WASHINGTON, DC — Community Internet pioneer and entrepreneurial visionary Sascha Meinrath announced the launch today of X-Lab, an innovative platform to anticipate, develop, and respond to what’s next in tech policy. Recognizing that today’s decisions about how we interact with technology will determine how we live, work, govern, and communicate for decades to come, Meinrath created X-Lab as an incubator to rethink how technological advances support and curtail our civil rights and fundamental freedoms over time.“No one should have to make a trade-off between using technology and their human rights and privacy,” said Sascha Meinrath. “X-Lab will convene technological experts from around the globe and the brightest minds from a diverse array of different sectors to imagine, innovate, and set the agenda for tech policy interventions in the years to come.”
X-Lab is already being touted as an important new voice in tech policy by experts and pioneers, including one of the “Fathers of the Internet,” Vint Cerf.
“I've worked with Sascha Meinrath in the past and admired the energy and insight he brought to the Open Technology Institute. His ability to bring together international community leaders, technologists, and policy experts will give weight to the X-Lab policy work,” said Vint Cerf, who co-designed the TCP/IP protocols and architecture of the Internet.
“Sascha understands that technological progress and individual rights are not mutually exclusive," added renowned technologist Bruce Schneier. "X-Lab's human-centered approach is timely, and Sascha's experience in organizing world class thinkers is exactly what's needed to lead in this space."
Meinrath previously founded and served as Director of the Open Technology Institute (OTI), which he launched in 2008 and rapidly grew to become the largest program at New America. X-Lab builds on the success of OTI, which over the last six years became an indispensable thought leader in tech policy in Washington, DC and launched groundbreaking technological advances like the Commotion wireless Project and Measurement Lab platform. X-Lab will serve as an open sandbox to foster collaborations that support the deployment of thought-provoking projects and initiatives. Meinrath anticipates that X-Lab will be built out quickly, with a focus on rights-conscious technologies, novel business models, and outside-the-box policy reforms.
“X-Lab serves as an incubator where we gather the brightest minds from tech and other sectors to develop and spin out human-centered technology initiatives,” said Sascha Meinrath. “X-Lab projects recognize the positive impacts of technology and the rules being developed around these technologies, but will also consider challenges, unintended consequences, and potential problems that could lead to dystopian outcomes if not addressed proactively.”
"As the creator of the International Summit for Community Wireless Networks, Sascha understands not only technology, but the global implications of our internet policies and the need to engage communities and individuals in how these technologies impact their daily lives,” said Robin Chase, former CEO of Zipcar. “Sascha understands that we should own our technology, our technology shouldn’t own us.”
Meinrath was named to the “TIME Tech 40” in 2013 as one of the most influential figures in technology, and was also named to the “Top 100” in Newsweek’s Digital Power Index in 2012. In 2012 he was selected as an Ashoka Global Fellow for leading support of Internet Freedom, and in 2013 he won the prestigious *abc Foundation award for his work on mesh networking. Throughout 2013 Sascha was one of the leading voices calling for reforms of the National Security Agency’s warrantless wireless surveillance programs, including an end to bulk data collection practices, a recommendation President Obama recently adopted. The Commotion Wireless Project, which Meinrath founded and coordinated for the past 14 years, was called “a digital lifeline” for communities seeking more secure communications and protection from government snooping in a front page New York Times article last week. Commotion provides a mesh networking toolkit, including software, for communities as diverse as Detroit, Brooklyn, and Sayada, Tunisia.
X-Lab will build on this history of innovative thinking, seeking to ensure that technological advances and the rules that guide them are shaped by the principles that protect and advance the rights of every user, and not merely by market forces or political expediency.
X-Lab’s guiding principle of convening top talent is exemplified by the partnerships already engaged at its launch, which include: Allied Media Projects Amnesty International’s Sensor Program Ben-Gurion University ComLinks Lab Calyx Institute Center for Media Justice CommunityRED Development Seed LEAP Encryption Access Project The Markets, Enterprise, and Resiliency Initiative Media Mobilizing Project Open Technology Institute Strategic Innovation Lab at Case Western Reserve University Tactical Technology Collective Tribal Digital Village X-Lab’s first set of innovative programs will include: Commotion Tech Lab The Commotion Wireless Project is a global, open source development effort that X-Lab director Sascha Meinrath has been coordinating since its founding in his living room in 2000. Today, the opportunity exists to create a Commotion for-profit entity that provides a long-term sustainable funding stream for continuing this non-profit initiative. Much as Ubuntu, Mozilla, and Red Hat have done for other open source projects, this effort will help ensure that free, safe communications is available to everyone on the planet.
Circumvention Tech Lab The Circumvention Tech Lab is a one-stop incubator for the development of new circumvention technologies that respond to the evolving needs of communities and constituencies around the globe. Through auditing source code and establishing rigorous testing procedures, the Circumvention Tech Lab will ensure that communities worldwide have access to safe and secure communications solutions. The lab’s security “stamp of approval” would be a global indicator that communications technologies have passed rigorous security standards and that users of these technologies would be provided legal support where possible.
PrivWare Lab The supermajority of today’s “Internet of Things” business models focus on commoditizing an ever-increasing array of private information (from biometrics to food consumption to psychometrics). Sometimes, however, smart is dumb! Users should have the right to maintain control and ownership of their most intimate data and not be subject to an increasingly panoptic “Internet of Things” that deprives users of control of their own devices and data. With PrivWare, users don’t have to make a trade-off between technological efficiency and their privacy rights.
Distributed Production Lab The Distributed Production Lab will analyze and respond to the challenges posed by new manufacturing technologies like 3-D printing that are already beginning to disrupt many facets of the traditional manufacturing system. In the near future, massive disruptions caused by distributed manufacturing will have global implications for everything from patents to raw material supply chains, and impact sectors as diverse as transportation, energy, and retail.
“Smart” Infrastructure Policy Lab The “Smart” Infrastructure Policy Lab rethinks urban planning to break down the silos between areas like intelligent transportation and smart microgrids to take advantage of the synergies between these sectors. For a truly intelligent transportation and smart grid system to exist, we require everything from a major national fiber buildout, to far-reaching spectrum licensure reforms, to consumer protections over data collection practices. The Smart Infrastructure Policy Lab will develop an integrated plan that maximizes the utility of smart infrastructure for benefit of the general public.
-
New America