If the internet were being recreated from scratch, what would you do to improve it?
December 26, 2011 8:15 AM Subscribe
I've been asked to research the viability of the launch of a new top-level domain (TLD) parallel to dot-com. Assuming the prospective domain owner wishes not to reduplicate the internet as it exists now merely with another extension, I'd like to ask: Let's say you could take what you know about how the internet works (indexing, monetization, traffic, web-mastering but also crowdsourcing, social networking, political organizing, personal publishing, microfunding, etc.) and for reasons purely fictional, the existing system was scrapped and being re-built from scratch, what would you do with that opportunity if you had it?
Lately I've come to realize how like the traditional broadcast networks vast swaths of the internet are. A relatively small number of big players appear to have disproportionate control over content and advertising not to mention traffic. While anyone can have a channel (say, a blog), gaining an audience is the issue. The so-called user-generated content sites (e.g. youtube) have the power to censor and are less than consistent in their application of community guidelines.
Whether or not you agree with the above, I'm still curious: if we had another chance at joining/shaping the internet for the first time, knowing what we know now, how could be we improve upon the existing model?
Looking forward to hearing your ideas.
Lately I've come to realize how like the traditional broadcast networks vast swaths of the internet are. A relatively small number of big players appear to have disproportionate control over content and advertising not to mention traffic. While anyone can have a channel (say, a blog), gaining an audience is the issue. The so-called user-generated content sites (e.g. youtube) have the power to censor and are less than consistent in their application of community guidelines.
Whether or not you agree with the above, I'm still curious: if we had another chance at joining/shaping the internet for the first time, knowing what we know now, how could be we improve upon the existing model?
Looking forward to hearing your ideas.
crypto is much cheaper to implement than it used to be; make use of it. authenticated dns from the get-go. TLS for email rather than vanilla SMTP.
posted by rmd1023 at 10:22 AM on December 26, 2011
posted by rmd1023 at 10:22 AM on December 26, 2011
Also, agreeing with mbatch. It depends on what you mean be "the internet." If you're talking about something "parallel to dot com" that still runs over the same IPv4 networks as everything else, then you're just hacking dns and most of the same issues persist.
posted by rmd1023 at 10:24 AM on December 26, 2011
posted by rmd1023 at 10:24 AM on December 26, 2011
Further if you're talking about launching a new TLD in ICANN's upcoming new gTLD launch you're really over reaching. At best you might be able to launch a new TLD as a platform, but you're not going to be able to completely rework how a TLD functions on the existing architecture.
Either the entity which asked you to research this is misguided or you misunderstood the opportunity.
posted by FlamingBore at 10:35 AM on December 26, 2011
Either the entity which asked you to research this is misguided or you misunderstood the opportunity.
posted by FlamingBore at 10:35 AM on December 26, 2011
Best answer: I'm assuming this question is a response to SOPA?
You may want to research .onion and Eepsites as alternate TLDs. They exist only within the anonymous, peer-to-peer networks of Tor and I2P respectively.
Reddit has their Meshnet Plan which is a direct response to SOPA and proposes a mesh-based network topology, similar to what is currently used in Africa to connect villages to the internet (one main long-distance wifi connection connects to the internet, then a meshnet connects all the computers in the village to the wifi node). The idea is that in a fairly densely populated area, like a city or college campus, people should be able to connect to each other with no ISP or backbone to speak of.
> While anyone can have a channel (say, a blog), gaining an audience is the issue.
That's a problem for the blogger, not the internet as a whole. Sturgeon's Law: 99% of everything is crud. There is no way a million bloggers on the internet could all be A-list bloggers, and the ones that do may end up being perceived as being part of the establishment and one of the "privileged few" - so how do you propose to get around that? It's a catch 22 - can't get an audience without becoming a major player, can't be a major player & be legitimate in your eyes.
> The so-called user-generated content sites (e.g. youtube) have the power to censor and are less than consistent in their application of community guidelines.
The DMCA is fair in this regard and youtube/google has deals with record labels etc. to swiftly deal with legitimate copyright infringement. It's a system that doesn't always work, but when it doesn't, it gets lots of publicity.
The real answer is if it's that big a problem, then people go to other UGC sites like Vimeo.
If your real question is: "How would one go about democratizing the internet so that something like SOPA and record labels suing everyone on the planet & censoring youtube couldn't happen?" then the answer is this:
There need to be a few big players who can fund laying fiber across the ocean floor to connect the Americas to Europe etc.
The technology to obfuscate your identity exists and host content anonymously outside of the DNS structure and in a way where the major players can't easily figure out who you are. Alternate TLDs exist. The problem is that not enough people care for this to gain much momentum.
posted by MesoFilter at 12:31 PM on December 26, 2011 [2 favorites]
You may want to research .onion and Eepsites as alternate TLDs. They exist only within the anonymous, peer-to-peer networks of Tor and I2P respectively.
Reddit has their Meshnet Plan which is a direct response to SOPA and proposes a mesh-based network topology, similar to what is currently used in Africa to connect villages to the internet (one main long-distance wifi connection connects to the internet, then a meshnet connects all the computers in the village to the wifi node). The idea is that in a fairly densely populated area, like a city or college campus, people should be able to connect to each other with no ISP or backbone to speak of.
> While anyone can have a channel (say, a blog), gaining an audience is the issue.
That's a problem for the blogger, not the internet as a whole. Sturgeon's Law: 99% of everything is crud. There is no way a million bloggers on the internet could all be A-list bloggers, and the ones that do may end up being perceived as being part of the establishment and one of the "privileged few" - so how do you propose to get around that? It's a catch 22 - can't get an audience without becoming a major player, can't be a major player & be legitimate in your eyes.
> The so-called user-generated content sites (e.g. youtube) have the power to censor and are less than consistent in their application of community guidelines.
The DMCA is fair in this regard and youtube/google has deals with record labels etc. to swiftly deal with legitimate copyright infringement. It's a system that doesn't always work, but when it doesn't, it gets lots of publicity.
The real answer is if it's that big a problem, then people go to other UGC sites like Vimeo.
If your real question is: "How would one go about democratizing the internet so that something like SOPA and record labels suing everyone on the planet & censoring youtube couldn't happen?" then the answer is this:
There need to be a few big players who can fund laying fiber across the ocean floor to connect the Americas to Europe etc.
The technology to obfuscate your identity exists and host content anonymously outside of the DNS structure and in a way where the major players can't easily figure out who you are. Alternate TLDs exist. The problem is that not enough people care for this to gain much momentum.
posted by MesoFilter at 12:31 PM on December 26, 2011 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Thanks for your responses. And yes I was asking about democratizing the internet as it relates to a new TLD. The question, apparently badly framed, was intended to by something like, could a new, theoretically enlightened, TLD could do to improve the experience/provide new opportunities for domain owners and users.
The question relates to function and content rather than technical implementation.
I'm intrigued by both FCC white spaces and Meshnet, but both are dealing with the later rather than the former.
posted by brynnwood at 5:43 PM on December 26, 2011
The question relates to function and content rather than technical implementation.
I'm intrigued by both FCC white spaces and Meshnet, but both are dealing with the later rather than the former.
posted by brynnwood at 5:43 PM on December 26, 2011
A related read is Code by Laurence Lessig. It's dated (first edition from 90s, revised sometime around 2001) but in a way that would be helpful to you. It was written in response to ideas at the time that the internet would be a totally amazing, utopian, democratizing, academic tool. He takes a look at how laws and the way the internet and our browsers and everything else is programmed could change the way we use the internet in various ways. Not 100% what you're asking about, but it's a great book anyway and definitely addresses some of your concerns.
posted by fireflies at 6:31 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by fireflies at 6:31 PM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
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if we had another chance at joining/shaping the internet for the first time, knowing what we know now, how could be we improve upon the existing model?
Has almost nothing to do with this (function/content):
.. how the internet works (indexing, monetization, traffic, web-mastering but also crowdsourcing, social networking, political organizing, personal publishing, microfunding, etc.)
I think you're very much conflating the two, which makes your question sort of unanswerable and at the very least extremely vague.
posted by mbatch at 10:22 AM on December 26, 2011 [1 favorite]