Tech Article 10/3

FireChat

In Hong Kong during protests, cell towers get overloaded with traffic or the government decides to flip the switch. With thousands of people on the street, internet is useless. Demonstrators have turned to FireChat, which allows phones to connect to other users within 250 feet. When more people join the range, it extends farther allowing more people to join the chat. Open Garden is the company behind FireChat, and has said that they are trying to fix the problems with the app. These include the local authorities being about to poke around. They are trying to fix this with private messaging and encryption. Open Garden advocates for, "freedom of speech and access to information."