Comments on: The world-wide web http://benwerd.com/2008/10/the-world-wide-web/ Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:34:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: George Roberts http://benwerd.com/2008/10/the-world-wide-web/#comment-4 George Roberts Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:04:35 +0000 http://benwerd.com/?p=3#comment-4 Totally agree: step 2 at the least. I don't necessarily mean academic research, however. There is a lot of work that has to be done if such networks were to become possible, but those in a position to support such research (BBN, SAIC, whatever Bell Labs is now called, and yes, universities and EU Frameworks, etc etc) are not likely to upset the telco applecart. Interesting things are coming out of the US military, who are said to be finding mesh networks the only way they can ensure secure "in-theatre" comms. ARPANET was military. Maybe secure mesh networks will emerge from military R&D. Is it a price worth paying? Totally agree: step 2 at the least. I don’t necessarily mean academic research, however. There is a lot of work that has to be done if such networks were to become possible, but those in a position to support such research (BBN, SAIC, whatever Bell Labs is now called, and yes, universities and EU Frameworks, etc etc) are not likely to upset the telco applecart. Interesting things are coming out of the US military, who are said to be finding mesh networks the only way they can ensure secure “in-theatre” comms. ARPANET was military. Maybe secure mesh networks will emerge from military R&D. Is it a price worth paying?

]]> By: Ben Werdmuller http://benwerd.com/2008/10/the-world-wide-web/#comment-3 Ben Werdmuller Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:52:45 +0000 http://benwerd.com/?p=3#comment-3 For sure, although I think that kind of open network is step 2 at the very least. I think that kind of model, although absolutely required, isn't going to come out of academic research. I don't mean this is a slight to academia; I just think it's more likely to come out of the resourcefulness of people who either need a fix for their situation, or for the situations of people close to them. For sure, although I think that kind of open network is step 2 at the very least.

I think that kind of model, although absolutely required, isn’t going to come out of academic research. I don’t mean this is a slight to academia; I just think it’s more likely to come out of the resourcefulness of people who either need a fix for their situation, or for the situations of people close to them.

]]> By: George Roberts http://benwerd.com/2008/10/the-world-wide-web/#comment-2 George Roberts Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:07:53 +0000 http://benwerd.com/?p=3#comment-2 Good manifesto, Ben. Though cellphone penetration outstrips the (sometimes) old and badly state-run wired telecoms networks, I still am concerned that GSM, 3G, GPRS networks depend on a central bureaucracy - the phone cos - whose interests are not in the democratisation of information flow, but in the channeling of cash flows and their attendant power and authority through themselves. This channeling is tied to global entertainment and info-tainment (and indeed edu-tainment) concerns which, at least in the US, have strong affiliations, through PACs with the incumbent American regime, and often quite explicitly espouse ways of being that are at odds with the vision of "freedom through technology" and the "social mesh". Some how research has to be funded to prove concepts like secure, massively peer to peer networks - like what the Cybiko hinted at years back and the OLPC is sort of modelling. But such research funding will be hard to come by, given that it might disrupt current commercial interests. Good manifesto, Ben. Though cellphone penetration outstrips the (sometimes) old and badly state-run wired telecoms networks, I still am concerned that GSM, 3G, GPRS networks depend on a central bureaucracy - the phone cos - whose interests are not in the democratisation of information flow, but in the channeling of cash flows and their attendant power and authority through themselves. This channeling is tied to global entertainment and info-tainment (and indeed edu-tainment) concerns which, at least in the US, have strong affiliations, through PACs with the incumbent American regime, and often quite explicitly espouse ways of being that are at odds with the vision of “freedom through technology” and the “social mesh”. Some how research has to be funded to prove concepts like secure, massively peer to peer networks - like what the Cybiko hinted at years back and the OLPC is sort of modelling. But such research funding will be hard to come by, given that it might disrupt current commercial interests.

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