'Internet in a suitcase'
U.S. government's secret project to provide 'liberation technology' for dissidents in rogue states

By Daily Mail Reporter
7:33 AM on 13th June 2011

In response to the celebrated role of Twitter, Facebook and other online services in organizing protests across the Middle East, the U.S. State Department and Pentagon are stepping up efforts to produce 'liberation technology'.

A number of grants are supporting work on independent cellphone networks, while others support development of a device labelled 'Internet in a suitcase', according to The New York Times.

Such a small device could be secretly handed off in a censored country, then quickly set up to provide wireless Internet service over a wide area,
Stealth internet: With funding from the State Department and Pentagon, researchers are working on mobile networks that will be difficult for autocratic governments to control

Stealth internet: With U.S. funding, researchers are working on mobile networks that will be difficult for autocratic governments to control (file photo)

A group of young entrepreneurs are working on that project out of a fifth-floor office in Washington, with help from a $2 million grant from the State Department, reports The New York Times.

The State Department is also financing development of stealth networks that would allow users to communicate with each other, unfettered by government censors.

This could end up being a boon in areas where governments have tried to block or seize control of Internet traffic, as well as other sources of media, including in Libya, Syria and Iran.