Our collective hearts were broken when Smile Politely webmaster Josh King relocated to Washington, D.C., late last year to take a job with the New America Foundation. Since then, Josh’s tech savvy and communication skills seem to have led him directly to the center of the zeitgeist. He was on the English-language version of Al Jazeera last night, explaining his work with Obama Administration-funded work on “shadow networks.”
According to the New America Foundation’s website, “The ‘shadow’ networks are portable kits that fit in suitcases, which could maintain ad-hoc computer networks useful to activists in places where internet is either inaccessible or being monitored.”
It’s probably too early to say that Josh saved the internet and brought democracy to the Middle East, but we’ll say it anyway: Josh saved the internet and brought democracy to the Middle East. Great work!