[dgski]

FireChat was never going to be resilient enough because it was installed on Apple and Google controlled devices.

This kind of system needs a dedicated or at least 'open' device with adequate hardware to support wireless mesh networks.

I would love to see something like this, because we (even, or rather, especially; Western countries) currently have no decentralized fallback for emergency communication. If the electric grid and cellphone network go... most people don't even have AM radios at this point.

[lxgr]

If the electric grid and cellphone go, what would be the problem with devices being Apple- and Google-controlled?

It seems like you're talking about two related but ultimately distinct concerns, i.e. reliance against infrastructure failures and reliance against organizational failures.

[dgski]

Yeah, you're mostly right. I mean, these centralized entities could still sign and release instructions over the mesh network propagation (unlikely though).

Having an overall culture/goal of decentralization, can inform decisions on multiple levels/concerns (infra, energy, org). Basically, if I'm trying to be resilient to infra problems, it won't be that much effort in changing the design to also be resilient from centralized control.