Not to sound like an alarmist, but the free internet is in crisis. Corporations and bad actors treat people like products and mine their personal data and passions for profit. So we must convene as a community to save the internet — but how, when by virtuous design we as a community are distributed and decentralized? By learning from the distributed teams who have been responsible for reacting in crisis situations for centuries. In this talk, I’ll explore how we can apply social network analysis findings gleaned from studying disaster response teams in laboratory and field settings to empower leadership and strengthen community ties in pursuit of our collective goal: to ensure the internet is free, open, and safe for all, forever.