British entrepreneur and technologist
Sascha Meinrath is an American policy activist and educator. He is currently the Palmer Chair in Telecommunications at Penn State University. 
Meinrath founded the Open Technology Institute in 2008 and directed the Institute while also serving as Vice President of the New America Foundation. 
Meinrath has founded a number of other organizations, among them X-Lab (a technology think tank), the CUWiN Foundation, and the Open Source Wireless Coalition. He is also known for his work in opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act (SOPA and PIPA).
Background.
Sascha Meinrath was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Yale University in 1997, and a Masters of Arts in Social-Ecological Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the son of a Brazilian immigrant to the U.S., and holds Brazilian, German, and U.S. citizenship.
Career.
In 2004 Meinrath worked as a policy analyst for Free Press, a national media reform organization. In 2007 he moved to Washington, D.C., to become the Research Director of the Wireless Futures Program at the New America Foundation. He launched the Open Technology Institute at New America Foundation in 2008, and became a Vice-President at New America and a co-founder of the Future of War Initiative. He is a professor at Pennsylvania State University.
Meinrath launched the Open Technology Institute at the New America Foundation in 2008.
As of 2020, Meinrath serves on the board of Defending Rights &amp; Dissent, the American Indian Policy Institute, Metamesh Wireless Communities, Brave New Software Foundation, and the Acorn Active Media Foundation.
Commotion Wireless.
Commotion is an open source “device-as-infrastructure” communication platform that integrates users’ existing cell phones, Wi-Fi enabled computers, and other wireless-capable devices to create community- and metro-scale, peer-to-peer communications networks. Commotion was deployed with Occupy DC as well in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Opposition to SOPA and PIPA.
Meinrath opposed the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). 
International Summit for Community Wireless Networks.
Meinrath hosts the regular International Summit for Community Wireless Networks (IS4CWN), a convening of leaders in community networks, mesh networking, and next-generation wireless technologies. The first summit was held in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois in 2004 launching the community wireless movement. Past locations have also included St. Charles, Missouri, Washington, DC, and Vienna, Austria. The eighth and most recent IS4CWN was held in October, 2013 in Berlin, Germany.
References.
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