The Internet could crash. We need a Plan B

Just stumbled upon this informative video and thought sharing with you ATSers
So sit back relax and enjoy the show
And please feel free to comment

In the 1970s and 1980s, a generous spirit suffused the internet, whose users were few and far between. But today, the net is ubiquitous, connecting billions of people, machines and essential pieces of infrastructure -- leaving us vulnerable to cyber-attack or meltdown. Internet pioneer Danny Hillis argues that the Internet wasn't designed for this kind of scale, and sounds a clarion call for us to develop a Plan B: a parallel system to fall back on should -- or when -- the Internet crashes

What we need is a plan B....there is no plan B right now, there's no clear backup system that we very carefully kept to be independent of the internet . What we need is something that doesn't necessarily have the performance of the internet .This doesn't need to be a multi-billion dollar government project. It's actually relatively simple to do technically because it can use existing fibers that are in the ground, existing wireless infrastructure. It's basically a matter of deciding to do it

Reply to post by RIISE

I'm sorry. This just sounds like a revamp of Internet 2.

...I just don't know how it be a Plan B if its is using the same infrastructure.


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reply to post by RIISE


Naw.......

If the Sun or Mother Earth wants to do a shutdown, I'm all for it. I think "we" as a species, need to do some soul searching. The Internet might be a great place, but many don't understand how they can get lost in it. MHO.

maybe bbs?

A plan B won't go unnoticed by TPTB. That is, if such a crash was implemented by them to begin with.

My plan B-----take a nap....

I thought the WORLD WIDE WEB was the plan B. Built in redundancy. Go outside plant a garden, have a beer down the street, or take a walk.

Before there was an internet, there was bbs. The ultimate backup system for today's Internets questionable future. You only need a phone line. Hacked, phreaked, or paid for. No need to go into detail, those that know will do. We will connect.

The internet was pretty small in 1988. It cost about a buck a minute to hook up to it with the computer and was really slow. With the long distance charges it cost about a buck a minute.

Plan B is called a phone modem, since Plan B would be in a "this should never have happened" situation and not something we'd be wanting to see come about. I'd say replacements in any large way wouldn't be viable. So.... I've got 3 old "high speed" telephone dial-up modems sitting in a cabinet and doing nothing but waiting for the day I hope they're never used...or I eventually get too old to care and throw them out.

People just about give them away these days too. Never hurts to have an alternate way to network, eh?

reply to post by RIISE


any plan B is going to be centered around an intelligence agency. now if it was a peer to peer type of plan B then it be able to be independent from the rest.

of course i know little about networks and the like.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I still have my commodore 128 with the modem.

Just like the cigarette I smoke right now because the e-cigs didn't work for me.

Addiction.

It wouldn't really be that bad of a thing for the internet to go down.Sure ,it would cause chaos and such,but personally,it would be a good thing.

I just recently watched Argo and flashed back to 1979.
Before cell phones and the personal computer.
Well,out of reach of the common consumer.

We rely on this technology to much.
Your plan b should be what it was like before we had this.

Even further back to before we had electricity.

Look up living in the 1700's to get an glimpse of life then.

There is your plan b.

reply to post by rickymouse



I miss the old days. Lol, I would never have thought myself to say that. In the beginning though things were very different than now, I ran a board before it was cool. I used my 1 phoneline for my computer, If someone wanted to contact me, they had to use my board. In those days information was truly free. you could get info on anything. I wont go into specifics due to ToC limitations, but if you were there you know what I'm talkin' about.

The internet today is nothing like the "old west" days of yesteryear.

The "plan B" in my opinion is to go retro.

VHF/UHF Radio - HF or Ham....

or a point to point wifi network with your neighbors. seriously.

ie., a femtocellular network...

So if the broadband connection to an internet node goes down - some

smart ham could create a node using VHF/UHF frequencies, like a repeater station

does now for hams. then link that to femtocells and voila!

a lot of offline content is already stored on our hard drives, including NAS, and

many HD folders can be shared on the network, and searchable.



sounds tricky, but it could get up and going overnight with the right people doing it.

reply to post by kdog1982


Very nice post Kdog.

I agree wholeheartedly.

Plan B is back to basics. I believe we just might need it. A reset might be nice actually, at least for those who are tired of the electronic age. We rely on electricity, next to relying on air to breathe. People just don't look at it that way though. I also believe family would benefit by it. I see kids texting with their parents, right next to them. Its utterly ridiculous.

reply to post by kdog1982


this is a given, not just for preppers, but for everyone.

simple things like typewriters will become very valuable...not to

mention BOOKS! However....

i guarantee though even in the absolute worst case scenarios, mini

networks will still pop up via radio tech. chips are here to stay,

some will even survive the large emp blasts....lol

reply to post by caterpillage


Hard to go retro when much of today's communications traverse the Internet.

I can imagine that connecting to another who is also served by the same C/O as I would probably succeed... as connecting to another on the same BX or LEC might be successful. But traversing multiple LEC's might not be possible if the Internet were to 'crash'.

And then the issue that might pop up if the modern phone system's codecs aren't compatible with modem encoding schemes. You might be limited to 2400 baud or slower if the codecs chop too much out.

reply to post by RIISE


Basically, what the man is saying is, some things should have a backup way of communicating data - something that uses a different communication infrastructure. He wants emergency communication systems for things like traffic systems, health systems, telephone systems, and other such things that are vital to our civilization. He isn't addressing just basic internet junk like news, forums, games, search engines, dictionaries, facebook, youtube and the alike.

I have to agree with him. Vital things are vital, thus they should have a plan b.

Originally posted by sonnny1
reply to post by RIISE

 

Naw.......

If the Sun or Mother Earth wants to do a shutdown, I'm all for it. I think "we" as a species, need to do some soul searching. The Internet might be a great place, but many don't understand how they can get lost in it. MHO.

I disagree.
Without the net, alot of the things now comming to light would most likely remain hidden. Humanity would be subjected to being spoonfed only what the media wants us to know and believe. The net is an excellent resource for knowledge. Who wouldn't want to get lost in a sea of knowledge? Whatever you ever wanted to learn or know about is just a click away.