaha, :)
  6:46pm
Listener Robert:

If you're relying on volunteers, you're going to get them where they are. I'm sure that's true of WFMU as well. If hipsters are overrepresented, that may be because they're more community spirited and of such age as to be capable of it.
  6:47pm
JakeGould:

Well, in response to the on air response to my question/statement: I live in deepish Brooklyn and honestly I support what Mesh NYC is doing, but I can’t easily see this spreading outside of a very specific slice of this city. The local politics is toxic out here so I wish them luck!
Avatar 6:48pm
Carmichael:

Speaking of Fitbits, I was mowing the lawn while wearing my Apple Watch. It apparently called 911 about 10 times. It must have been the vibration of the mower? Strange ...
  6:50pm
JakeGould:

I zoomed in on the map to Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and the poorer/Chinese part of Sunset Park and there is literally only one node in deep Bay Ridge.

I know things grow up hey… I know and respect but just saying!
  6:50pm
P-90:

Is this the night that “NYC Rainbarrels” is founded?
Avatar 6:51pm
geezerette:

:)
Avatar 6:51pm
geezerette:

Hi, P-90!
  6:51pm
JakeGould:

@Carmichael: I sold my Apple Watch. I wear my watches on my left arm and whenever I did work that bent my hand, it would push the crown and take screenshots. Could be similar to you!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:52pm
chresti:

We need LA Rainbarrels
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:53pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

...and rain to fill them
  6:53pm
ignatatus666:

@Coel
No
I work in the City of Peekskill
Think Indian Point Power Plant. Although I go as far as the customers money goes. I can go anywhere at anytime overnight. My furthest trips were Boston and the upstate Cortlandt NY
Avatar 6:53pm
geezerette:

Chresti, for sure, and fog-catchers.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:55pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

The NFL football broadcast last night showed a panorama of the LA area. Looked like the air was thick with smog like the 70s.
Avatar 6:55pm
geezerette:

Mark, thanks for bringing Jillian & Scott. Nice to hear about "good "guys". :D
  6:55pm
ignatatus666:

Interested to know how Mesh would work in rural areas of Northern Westchester,Putnam and Dutchess.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:56pm
coelacanth∅))):

right on,Iggy. i should've asked him if he's on the comment boards, and what his handle is. we were walking in opposite directions though; both rushing a little...
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
chresti:

Send some of the rain caught in the NYC Barrels to LA.
geeze, hi!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:57pm
northguineahills:

Thanks Mark, Scott, and Jillian!
Avatar 6:57pm
geezerette:

Ken FHP: Likely lingering smoke but so much better than a week ago.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
coelacanth∅))):

Thanks Mark!
  6:59pm
ignatatus666:

Great show
Always informative
People in Peekskill and Putnam Valley are livid with cable monopolies for internet
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
Webhamster Henry:

Back to Big Zucker next week! Thanks, Mark & Meshers!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:59pm
chresti:

Thanks Mark ! Jill and Scott, may the force be with you!
  6:59pm
Dave Miss:

Great news! Thanks!
  6:59pm
P-90:

“Build community and resist the Monoculture!”
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:00pm
chresti:

There's hope I hope, after all
  7:01pm
Philippe bastille:

Thanks Mark
  7:01pm
Listener Robert:

I used to connect to the Internet by dialing in to volunteer BBSs that gated via UUCP to Usenet and e-mail. This is an update to that sort of thing.
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 7:01pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

"Get off the entire Alphabet!" (Get it?)
Avatar 🤖 Swag For Life Member 7:06pm
Webhamster Henry:

Yeah I did SLIP and PPP over dialup - there was an even more fragile methof that tunneled through telnet too. There were networks before the "Internet" like FIDO net for exchanging email too. AOL, CI$, and a bunch of other dialup services provided message boards and community before then - and still can.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:06pm
WR:

Interest to learn about NYC Mesh. Thinking about discussing this with my landlord makes me realize that the relationship has been basically me paying the rent and him shoveling the snow off the walk and tending to the yard. Doing NY Mesh would actually require we work together on something....scary in a good way...
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