The internet began as a series of interconnected computer networks which eventually converged and began using the same packet switching protocols. Through the years, technology has advanced, from dialing into an ISP over the phone lines, to cable providers opening their subscribers to the World Wide Web, but one this has remained the same: someone else is controlling the gateway to a world of information. Here they can censor, they can throttle, and they can block you completely. It seems almost Orwellian.
This is where the net-neutrality proponents seems to have it right. Companies are deciding what content we can access, so perhaps forcing companies to respect the information and make no decisions about the content, allowing unrestricted access to this digital world, could be beneficial. But there seems to be one problem: Who will overlook this? And many cry out to governments, but haven’t States been the biggest proponents of censorship and data collection? Are they not the ones that give these ISPs monopolies over regions so they themselves may practice these digital sins themselves? It seems that the only way we can hope for true digital freedom is competition to drive out these state supported monopolies, but the current state of affairs means that there will be no way for such a thing to happen. The only way is to rebuild the network from the ground up. But how could we go about doing this? The answer is Meshnets.
First, what are Meshnets? Meshnets are decentralized ad-hoc networks, which, rather than connecting a computers to one another over the centralized infrastructure of an ISP, connections are made computer-to-computer-to-computer until the desired server is reached. It relies on users of the network to transmit the packets, rather than the ISP. And although this offers numerous advantages, it does have a few flaws.
Some technology-adept people could listen in on network, spread malware, and view some horrendous content, all via other people’s computers. This is all true, but, all of this happens on the modern internet as well. Not to mention, most web traffic these days is encrypted, and with some user-driven security, many of these concerns won't even be concerns. Likewise, community policing of these networks could more easily remove that unscrupulous content, much more efficiently than government surveillance, which more often than not targets innocent people as well. But another way to ensure security is the establishment of dedicated nodes. In most Meshnets, every user’s computer acts as a node, and runs traffic through it, and user’s computers in this theoretical Meshnet could do this too, however, if special computers, running a GNU/Linux distribution specially designed to work as Meshnet nodes were to be set up, most of these security concerns could be eliminated completely. Think of a small computer enabled with Meshnet software, broadcasting the wireless signal, which not only connected them to other nodes, but with the user’s computers.
This Meshnet means that no one person could have control over it, but rather the community that sponsors it. If one node goes down, there are numerous others to take its place, meaning censorship and disasters couldn’t break the network. It can provide free/cheap network access to low income families, students, schools, etc. They’re fast, broad, and would be cheap and easy (at least in theory) to set up. Government and Corporate control be damned.
However, Meshnets are not the most popular kind of network out there, yet. A lot of services that are used by many on the modern Internet are not directly available to Meshnets (and vice versa). A Meshnet separate from the Internet can’t get on Facebook unless Facebook servers were linked to that specific Meshnet, and not to mention that there are numerous types of Meshnet software, one often not being able to be linked to the other without some kind of bridge. And that’s what I’m suggesting, a series of bridges, not only hooked up to multiple different Meshnets (at least until they can be standardized), but to the wider internet itself, until that is eclipsed. With multiple bridges connecting the Meshnet to the wider Internet, services on both can become available to one another, connections can be easily hidden from surveillance (no one could be sure where in the Meshnet they came from), and stress on modems and the sort can be reduced. The outside internet connections are only possible if some participants in the Meshnet still pay those profiteering gluttons that provide a service that could be dirt cheap if it wasn’t for capitalistic monopolies, but I assume this is a service at least some people would still want to pay for.
Go start a Meshnet in your neighborhood, apartment complex, place of work, etc. Buy some Raspberry Pis, some wireless antennas, install some Meshnet software, and get rolling for change!
