🔧 Technology & Infrastructure
How we build and share the tools we depend on
The Problem
A handful of corporations control the digital infrastructure of modern life — search, communication, commerce, identity. Technology that could liberate is used to surveil and extract. Critical infrastructure depends on proprietary systems. Communities have no sovereignty over their own data.
The Alternative
Open-Source Everything
Software, hardware, and protocols built in the open. Community-governed, auditable, forkable. From operating systems to farm equipment, no critical tool should be locked behind a corporate gate.
Community Networks
Mesh networks, community broadband, and local ISPs owned and operated by the people who use them. Internet access as a commons, not a product.
Data Sovereignty
Communities and individuals own their data. Local data cooperatives, self-hosted services, and encryption by default. Your data stays yours.
Appropriate Technology
Technology chosen for context — not every problem needs AI or blockchain. Low-tech, resilient, repairable solutions valued alongside high-tech ones.
Start Here
- ✓Switch to open-source tools where you can
- ✓Support community broadband initiatives
- ✓Host your own data when possible
- ✓Teach basic digital literacy in your community
- ✓Contribute to open-source projects — code, docs, or funding
Already Happening
guifi.net
Catalonia, Spain · Est. 2004
One of the largest community-owned telecom networks in the world with over 37,000 active nodes. Operates under a commons governance model where citizens collectively build and maintain wireless and fiber infrastructure.
Freifunk
Germany (nationwide) · Est. 2003
A grassroots initiative of ~400 local communities and over 41,000 access points providing free wireless internet. Volunteers install rooftop routers forming open mesh networks as a public commons.
NYC Mesh
New York City, USA · Est. 2013
A volunteer-run community network with over 2,000 active nodes across all five boroughs, providing affordable neutral internet by building a decentralized mesh of rooftop antennas and fiber links.
Sarantaporo.gr
Elassona, Greece · Est. 2013
A nonprofit wireless network connecting 15 remote mountain villages where commercial providers saw no profit incentive. Enables telemedicine, agricultural market access, and communication across previously isolated communities.
RS Fiber Cooperative
South-central Minnesota, USA · Est. 2012
A member-owned cooperative formed by 10 townships and 17 cities to build fiber-optic broadband after incumbents refused to invest. A nationally recognized model for rural community-owned telecom.
Local Contexts
Navajo Nation / New York, USA · Est. 2010
Provides digital tools (TK and BC Labels) enabling Indigenous communities to assert governance over their data, collections, and genetic resources in digital environments. A foundational project in Indigenous data sovereignty.
Te Hiku Media
Kaitaia, Aotearoa New Zealand · Est. 1990
A Maori media organization that built its own speech-to-text AI engine for te reo Maori while maintaining full Indigenous data sovereignty. Their Papa Reo platform helps smaller Indigenous communities build AI tools without surrendering data control.
B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North)
Lancashire, United Kingdom · Est. 2011
A community benefit society providing gigabit fiber broadband to rural communities, built by volunteers who dig trenches across farmland. 11,000+ customers, structured so it can never be sold.
Zenzeleni Networks
Eastern Cape, South Africa · Est. 2012
South Africa's first cooperative-owned ISP, offering solar-powered wireless broadband in rural Mankosi at prices 20x lower than commercial operators. Owned and run by community members.
Rhizomatica
Oaxaca, Mexico · Est. 2009
Builds autonomous cellular networks for indigenous communities using open-source GSM technology. Won Mexico's first social indigenous telecommunications concession in 2016.
AlterMundi
Cordoba, Argentina · Est. 2012
Develops open-source tools like LibreMesh and LibreRouter enabling rural communities to build their own wireless mesh networks without specialized expertise.
Digital Empowerment Foundation
New Delhi, India · Est. 2002
Has built 150+ community wireless networks across India, training local 'barefoot engineers' to maintain their own connectivity. Digitally empowered 35+ million people.
Global Indigenous Data Alliance
International (Aotearoa, Australia, USA, Canada) · Est. 2015
Developed the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance, asserting collective benefit, authority, responsibility, and ethics in Indigenous data management across national networks.