My question... Is there a way to protect the internet as a whole and avoid something similar happening in the future? As incidents like what happened Friday get more sophisticated and deliberate, what can we do to not only protect ourselves, but also protect two of the things we value most - the internet and connectivity. Information and the ability to access it real time without any delays is a valuable commodity in today's world. Any interruptions in the flow of information can be devastating.
Is there a way to decentralize the internet so that any small interruption wont impact the entire network as a whole?
Some people such as Raffael Kemenczy believe we have already achieved a decentralized internet, although there are still dependencies on a central group of systems which can still be considered failure points. His vision of a truly decentralized network, or in his case a "distributed" network is called Starfish - a user-controlled distributed network.
When a starfish loses any part of itself, it merely regrows it back. In fact if it is split into two sizable chunks, it can regrow into two starfish. Raffeal Kemenczy envisions an internet replacement with similar properties.
He points out the difference between centralized, decentralized and distributed. The existing internet has achieved decentralization, but not distribution (parts of it have perhaps, but not the whole). See this pic:
He claims that the major issues plaguing the net today, like net neutrality, privacy and security are issues of structure, not of the agencies behind them. He proposes a distributed user-controlled system that could spawn in the shadows, and one day replace the internet if it were to be compromised as a whole.
The goal of Starfish is to enable the creation of a world-wide user-controlled network based on a distributed mesh architecture. This is to be achieved through developing the necessary software and hardware which allows users to form such networks in an ad-hoc fashion independent of any centralized control.
In my research, it is apparent that the technology to achieve something like this is already available, however it just has not been implemented yet. No one organization wants to give up full control of the power they currently have, so in order to achieve something like this would involve a group of individuals or organizations who want a truly free internet. There are organizations who have begun working on laying the groundwork and blockchain companies are definitely at the forefront, but nothing as of yet has currently been deployed
I think this is an evolution that will eventually come, but as of right now, it is a monstrous task. Maidsafe and Golem are two such organizations exploring a more decentralized/distributed platform, but are still works in progress.
Please let me know what you think in the comments below
