Is a peer-to-peer internet possible?
I recently watched Dan Larimer's 2015 interview with @lovejoy and @roadscape and one answer in particular stuck with me and made me think for a while.
At the end of part 2 of the interview Dan is asked 'Do you feel that there are any threats to the internet itself? Or, what will happen if the internet breaks?'.
And one of the things that he mentions in his answer is that one of the end goals of decentralization should be:
...freeing of the internet infrastructure from monopolization and that means innovating in areas as wireless communication and decentralized production. Because if we can all communicate directly from person to person without any wires it's game over [for censorship].
Watch the second part of the interview below if you haven't already.
I wanted to ask if you know of anybody that currently is working to achieve this goal? A decentralized peer to peer internet that can work at a worldwide scale. Can we completely eliminate the need for ISP's?
For example, I know of Scuttlebutt but I don't know if it can be scaled to work at that large scale.
Scuttlebutt is slang for gossip, particularly among sailors. It is also the name of a peer-to-peer system ideal for social graphs, identity and messaging. Scuttlebutt was created by Dominic Tarr, a Node.js developer with more than 600 modules published on npm, who lives on a self-steering sailboat in New Zealand.
The unique properties of Secure Scuttlebutt (SSB) make it possible for digital information to spread easily even in the absence of Internet Service Providers (ISP) and the internet’s backbone. What makes that possible is a decentralized protocol based on the mechanics of word of mouth.
https://staltz.com/an-off-grid-social-network.html
I think this will be Dan's next challenge and project in a few years once he's finished creating and implementing EOS. Will @dantheman be able to fully decentralize the internet? Let's hope so.
Here is an old blog of mine you might enjoy.
We did it before and we will do it again :-)
Cheers
Yes, it seems so. It looks like more and more people are coming to realize that this needs to happen sooner rather than later seeing how governments and central authorities are starting to crack down on the freedom of use of the internet. More and more regulations are being proposed.
For example: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/theresa-may-internet-conservatives-government-a7744176.html
Or: https://euobserver.com/opinion/137918
Probably a few more improvements in computer and telecommunications technologies still needs to happen before though.
https://futurism.com/a-new-transmitter-can-send-data-at-100-gigabits-per-a-second/
I'm an old fart, But if it can be thought of, it will be created :-)
I've seen it over and over again.
The internet was offered to the public to trace and track everything we do in case resistance starts to form. It was cocky thinking they could keep us from talking and collaborating with each-other, all of us anyway LOL
Cheers
I think it is utopia.
... so "sneakernet", without the hassle of having to physically copy, carry, and then move messages around from computer to computer? Interesting...
No way near that much wider adoption though, but as everyone knows; so was the Internet with academics at one time. And continued niche status is a plus, as far as many would be concerned.
I do think distributed communication, as a concept, lacks a great deal of significance absent peer-to-peer messaging that is truly independent of any single-entity third party, so this type of tech is definitely something to watch out for, even if only as a precursor to future solutions.