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Motherboard and VICE Are Building a Community Internet Network (vice.com)
In order to preserve net neutrality and the free and open internet, we must end our reliance on monopolistic corporations and build something fundamentally different: internet infrastructure that is locally owned and operated and is dedicated to serving the people who connect to it, writes Jason Koebler, editor-in-chief of Vice's Motherboard news outlet. He writes: The good news is a better internet infrastructure is possible: Small communities, nonprofits, and startup companies around the United States have built networks that rival those built by big companies. Because these networks are built to serve their communities rather than their owners, they are privacy-focused and respect net neutrality ideals. These networks are proofs-of-concept around the country that a better internet is possible. This week, Motherboard and VICE Media are committing to be part of the change we'd like to see. We will build a community network based at our Brooklyn headquarters that will provide internet connections for our neighborhood. We will also connect to the broader NYC Mesh network in order to strengthen a community network that has already decided the status quo isn't good enough. We are in the very early stages of this process and have begun considering dark fiber to light up, hardware to use, and organizations to work with, support, and learn from. To be clear and to answer a few questions I've gotten: This network will be connected to the real internet and will be backed by fiber from an internet exchange. It will not rely on a traditional ISP.
It will be provided over a community run network.
No, you dimwit. Unused fiber is dark fiber .
#DeleteFacebook
I think what they are saying is that they are going to connect to the internet via the kind of provider that just sells you a fat pipe to the internet and doesn't care what you do with it unless what you are doing is harmful to their network or unless they are required to care by legislation, regulations or a court of law. The kind of provider that doesn't have a pay TV network (cable, fiber or otherwise) to protect.
In all of the blogs, ./ stories and articles that I've read regarding Net Neutrality, I have yet to hear anyone speak about network peering. Here's a scenario: Your ISP is BigCo-A, and the server you want to access is using BigCo-C. BigCo-A and BigCo-C are not directly connected but use BigCo-B as a common peer (to bridge the network gaps). If BigCo-A and BigCo-C decide not to throttle anything, but BigCo-B does, then all that traffic will be throttled regardless of who your ISP is or the ISP of the server host.
People have to remember that what the "Internet" is, is a collection of privately owned networks connected by mutual free data exchange agreement or by paid agreement. So, There is nothing stopping something like this from existing. The "Internet" will exist as long as people with their own networks want to connect to others. I wholly support this sort of thing. At the same time, there is nothing WRONG (in theory) with two private networks paying each other for access to the other. We get into trouble when the end consumer has no real choice in the marketplace to choose which company best serves their needs. Net neutrality would not be an issue if we had a REAL competitive marketplace for the consumer at the last mile. If we had THAT then I could simply choose the ISP that has the least restrictive network rules. As it is now, most people have at most 2 options and in many places just 1.
This being Motherboard/VICE, will they truly provide unfettered access to a free and open Internet, or will they cave under pressure and block communications that their politics lead them to believe should be blocked? How will they respond when users pirate content? Share child porn? Or even just visit alt-right websites? I don't trust them, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong about that.
No, genius, net neutrality has zero to do with ISP competition and doesn't govern it in any way. It's about business weasels using traffic prioritization to juice their customers (among other things).
That's nice.
But how, exactly, do these bastions of Bias-Free Internet propose to carry their customers traffic to and from each other, much less the world-at-large that everyone want to connect to?
That's right, through the backbones of those Other players. You know, the ones who are busily writing the new best-seller, "How to Throttle for Fun and Profit".
It's called a leased point to point circuit, and all those evil scary ISP's already sell those services. That's how all those little companies the article talks about haul their data around.
Yes, this is true, but this way a bunch of people only have to buy one big fat connection with one big fat wallet, which will carry some serious clout when negotiating the price. This way the buyer prevails, or at least there is a balance of power. "Socialism" from the bottom up.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
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No, not sneaking around. These guys:
https://stealth.net/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Local, and they've been putting their own fiber in the ground.
They should consider partnering, if this is more than a publicity stunt.
Disclosure: I have done business with Stealth in the past.
So your plan is to litter the community with consumer-grade hardware?
And where will these backbone nodes be installed, on rooftops? You do know that landlords charge rent for installing equipment on their buildings, right?
On Telco poles? Think again, those aren't publicly-owned, your telco will want revenue if they deign to allow your hardware on their poles.
On your own poles/masts? Sounds great, you're gonna have a real fun time filling out the permit requests, sending surveyors out to map the facilities, buying the towers, leasing the ground, etc.
But hey, great plan...
Ken
The difference is that the post office can't refuse to sell you priority mail services or deliver your mail if you pay. Everyone has access to them if they are willing to pay. Once NN is repealed you can say good bye to chunks of the Internet as your local ISP will block them.
since they're naming the guide they're writing "Motherboard Guide to Building an ISP" i think they realize it better than you think.