The Once and Future Internet

Before I start. This thread is not about net neutrality or the FCC decision please discuss that here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is about the internet in general. It's past, present and future and what humanity envisioned the internet to be. The other thread has a lot of doom and gloom with no real solutions and a lot of questions. Hopefully this helps:

tttthis.com...

3 Phases

Those who have been around for the last 3 decades of internet have seen 3 phases. First, in the 90s, when people spoke about the internet with hope, optimism, and pride, as a great tool that would connect all people, improve everyone's lives, access to information, and allow us to reach any person or the world so simply.

In the 2010s, social media made a ton of headlines for the role it was seemingly playing. Who remembers how well Facebook and Twitter were spoken of as ways the oppressed masses of the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria and other places could communicate, spread information and organize despite government oppression?

In 2017 the voice of the people seems to be largely a voice of protest against those who have power to decide how the internet functions. Part of this is largescale corporate, both for reasons of their relationships to governments (local and foreign) and part is business. Besides large corporations, part of the greivances being aired by thousands every day is aimed at governments, as they make decisions on how free the internet will be, seemingly irregardless of the will of citizens.

I've been lucky enough to have had access to computers my whole life and had a family that was fairly interested in computers in general. I didn't really get to experience the internet until we got broadband sometime in the late 90's. We had dial-up sometime before that but we had to pay everytime we used it so I didn't really get to see much. I remember after getting broadband still being confused about being allowed to use the internet as a regular part of using the computer. Our computer was a shared computer in the dining room so I still couldn't really look at anything I wanted but...it's amazing how much you can get away with looking up when no one's really paying attention. I remember discovering that you could download music from the internet and suddenly I could listen to any song I wanted....after each one downloaded at the speed of a 4GB movie now. Suddenly I could listen to any music I wanted.

Eventually I built my own computer using parts I bought from my first job building computers and this is when I really discovered the internet. I never got into the social part of it, even here I read this site for years before making an account and I've probably posted more in the last few months than over the rest of the 7 years I've had my account. The internet has been the largest source of information in my life and the only reason I've been able to succeed in any way.

It's been a tool that's helped me do many things in my life and it's helped humanity do things previously impossible. It's not just the internet at risk. Computers in general are becoming more locked down and controlled than ever before.

A Chain of Technology

While it is possible that the free internet desired by people could be obtained through protective laws, this may be the weaker of paths, because technology that allows people to protect themselves has traditionally been found to be more effective than relying on government.

Based on what I have read on tech posts, the future internet will probably look like this:

Hardware - OS - Monitoring and Treating - IP - Signature - Browser - Accounts - Cookies, Apps, Trackers

Hardware - over the past year or two, we have repeatedly been shown news stories about how our software is not safe at any level. We are all familiar with the viral photos of the heads of giant social media companies with pieces of tape over the camera and mic of their machines. We read the story where rebooting does not actually always reboot, but only appears to. Software can always be reprogrammed. People will improve hardware: Physical switches that connect and disconnect wires will be added to machines (probably at least 3 switches in addition to the power switch - modem, camera, and mic). Perhaps there will also be a secondary unit in addition to the computer connected by outbound and inbound data cables, so that one or both can be disconnected, so that data can be quaranteened and accessed before moving it to the user's actual PC.

OS - Every year, more and more people are pushed past their limmits with the regular OS and switch to Linux, which is an open source OS - there is no secrets with this software. What is in it, how it works, what it does, is all viewable for anyone and everyone can look at, modify, and discuss publicly.

Monitoring and treating at a PC-level - We have seen a ton of stories about hacking in the past few years, and reports now say it will be an even bigger issue next year. One of the reasons hacking can happen is that we can't see what is happening inside our computers. Probalby, software will be created where we can see realtime, as this is what some people are already using and talking about. I would guess it will be a split screen wallpaper, where half the screen shows processes running (furnished with explainers and links to what the process is supposed to do, associated files and processes, and how to check it is working properly. Also access to log of when the program was run and what it did over history), and the other half of the screen shows internet traffic to and from the PC, along with similar notes that can be understood by the common person.

IP - Every time any story comes up about anything internet, there are at least a couple of people talking about using proxy IPs to prevent abuse of the data they create through using the internet. Proxy IPs will definitely become standard if net neutrality passes, unless the government restricts them as did China's, although this will create a lot more pressure for a broader set of people to act against this schema of internet use.

Signature - In addition to IP, people talk about the "signature" of internet users, which is the collection of common things they do / distinct from others, which when analyzied, works similar to an IP. People currently say more and more people are using TOR for this reason, as it passes each instance of activity through multiple ports, thus disconnecting each instance from the others.

Browsers - Another place where information can be stored and compiled. A lot of people talk about this information being stolen, sold, or otherwise abused. Open source browsers, that allow users to clearly and easily decide what they want their data to be used for, if used at all, seem a certainty because there is large and increasing demand for them.

Internets - There may be enough pressure to create alternate internets if the mainstream ones continue to displease users, especially since alternate internets are brought up as a solution by many people every time the discussion happens on tech-savy boards. People online have become increasingly concerned about censorship on the internet.

 As Glen Greenwald said, "Beyond all the other reasons not to do it, free speech assaults always backfire: they transform bigots into martyrs," as we saw with people analyzing the recent controversy over the Daily Stormer website, a minority opinion site that almost no one cared about or would be influenced by, but was cencored by almost all the important internet entities. The solution commonly proposed by many, many people is a distributed internet, which hasn't really been finetuned yet to a point it could work. The way this system works is similar to torrents, where the data of all the websites on this internet is stored on people's machines, so it can't really be removed. So far, there are several problems with this: one is the costs and storage requirements for each person participating in hosting content; another is that there are in most countries a few laws which would penalize people if anything illegal (varies by country) was stored in this way; another problem still is there isn't adequate protection for people who want to host content privately.

Probably the solution will be a Shared Content Server, where either a)all or some content is hosted in a country that protects all information period, or b)new internet content is uploaded as a request for hosting on a torrent library (and any changes similarly uploaded), which monitors could mark as safe or risky depending on country, and which people everywhere could then host either in approved packets or individually. Individuals could also check any data using their own program or their own eyes before hosting any file as well.

Because different things are protected in different countries, most content will be available from some seeder somewhere. Uploading requests could be done either anonymously, through encrypted anonimity, or by accounts, which could become established and "trusted." Also, because most information people are worried about being censored is text-based (not images or videos), the files are very small and easy to scan. Even if the SCServer (lets call it) was very small, it could host a lot of this type of information. Another benefit of SCServers is that it means content is hosting in many places, so it is backed up and can be reuploaded to the internet immediately if there is a disruption or after any amount of time. Hosting content (for example, your favorite websites) also means you would have access to it without having to connect to the internet, so hosting could be updated when you are near a good connection or overnight.

Hosts could also be renumerated for hosting content, probably with cryptocurrency wallets on an ongoing basis, to create incentive or at least balance out cost. People wanting to upload could donate to the project as a whole or as a package of funds attached to the data they wanted someone to host. The amount of crypto received by people hosting should at least cover the costs of the diskspace and internet (very inexpensive for text-based sites) used to host. This is also a very scalable system that works with a few sites or a few billion, as well as reproducible to many copies.

Since most people would still use the regular internet and regular browsers, an extention/app could be created to "check if hosted on SCServer" for any site that fails.

a reply to: dug88

This is about the internet in general. It's past, present and future and what humanity envisioned the internet to be.

It's past is fondly remembered and sadly missed , at present it's sliding down a slope into what it will be in the future which is little more than the shopping channel crossed with an instant messenger.

The internet is dangerous to those in charge so they must control it , we see that control more and more each day.

A close parallel could be comparing to the fledging cable tv 'net'works. In the beginning you paid to see commercial free 24 hour news, sports, unedited movies and a new thang called MTV.

The fee was small, the service was un fettered with ads, subscriber fees offset the need to advertise.

The number of free stations grew with the popularity. At one point a monthly cable fee paid for 1500 channels from round the world. Unprecedented coverage of world news and events, sports and film, like never before.

Then what happened?

The ads slowly crept in, tiered packages became available, now if you want full coverage its the highest tier, only available to those who can afford it.

Nowadays its back to the same as before cable, with fees.

The internet will go the same way eventually, tiered packages, one way 'Internet', only the wealthy will get the truth, and be able to comment on it.

Imagine a 'TV' internet, you can change channels but have no say.

a reply to: dug88

When the chains finally get pulled over the free internet and everything becomes controlled, it's good to know that there may be other options for the future

Kim Dotcom, the creator of notorious file hosting service MegaUpload.com, took time from fighting extradition charges in New Zealand on Thursday to address the Sydney startup conference SydStart via video link. The pitch? His coming alternative Internet, MegaNet.

Wanted in the U.S. under criminal copyright violation charges, Dotcom said that despite Edward Snowden's revelations about NSA spying opening up "the eyes of the world" to government intrusions on our privacy, little would change without action.

mashable.com...
www.rt.com...
www.theinquirer.net...

What i have noticed:

Prior to AOL the internet was a sea of intelligence and civility. Once AOL entered the market, the internet degraded terribly fast into what we see today. Why? Accessibility to the masses.

The new growing market is Africa. Social media is currently seeing a large influx of pidgen english spoken by the denizens of Africa. The crowd that AOL let onto the internet is not amused with this, and is pretty outspoken in their dislike of a non-proper English that isn't their own.

For the next 20 years minimum we will see this dynamic play out, with Africa being the biggest entry (with an enormous population boom underway, in 20 years we will see a generation of Africans who have never known a world without internet). One thing I can say for sure: Africans who speak English as a native language use it differently than the US, Europe, or Australia do. Another thing I can say for sure is what we find funny and what your average AFrican finds funny are two totally different things.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
What i have noticed:

Prior to AOL the internet was a sea of intelligence and civility. Once AOL entered the market, the internet degraded terribly fast into what we see today. Why? Accessibility to the masses.

The new growing market is Africa. Social media is currently seeing a large influx of pidgen english spoken by the denizens of Africa. The crowd that AOL let onto the internet is not amused with this, and is pretty outspoken in their dislike of a non-proper English that isn't their own.

For the next 20 years minimum we will see this dynamic play out, with Africa being the biggest entry (with an enormous population boom underway, in 20 years we will see a generation of Africans who have never known a world without internet). One thing I can say for sure: Africans who speak English as a native language use it differently than the US, Europe, or Australia do. Another thing I can say for sure is what we find funny and what your average AFrican finds funny are two totally different things.

It's interestin a lot of developing countries are really pushing into social media. For a while, I was talking to random people on the internet around the world when I had time to kill at work. 90% of the people that actually had a conversation with me were either from Africa or a south east asian country.

Their lives are a really weird dichotomy. On one hand they do a lot of the same things as people in Europe or the West. Watch a lot of the same movies and tv shows, go to school or work, hang out with friends or browse the web. But on the other hand, many of them lived in horrible oppressive places, sometimes had to climb onto rooftops to get reception, were unsure of any kind of future after finishing school or whether their jobs were stable or even whether there would be food at the grocery store when they went.

It's a really strange world we live in.

a reply to: dug88

I have very few friends. The people I call "friend" and actually keep up with...there are only 2. A guy i've known from my hometown since we were teens, and a Nigerian immigrant that worked with me the past 6 years, although we've only worked in the same location for about 2 year during that time.

Richard, my Nigerian friend, is one of the most interesting people for me to talk to. He is strictly devout as a Christian, and am functionally atheist. But our values are very close, and we have a very similar worldview. I've enjoyed greatly listening to his life experiences, and enjoy trying to use what I've learned from him to better understand the people I run into online. It is obvious to me that our brains are wired a bit different due to our life experiences. That fascinates me.

In the early 1990's, the Internet was very basic. Very few users had access to a GUI based display capable of running Netscape or Mozaic. Most services were command line, like gopher, ftp, traceroute, telnet. It was only with Windows 95 that the desktop supported 24-bit colour for images. Even then, that required VGA cards with accelerated blitting. It was luxury if you had a sound system. Before that, you were lucky to have a sound card with MIDI support. But once those were in place, the next problems were having enough CPU to do software decompression for video. That really wasn't solved under graphics cards did hardware decompression.

There wasn't the capability to support pop-ups ads, videos, animations. Having an E-mail account was a big thing. Some companies actually tried publishing white pages of E-mail addresses and names as if they were going to be like telephone numbers. So there was a high signal/noise ratio as the USENET distribution system was intended purely for research.

Once high-speed home internet came along in 2001, video streaming was becoming just about possible. Transferring a DVD would take four hours, transferring a 300 Mbyte animation would take an hour.

Now we've got all these ad trackers, cookies, Windows 10/Firefox telemetry, Amazon Web/Wiretapping Services and smartphone spyware that tracks your movements even when the battery is flat. Even Google seems determined to run everything through a single encrypted connection so you don't know what they are doing.

Either the users are going to push back with their own security hardened versions of software (such as Waterfox, Firefox with the telemetry removed) or the marketeers will completely take over our computer systems to suit their needs. It's
getting bad enough having "recommendations" and product placements in local search query results in things like Windows menu or Linux search box.

originally posted by: stormcell


Once high-speed home internet came along in 2001, video streaming was becoming just about possible. Transferring a DVD would take four hours, transferring a 300 Mbyte animation would take an hour.

Do you remember trying to watch realmedia files at all? They were the only things that would download in a reasonable enough time to watch but the quality was so bad you could barely see what you were watching.

I still remember how amazed I was the first time I downloaded an .mkv file and there were separate audio tracks, a subtitle track and a hq video track...then came the challenge offinding a media player to play it.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
What i have noticed:

Prior to AOL the internet was a sea of intelligence and civility. Once AOL entered the market, the internet degraded terribly fast into what we see today. Why? Accessibility to the masses.

The new growing market is Africa. Social media is currently seeing a large influx of pidgen english spoken by the denizens of Africa. The crowd that AOL let onto the internet is not amused with this, and is pretty outspoken in their dislike of a non-proper English that isn't their own.

For the next 20 years minimum we will see this dynamic play out, with Africa being the biggest entry (with an enormous population boom underway, in 20 years we will see a generation of Africans who have never known a world without internet). One thing I can say for sure: Africans who speak English as a native language use it differently than the US, Europe, or Australia do. Another thing I can say for sure is what we find funny and what your average AFrican finds funny are two totally different things.

Along those lines, I'm amazed at spokespersons, particularly in sports where they give opinion and talk about issue and do not seem to realize how they're coming across.

They abuse the English language, using 'dis and deese' and can't speak in an intelligent manner and think that's fine.

I saw an interviewer talk to an English girl and an American girl. The English girl gave intelligent commentary and did not use any "filler words" (such as "like", "I mean", "um", "ya know") nor did she engage in "uptalk" (every sentence sounds like a questions; basically Valley Girl speak). It goes without saying she came across as lucid, intelligent and thoughtful.

Counterpoint that with the American girl who must have said "like" fifty times in a three minute interview:

"Like, I was like, surprised to see he was like, doing this thing, like, ya know", is an example of her speech, which also included uptalk other phrasing.

She sounded like a moron in contrast and I wonder if she even knew it.

I take classes at the local college and this kind of 'Valley Girl Speak' is endemic. These people can't answer a Professor's question without like, saying like, like, ya know nearly every other word. Yet the Professor doesn't talk that way, but sadly they seem reluctant to bring this kind of thing to their attention. How do they think they're going to be able to make it in the business world?

Anyway, it's a sad commentary on the dumbing down of large parts of the supposedly civilized world.
/rant

originally posted by: dug88

originally posted by: stormcell


Once high-speed home internet came along in 2001, video streaming was becoming just about possible. Transferring a DVD would take four hours, transferring a 300 Mbyte animation would take an hour.

Do you remember trying to watch realmedia files at all? They were the only things that would download in a reasonable enough time to watch but the quality was so bad you could barely see what you were watching.

I still remember how amazed I was the first time I downloaded an .mkv file and there were separate audio tracks, a subtitle track and a hq video track...then came the challenge offinding a media player to play it.

Yes, I remember those. A game company I worked for wanted to put video in their PlayStation/PC titles. They tried compressing high-end video into 16-bit video. The results were blocky and chunky with all sorts of banding. Practically unrecognisable.

RealPlayer was better, but they blew it when it was revealed that they were sending the names of the files that
people were viewing back to their servers. AT&T would send your Windows username back to their servers with their custom browser. Even more annoying, it would automatically close the window if you lost the network connection.

I've got a whole load of files I can't play (DIVX) and webpages I can't view (MHT = Opera webpages). Plus broken mp4's
from the time my smartphone lost power in the middle of making a video.

I remember the first DVD I played (Chronos), a collection of time-lapse videos.

originally posted by: Maverick7

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
What i have noticed:

Prior to AOL the internet was a sea of intelligence and civility. Once AOL entered the market, the internet degraded terribly fast into what we see today. Why? Accessibility to the masses.

The new growing market is Africa. Social media is currently seeing a large influx of pidgen english spoken by the denizens of Africa. The crowd that AOL let onto the internet is not amused with this, and is pretty outspoken in their dislike of a non-proper English that isn't their own.

For the next 20 years minimum we will see this dynamic play out, with Africa being the biggest entry (with an enormous population boom underway, in 20 years we will see a generation of Africans who have never known a world without internet). One thing I can say for sure: Africans who speak English as a native language use it differently than the US, Europe, or Australia do. Another thing I can say for sure is what we find funny and what your average AFrican finds funny are two totally different things.

Along those lines, I'm amazed at spokespersons, particularly in sports where they give opinion and talk about issue and do not seem to realize how they're coming across.

They abuse the English language, using 'dis and deese' and can't speak in an intelligent manner and think that's fine.

I saw an interviewer talk to an English girl and an American girl. The English girl gave intelligent commentary and did not use any "filler words" (such as "like", "I mean", "um", "ya know") nor did she engage in "uptalk" (every sentence sounds like a questions; basically Valley Girl speak). It goes without saying she came across as lucid, intelligent and thoughtful.

Counterpoint that with the American girl who must have said "like" fifty times in a three minute interview:

"Like, I was like, surprised to see he was like, doing this thing, like, ya know", is an example of her speech, which also included uptalk other phrasing.

She sounded like a moron in contrast and I wonder if she even knew it.

I take classes at the local college and this kind of 'Valley Girl Speak' is endemic. These people can't answer a Professor's question without like, saying like, like, ya know nearly every other word. Yet the Professor doesn't talk that way, but sadly they seem reluctant to bring this kind of thing to their attention. How do they think they're going to be able to make it in the business world?

Anyway, it's a sad commentary on the dumbing down of large parts of the supposedly civilized world.
/rant

Have you ever heard any non-upper class English people talk? Their English is worse than a lot of what I hear in North America. It's barely english sometimes.

a reply to: dug88

I imagine at some point there will be mega-applications with multiple billions of users. These applications will be primary outlets of priority for everyone.

Maybe in the future we will see the Internet and money get combined into the same thing. But instead of the TV broadcasting model it will be self-service volunteer model of social fulfillment. Power and privilege are not going to go away. But preserving the culture and finding meaningful work for 7 billion people will become a primary focus of the government.

Human nature is evolving very slowly. But poverty, gasoline, and shooting bullets is kind of getting boring have 100 years. I think the future is hopeful. No one predicted the coming of the Internet. Nobody is going to predict what the next BIG thing is going to be. But imagine it will be highly motivating to those participating in it.