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Wireless Networks to Native Reservations

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the saving-some-wampum dept.

akb writes: "Interesting article entitled Native Networking Trends: Wireless Broadband Networks describing a project which provided three Indian reservations near San Diego with wireless broadband connectivity. The collaboration between UC San Diego and the Southern California Tribal Chairman Association has attracted additional funding from HP's Digital Village Program doubling the original NSF allocation, which will allow the network to expand to connect 18 reservations to the Internet and educational facilities. The network sports a 45mbps wireless backbone with 802.11b uplinks." The HPWREN pages have a lot of interesting information, including specifications for their 45 megabit solar-powered relays.

3 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Coming Soon! by JoeShmoe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Gambling at your favorite online Indian Gaming casino!

    Actually, I'm serious...here in California tribes have already gotten permission to run casinos on their land (although I believe the matter is still going through the courts) so then could the same tribes run their own online gaming?

    Do Indian tribes have to abide by the Hague Convention or the Berne treaty or whatever that copyright protection treaty is?

    Think about it...Indians are desperately seeking self-reliance, which is pretty much impossible given the crappy ass desert land they were given. So what if they built a few wind turbines and ran a data haven? Do you think Disney et. al. could really bully them?

    I would be really intersted in finding out about this. We have been looking for safe havens and if we put Indian reservations on the Internet that sounds like it might fit the bill?

    - JoeShmoe

    --
    -- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
  2. Re:Security? by dhogaza · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well ... there's already a large number of microwave links, beacons, and other expensive electronic gear scattered around the Mojave, Sonoran and Great Basins deserts, guarded by nothing more than a chain link
    fence with razor wire on the top.

    I suppose this stuff gets vandalized from time-to-time. A few rounds from a 30-'06 are more likely than theft, though - check out the road signs
    next time you visit us out in the InterMountain West.

    My point's simple, though - this stuff's no more likely to be ripped off or vandalized than the expensive equipment that already decorates some of
    our mountaintops, and you deal with it the same way. Insure and replace as necessary.

    Lightning's probably a bigger risk, anyway. Mountains out here get slammed consistently (I assume they're locating the relays on mountains).

  3. Wampum? by pschmied · · Score: 3, Informative
    From one journalist to another, this is probably not a good term to use the way you did.

    I'm not wanting to be a PC thug, but here's the entry in the AP Style Book:

    Indians American Indian is the preferred term for those in the United States. Where possible, be precise and use the name of the tribe: He is a Navajo commissioner. Native American is acceptable in quotations and names of organizations.

    In news stories about American Indians, such words as wampum, warpath, powwow, tepee, brave, squaw, etc., can be disparaging and offensive. Be careful and certain of their usage.


    -Peter

    --
    . Penguins Surely Ca