[LUAU] Spreading OpenSource w/ ZenCart & 808lunch.com

R. Scott Belford scott at belford.net
Thu Mar 27 00:13:04 PDT 2008


On Sun, Mar 23, 2008 at 7:07 PM, Aryn Nakaoka <anakaoka at 808lunch.com> wrote:

> Jim -
>
> Sorry about that, I didn't know Luau and HOSEF were 2 different list...
>
> just FYI  - Scott and I didn't see eye to eye as well for the Wireless
> Project - that's why HOSEF isn't part of Kokua Wireless.


I guess that it is fair for me to elaborate on HOSEF's involvement here
since it was a great story of what can be done with a community and
ecycling.  It was kind of of you to continue linking to HOSEF, Aryn, and I
personally thought that we saw eye to eye just fine.

Three years ago we started a project to put computers and free but filtered
wifi in parks.  In doing so I had to overcome a lot of objections at the
City level, for nearly a year, before we were allowed to give the city a
computer lab and free wifi in Ewa Beach.  Along the way we built some trust
for getting stuff done if it was for the good of the community.

After the Chinatown wifi meltdown, our City's CIO called me to see if we
could install the same firewall content filter for Chinatown that we had
been installing in the parks.  This was clearly a more demanding hardware
load than our Iolani donated PIIs could handle.  As fate would have it, we
picked up a few very nice dual core P4s from our BYUH friends, so I
accepted.

We were asked to work with Aryn and Sean, aka 808blogger.  We, as in myself
and another HOSEF volunteer, configured and tweaked the firewall and content
filter.  In the greatest of ironies, the same person who criticized us for
filtering the Internet in the Ewa park hand delivered and installed the
content filter for the Chinatown project he was helping to engineer.

Because the project was using Meraki units, doing geo-specific captive
portals and URL redirects were beyond the expertise of the group installing
the wifi units.  We did a conference call with them and explained how to use
iptables rules to work around the hardware limits of the Meraki units.  It
was quite a plan we shared, and it seems to be the gravy of their project.

I was then asked to give up root for a box that we were asked to support and
put our name behind.  There were clear profit motives, which is fine, but it
was clearly not our place to be used this way without a lot more disclosure
and collaboration.  I did not give up root but offered to update the box as
needed.

Strangely, I got a call and was asked to attend a meeting at Honolulu Hale.
 HOSEF was then removed from the Chinatown project and told that we could
still do the parks.  The City could not pay for the wifi or any services at
the parks, but as long as we found a sponsor, we could install computers and
wifi in any other parks.  The free publicity and goodwill from helping with
Chinatown was no longer an opportunity for us.

I think we saw eye to eye on what happened and why quite clearly, Aryn.  It
was a shame, it was a tremendous lost opportunity, but we were happy to help
and were appropriately excluded when we did not cooperate in this unexpected
way.


> thanks
> aryn


--scott



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