This was something that was discussed pretty heavily on the various IRC channels during the 2009 Iranian Election.
Cell phones, wifi, etc. had mostly been cut off in Tehran, which is where there were some really horrible things happening that the rest of world needed to know about. In a situation like that, a mesh network full of wifi devices that could communicate with either HAM operators, or satellite internet operators would have been really helpful.
A lot of people were actually surprised that the CIA didn't have something like this sitting on the shelf ready to be distributed. (And this is where I start sounding like one of those people, but the CIA has been involved in revolutions in places like South America. A communications kit seems like something that they would employ.)
Cell phones, wifi, etc. had mostly been cut off in Tehran, which is where there were some really horrible things happening that the rest of world needed to know about. In a situation like that, a mesh network full of wifi devices that could communicate with either HAM operators, or satellite internet operators would have been really helpful.
A lot of people were actually surprised that the CIA didn't have something like this sitting on the shelf ready to be distributed. (And this is where I start sounding like one of those people, but the CIA has been involved in revolutions in places like South America. A communications kit seems like something that they would employ.)