

North Korean pirate radio: homemade devices deliver banned broadcasts - xhevahir
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/28/north-korea-defector-radio

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chatmasta
The situation in North Korea is one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our
time, and perhaps even of the ages. As engineers, we have a lot of power to
help the people of North Korea. Our goal should be a constant funnel of
information from the outside world, just as this radio provides (albeit in a
limited capacity). Free flow of information is not only incredibly powerful,
but also relatively cheap to spread. It should be our job to find ways to
spread it into North Korea.

With Google and Facebook's balloon/drone internet access programs, I suspect
the availability of Internet -- and subsequently information -- in North Korea
is only going to grow. In preparation for this, we should be developing
solutions that enable cheap, surreptitious reception of information/internet
for North Koreans. I would like to see organizations like LiNK (liberty in
North Korea) get far more attention, and use that publicity to recruit
engineering partnerships.

If we -- engineers, startups, big tech co's (the collective engineering
community) -- pool together our knowledge and resources, partnering with
organizations like LiNK, then we can drive real grassroots change within North
Korea.

I don't know exactly what the immediate next steps are, but it's clear to me
that from a humanitarian perspective, North Korea is an open field where tech
can generate far more progress than it can in developed countries, where
solving first world problems adds comparatively little to general well-being.
One thing I know for sure, is that leadership on this front needs to come from
the big tech companies. Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft all have
thousands of talented engineers, billions of dollars, and incredible resources
at their disposal. Yet not one of them has done a single thing to advance the
cause of liberty in North Korea. Why not?

While Western governments are busy sitting on their hands, too scared of China
to make any aggressive moves in North Korea, it should be the tech companies
-- those at the forefront of engineering and human progress -- who are leading
the charge.

Who's going to step up?

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cheepin
This type of stuff reminds me of prison-tech.

