During the recent revolutions in Africa and the Middle East, governments have shut down both Internet and Phone services in an attempt to quell communication among demonstrators. In addition, during natural disasters, people have been left without a means of finding out the latest news regarding emergency services. We will discuss methods that can circumvent severed telecommunication infrastructures, including the use of mobile devices to act as ad hoc network access points. At the end of this talk, a new open source project will be announced, with the goal of developing the capabilities to generate spontaneous networks in times of crisis using current cellular phone technology.