ZLB

The future of the open, two way internet depends somewhat on the adoption of IPv6. Currently we are using IPv4, but the number of adresses is running out (and has been running out for a long time). To solve this issue we started to use NAT’s (Network Adress Translators), which basically allow on IPv4 adress to be shared by several computers. This what happens when several computers in home share that same internet connection. This solves (temporarily) the adresses running out problem, but it creates a new problem, although it’s transparent to have centralized services working such as HTTP, all the p2p services become crippled  (such as VOIP, games, torrents, etc) because when a incoming request appears at the NAT that was not initiated by a computer inside the private network he doesn’t know who to send that packet to. This why we have to configure port-fowarding and UPNP.

IPv6 would solve all this, because there are almost an unlimited number of IPv6 adresses and each computer could have it’s own, becoming a first class citizen in the internet.

Now let’s think for a moment, who wouldn’t want what ? But off course, all the business operating on the internet that are based on the centralized model (such as the media industry, etc.). It’s not in their interest to adopt IPv6, because it’s not in their interest to have end users be in parity with the big business. And thus a whole bunch of excuses are being made to keep on using IPv4, and to cripple even more the capabilities of p2p traffic.

Further reading:
IPv6 and NAT… Again !
The Future Without IPv6

ps: I’m not such a techie for internet protocols, so please forgive any technical inaccuracy…

We are moving progressively more into the cloud computing world. That means that our data is more and more in the hand of third parties, usually companies, with interests which are contrary to our own.  With the likes of facebook with already risk our personal data being turned over to advertisers, or just being made public due to the privacy policies of facebook, it’s getting more and more tricky to protect our data if it’s in the cloud somewhere out there.

To change this trend we will need to do cloud computing and social networks in a decentralized way. This could be done by having standard protocols that can be implemented by anyone, much as e-mail has functioned for a long time. If you want to have a mail server, it’s easy just install one on your server machine. It can send and receive mail from any other mail server. The same should be true of social networks or cloud computing. This is the idea behind the facebook substitute wannabe, diaspora.

So basically what is needed is that the user itself has it’s own server running, and inside it there is  the social network service, the bookmarks sync server, the calendar sync service, the contacts sync server, and mp3 and video streaming service.

There are two big difficulties here:

1 – Most people don’t know how to setup a server.

2 – Most people don’t have reliable connections with good enough upload speed and a static ip.

Problem number two could be solved by better internet connetions, and in the future we are surelly going to go in that direction (30Mbps in Europe by 2020 is the goal).

Problem number one could be solved by plugcomputing, tiny boxes that you connect to the power socket and to the network and that just work, configured out of the box. See for example tonidoplug . We could then have this little servers pre-configured and it would be just a  question of entering a couple of informations in a simple web page to get it up and running. It would then sync with all computers and mobile devices that we happen to have. This would guaranty total independence from third parties, would protect our privacy much better and give our digital data the same protection from unwarranted searches that the home already had for a long time. It’s a lot easier for the authorities to just “ask” the kinds of yahoo mail or gmail to give them your e-mails than to bust the door of your house down (they will need a warrant for that)

Now it’s a question of making it happen !

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