As the SOPA debate rages on in Congress, the brightest minds of the Internet are already taking decisive steps toward building a new, alternative Internet which would remain untouchable by the corporations currently threatening to tear apart the fabric and soul of the Internet we know and love. For more on SOPA and the threat it represents, have a read of one of my older articles, here.
This new, decentralized (sound familiar?) Internet would not rely on corporate-controlled Internet Service Providers or be subject to the whims of increasingly undemocratic US government regulation, but would depend on its worldwide userbase for maintaining its infrastructure.
The key to the implementation of the so-called "Meshnet" is the establishment of a sufficiently powerful network of nodes. While a completely voluntary system would be ideal, the costs associated with the construction and operation of these nodes would be non-trivial; an incentivized system would be far more effective.
Enter Bitcoin and BitSyncom.
BitSyncom announced yesterday that it has launched the "BitSyncom Initiative," consisting of Bitcoin-enabled tablet computers that would connect to the Meshnet through super-node towers that act as hosted Bitcoin wallets. Tablets (or any other Bitcoin-enabled device) would pay for access using Bitcoin, but the Meshnet would also pay other users Bitcoin for supplying bandwidth to the network. The end result, a peer-to-peer, user-driven, incentivized Internet, free from biased corporate-controlled and undemocratic government regulation, or centrally controlled payment processors.
Given the current atmosphere of global financial uncertainty, the ever-growing library of freedom-reducing legislation being passed by governments, and the increasing momentum behind the Occupy movement, this is definitely an idea whose time has come - one that is very, very exciting. The last thing we need is another country with the ability to shut down all private communications, Iran-style. The quicker the Meshnet is implemented, the better.
I've posted some things in that reddit forum. Some were pretty good (if I do say so myself) and some were... let's call them "half-formed".
ReplyDeleteCalling it "the brightest minds of the Internet" strikes me as inviting ridicule. I would like to be that, but there are some awfully bright people in this world.
Let's just say there are some concerned netizens out there :)
If you add freenet to the mix, you also get censorship-resistant communication - stronger: Data exchange.
ReplyDelete→ http://freenetproject.org
Since freenet can use friend-to-friend connections (which is called darknet mode) and route efficiently over restricted routes, it could be routed over the towers you pay. You would just have to add automated tower detection and addition.
I don't actually see a copy of the announcement - in any form - on the internet. Their site is near-blank.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that they've got these plans. I love what I've gleaned. I just wish they would share them directly with a wider audience, and had the wherewithal to publish it on their own website.