What’s Wrong with the Internet?

The rise of the Internet has been one of the greatest economic and social forces in human history. Like each previous communication technology, it has enabled an incredible leap in human knowledge and capabilities. The Internet combines the best aspects of every previous information revolution – the written word, the printing press, telegraphs, telephones, radios, television, and joins these communication capabilities with the incredible strengths of computing, processing, and storage.

But like any creation of man, the Internet is not perfect. It is at best a work in progress And like any form of progress, old ways must be discarded when new, better ways are found.

So what’s wrong with the Internet, and how can we improve it?

1) Internet access is a for-profit enterprise controlled by gatekeepers.

The Internet has seen massive investment from private enterprise, not only in content but in structure and access. Communication and media companies have purchased Internet backbones and service providers, and have a financial interest in controlling and maintaining these investments and ensuring their ongoing profitability by suppressing competing forms of access that do not require these expenses, cannot be purchased or controlled, and do not generate profits.

These financial interests mean that investors oppose new technologies that could undermine their investments; and implement practices that reinforce their position of control as gatekeepers. For example, to preclude government interference on behalf of the public by the FCC, ISPs, and Telcos violate the trust of their customers by cooperating with government spying such as in AT&T’s peering facility in San Francisco that provides all traffic data to the NSA and in cooperating with the governments’ illegal wiretapping program.

2) Users do not control their own data.

This is a systemic problem. Since we depend on service providers for access, we do not have control over our own data. ISPs currently interfere with BitTorrent, spy on Internet users, and do not allow users to run their own servers for email, webservers, FTP, and so on. Users are acclimated to a position of dependency. We are induced to turn over personal info to sites like Facebook or Myspace who use our data for their own profit. We must pay for basic topical info exchange such as matchmaking services. Most people don’t realize that these type of services are not designed for the utility of the users but for the profitability of the designer.

Turning your data over to a service provider removes that data from your control and places that control in the hands of another. Your data can be sold, turned over to a 3rd party, or denied to you. It can be retained after you ask for it to be deleted, used for nefarious purposes, even used against you.

3) The Internet is not encrypted.

You can (and are) spied upon by your service provider and the government. Packet inspection is used in traffic shaping to interfere with protocols such as BitTorrent. Your data is retained by the Total Information Awareness program and for investigation by the CIA and NSA. Your shopping, surfing, and posting habits can be recorded and analyzed. Your emails can be read, including personal details or sensitive business information.

4) The Internet is not local.

It can tell you about sites and shops halfway around the world but cannot tell you what restaurants are near you, where to get your car fixed, or help you meet people in your neighborhood. It can’t show you a map of the area and fill in all the buildings, tell you whether each one is a residence or business, tell you the business’s products, services, and costs, and so on. Some services such as Google try to accomplish this, but are seriously limited and don’t do a great job. To provide these services natively is beyond the ability of the Internet as it is currently structured.

5) Data services cost money.

Internet access costs, hosting costs, services cost. All these things can be taken care of locally by free, open source software on your local system, but this is not allowed by your ISP. Unless you can find an open WiFi node, you pay for wireless data plans; you pay for a cellular phone, a home phone, and for cable TV services. Currently we think of all these as distinct services with a distinct cost and bill, but realistically there is no difference between different types of data and all can be handled across the same networks – which is why cable companies are now selling VoIP phone services as well as Internet services, and why AT&T is now a cellular provider as well as telephone and DSL provider.

6) The Internet is hierarchal.

The hierarchal design of the Internet and dependence upon service providers means that each user is the end of a structured path, and not an interconnected node in a larger network, so each user consumes network resources such as bandwidth and routing and is unable to provide any of their own in return. This requires service providers to invest in providing more bandwidth as they add users, or reduce the quality of their service. This design is one that provides diminishing returns at ever increasing costs.

7) The Internet is reliant upon centralized services.

Centralized services are subject to corruption or manipulation. We’ve already discussed ISPs, but the problem extends to DNS servers, Registrars, and the ICANN. DNS servers are vulnerable to poisoning, Registrars are vulnerable to hijacking, or outright exploitation such as Network Solution’s recent policy of registering any domains searched through their whois service and holding these domains hostage at an elevated price. The ICANN has repeatedly bowed to pressure against opening new TLDs. If any core services are compromised, the Internet could stop working.

8.) The end-user is unprotected and has little control.

There are few options for end-users to prevent hacking attempts, viruses, and spam. A user does not have a built in capability to deny connections based on their own criteria.

9) Internet usage is highly inefficient.

If both you and your neighbor download to the same exact video from, say, China, you consume the bandwidth of transferring that data all the way across the world when a copy exists right next door. Popular media are transferred repeatedly across the Internet regardless of how many other local users already have a copy. You cannot search local machines for data that you need, in fact you cannot easily perform your own searches but have to rely on a service provider to give you searches based on an unknown algorithm. Even on your own machine, it’s nearly impossible to relocate a website or news story that you don’t specifically save and organize. Ever remember something you read at some point in the past and try to find it again? Good luck. You store vast amounts of data from websites in your History and Temporary Internet Files, but not in a meaningful way.

10) Internet users are conditioned to be helpless.

Users are conditioned that it is expected and acceptable that they have little or no direct control over their devices and services they require in their everyday life. They are conditioned to have and expect no responsibility, no control, no decision-making, and no input. Someone else is always in charge and makes all decisions for them that they cannot easily refuse or object to.

What can we do to correct this situation?

I have been aware of these problems for many years. I believe that I have a solution to these issues that will result in a new type of Internet service that is fast, free, universal, and controlled by the user. It will not and cannot be controlled by financial interests. It will work in conjunction with or independently of the existing Internet and all forms of services. Users will have complete control over the use and distribution of their own data. All transmissions will be encrypted, no one will know anything about your packets except where they are headed. It will be a fundamentally local service, with a global reach.

This will be a completely free service in every way, and the required equipment will cost less than a new computer or cell phone. Each user will provide more resources than they consume, so it is fully scalable and cannot run out of capacity, but will store and transfer data much more efficiently than existing networks. It will provide a robustness that is currently unknown, able to provide a vast amount of content even when you cannot access the full network (though this would be rare). No one would ever be able to deny you Internet access for any reason. This type of network would not depend on service providers in any way, nor any centralized service except the electricity it consumes and the free, open source software installed on your device. It will be resistant to most, if not all, forms of hacking, viruses, spam, and attacks. The user will always be in complete control over their own device and the services it enables.

I have thought long and hard about this, and I have decided that while I can make vast amounts of money by waiting, starting my own company, and pursuing these goals in a traditional business environment, I would prefer the speed, openness, and public participation by presenting this freely to anyone who will listen, and accepting the help of anyone who would work on this with me.

I cannot do this alone. I believe in the power of the crowds, and open source, free software. I need your ongoing help and support to achieve these goals. I will soon be revealing the specifics of my designs so that we can start working on the hardware and software necessary to bring these ideals to fruition.

Currently, the biggest thing that I need is web designers so that we can get some sites up and running to promote these objectives and attract more interested parties to participate in this project. This won’t be ready tomorrow, this is a long term project that will take several years; but I assure you – this will be the next information revolution and unleash new abilities that our society has never before imagined. I hope you all will help me. We WILL change the world for the better.

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