What Does the 'Next Internet' Look Like?

Kraisch writes with a link to the Guardian website, which again revisits the subject of reconstructing the internet. This time the question isn't whether it should be done, but what should the goals of a redesign be? From the article: "'There's a real need to have better identity management, to declare your age and to know that when you're talking to, say, Barclays bank, that you're really doing so,' said Jonathan Zittrain, professor of internet governance and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute. At the moment we are still using very clumsy methods to approach such problems. The result: last year alone, identity theft and online fraud cost British victims an estimated £414m, while one recent report claimed 93% of all email sent from the UK was spam ... Many ideas revolve around so-called "mesh networks", which link many computers to create more powerful, reliable connections to the internet. By using small meshes of many machines that share a pipeline to the net instead of relying on lots of parallel connections, experts say they can create a system that is more intelligent and less prone to attack."

Comments

I know what it looks like

[Skreech]

A series of pipes.

the internet is for porn

[garlicbready]

exactly the same as the old one
except with more high quality Blu-Ray porn of course

Re:It looks like

[HomelessInLaJolla]

Maybe 1985. I want color.

Seriously. How about plain text, maybe a standard color and graphics set, no embedded content, downloadable material only. We could even let the government have their infinite monitoring system. If it were all plain text then there'd be no secret to it. To make encoded binary workarounds undesireable, limit the whole sha-bang to 4800 bps. That'll please the recording industry too. Blank CD sales will go through the roof.

Draw a few lines to keep the network secure. Let the crowd whine and cry that it's too difficult to download a file and open it locally with the appropriate application. Those people never really wanted or needed computers anyway. Let them go back to playing dominos or Yahtzee or something.

Do you realize how many problems we could solve by putting the open network back on the terms that it should never have left?

Re:My ideals on the "next internet".

[TheRaven64]

A wristwatch has an alarm function. I want this alarm to automatically sync with my calendar, and beep at me when I'm meant to be doing something. I also want it to be automatically updated to changes in daylight saving times, and to set itself to local time when I am travelling.

Oh, and I want it to be not more than 5mm thick, never need recharging, and be stylish and elegant. And a pony.