Topic:	MAKING A FREE, DECENTRALIZED INTERNET (1 of 7), Read 45 times
Conf:	Vision/Strategy
From:	Harel Barzilai hb@harelbarzilai.org
Date:	Thursday, May 22, 2003 08:25 PM

BBC to its credit ran stories about this over a yera ago..it's now still embryionic but further ahead. Here's a fascnicating possibility:

On the software side, de-centralization can be
seen in peer to peer technologies like Gnutella
(http://www.gnutella.wego.com ; see also
http://www.gnutella.co.uk
and http://www.gnutellanews.com
; as an aside see this debunking that
RIAA's troubles are due to so-called piracy:
http://www.gnutellanews.com/article/6727 )

and FreeNet (http://freenet.sourceforge.net)

What about hardware? The big boys still own
the cables, the wires, right? Well, who needs
wires? What if we all connect to one another
through wireless? Each computer would
"connect" to the new-wireless-internet
by its built-in wireless technologies..no
need for an ISP. It would be "free"
in the sense of, it could be nonprofit
and you only pay "at cost"

This is very broad brushstroke, and is
not any time soon, but smaller projects,
which I'm still educating myself about, are
already here. E.g.:

1) http://www.seattlewireless.net/

"Seattle Wireless is a not-for-profit effort to develop a free wireless broadband Community Wireless Network (CWN) in the Seattle region. Our use of inexpensive wireless technology gets around the artificial bottlenecks imposed by the local telco which prevent true, inexpensive, metro area networking. We are using widely available, standards-based RF technology operating in license free frequency, to create a free, locally owned wireless backbone. This is a MetropolitanAreaNetwork (not just a "wireless LAN" in your home or business) and a community-owned, distributed system (NYASPTWYOMB - not yet another service provider to whom you owe monthly bills). The wireless technology used by the members of the Seattle Wireless network creates the first telecommunications infrastructure that is not only inexpensive, but widely available and easily used so that it is now truly possible for a network to grow from the grass roots of our community based upon on a wonderful combination of self interest and community spirit."

2. http://freenetworks.org/

a. "What significance could wireless technologies have in under-developed countries? Where is wireless tech currently being used successfully, anywhere in the world, to build a sense of community, to give people better Internet access, etc., and do/could these applications have significance in under-developed communities or countries? Online volunteers and the United Nations Information Technology Service are exploring these issues. "

b. Another post mentions http://www.lanlinkup.com

"Purpose - A project of this magnitude will undoubtedly take on new meanings and visions as hurdles are passed and obstacles are overcome, but today, the purpose of LL is to setup a wireless lan infrastructure in the homes of average people that spiderwebs and interconnects coast to coast using store bought wifi equipment and not at any point connect to the real Internet. A successful test of this experiment will be to ping remote hosts the farthest that is possible. Why - Imagine, more privacy, free long distance, major lan parties, and no charge for Internet usage - that anyone can use, managed by volunteers. Can an experiment such as this shake up the telecommunication industry any more than it already is? This "Great
Experiment" as a whole is not owned by any single individual or company. You own your own equipment and therefore are a part of the great link, in essence, your own ISP."

c. Another mentions the WiFi Coop, http://www.wificoop.org/

"Folks, please check out:WiFi Coop, an organization which seeks to create a world wide, non-profit, network of wireless access providers. My white paper explains the rationale for the organization. The gist is, member/user supported (i.e. NOT free) in order to sustain the access points and provide central (democratic) network management. This is still a work in progress obviously, so feedback would be appreciated. "

The site summarizes:

"WiFi Coop aims to replace all for-profit networks with one global network managed by volunteers and financed by a small membership fee.

A WiFi Coop member can use ANY access point that is part of the network without any additional charges, anywhere in the world.

The time has come to provide a global network owned and operated by the People of the world, and not by any government or corporation bent on profits or control.

To get involved in the design and implementation of this global wireless network, contact Scott Douglass."


I thought the explosion in open source audio/video
was breathtaking (www.vorbis.com etc), and then alluvium, on top of Gnutella and more..
but this is another angle, and a truly breathtaking
on in long-term possibilities.

It also highlights my posts about "activism
in the third modality"

http://forum.zmag.org/~ZNetCmt/read?57501,26

namely, yes, keep petitioning those in power,
and yes continue (as Z suggests) to "raise
the costs on elites" as in pressuring
those in power, but a third mode,
in paralle, and (in some cases) the most
powerful, is: "change facts on the ground"
or "build it yourself" see this last link
to some examples I gave in other, non-internet,
non-media areas, e.g. Health Care, which still
use (people-to-people real face to face networking
together with) the poewr of the internet and
related existing/emerging technologies.

Spead the word!

Harel

P.S. Related is my article, "The Revolution
Will Be Webcast", http://EconomicDemocracy.org/intro.webcast.html

http://EconomicDemocracy.org

Topic:	MAKING A FREE, DECENTRALIZED INTERNET (2 of 7), Read 41 times
Conf:	Vision/Strategy
From:	Raymond Majewski raye29@juno.com
Date:	Friday, May 23, 2003 11:59 AM

Good points ... and to add to this, there is an up-and-coming Internet technology called Multicasting IP. If there are a lot of people in one area who want to be involved in a project or something, they can use a multicasting network to do this. It would enable a site to go out to everyone within the network. This is not broadcasting ... multicast IP sends messages only to people who want them, not to all possible receivers on the network.

http://www.multicasttech.com/multicast_faq.html

-- Ray M --

Topic:	MAKING A FREE, DECENTRALIZED INTERNET (3 of 7), Read 41 times
Conf:	Vision/Strategy
From:	Frank Bedek bedekffwho12@hotmail.com
Date:	Saturday, May 24, 2003 05:54 AM

What about seeking out the builders of these innovations and discussing Parecon principles with them?

Topic:	MAKING A FREE, DECENTRALIZED INTERNET (4 of 7), Read 39 times
Conf:	Vision/Strategy
From:	Harel Barzilai hb@harelbarzilai.org
Date:	Saturday, May 24, 2003 08:23 PM

On 5/24/2003 5:54:00 AM, Frank Bedek wrote:
>What about seeking out the
>builders of these innovations
>and discussing Parecon
>principles with them?

I think we are on a similar wavelength on this Frank,
though let me try to expand upon your comment.

Perhaps the "broadest" project I am hoping to undertake
this summer is to try to assemble a group of people,
including some higher-profile folks, who are interested
in creating a kind of Radical Think Tank with a Forum
for on-going discussion and dialogue.

* Radical in the sense that it would be informed by
institutional analysis and an understanding that
institutions must be changed fundamentally, not merely
reformed (although successfully achieving reforms
on the way to such changes, it would recognized, is still good)

* A Think Tank in the sense that it would a) think
long-term b) it would Think Big -- namely big
goals like "democratize the media" and "reduce corporate
power" and the like.

* The Think Tank and the forum would "work backwards, starting with the desired outcomes/goals".

In particular (and now tying more directly to your
comment Frank), let me throw out this example:

Suppose I am interested in media democratization. Where
do I find fellow activists, like-minded organizations,
ideas, tools, etc, that would work well together
with my work, whoever "I" might be?

Well, there are online hangouts for people who
think about internet radio (a key area I have thought
about, though certainly not the only one); there
are areas where people talk about organizing students
for campus newspapers, or urban newspapers; there
are forums about low power transmitters and non-internet
approaches based low power FM (or even shortwave);
there are also "techie" hangouts, critically including
FreeSoftware/OpenSource (FS/OS) programmers and projects.

So are we expected to run around to EACH of those areas separately? That would take a lot of time...and worse,
within EACH of these "areas", one would need to spend
a lot of time to find the SUBSET of the folks in that
community, who share a "radical" analysis rather
than a reformist one, or who share social goals at
all rather than strictly local or narrow ones.
That's a lot of time and energy spent..Thirdly
and also making this "worse", you'd then have to
try to collectively figure out how to string
together the projects to find common ground, etc...

Another way would be a forum in such a radical
think tank..starting with Big Goal (maybe it's #3)
called "Democratizing the Media Landscape" there
are then forums for each of several sub-goals.
Each project ties together where it interfaces
with each sub-goal.

It's already true, by the way, that FS/OS
projects have online forums where users can
send in both bug reports and "wish lists" of
requested features, so there is a two-way dialogue there.

What I am proposing would include, within it,
something parallel to that, only based on
social values and goals (as well as
on "big picture", long-term, "radical/institutional")

Now that I've outlined this framework,
a natural part of that, yes, would be where
"Radical" FS/OS programmers can work together
with non-techie (or less-techie) folks for
two-way dialogue to help guide the FS/OS
software development projects. It would
certainly be a two-way dialogue on that
front alone, that of the software development.

But it would also be two-way (or multi-way)
in other areas; technical information given
by FW/OS programmers would in turn influence
the types of on-the-ground organizing and
short-/medium- term strategies and tactics
implemented by such grassroots organizers,
whose projects they also "fit", online,
with their evolving goals and sub-goals.

There would be sub-sub-goals, etc, down
to, "Establish an Independent Media Center
in Salisbury" (to pick my city just for fun)
with sub-goals of that being, e.g.
"have this or that working, by that date)
and sister-goals (not on a higher
or lower level but "parallel" levels)
such as goals on funding/financial-sustainability.

I had (very briefly) been in touch with Richard
Stallman himself about a half year ago, and
he is one person I plan to write. There is
the Z writer who has expressed some interest
in my media project essay, and whose name I'd
rather not mention until/unless more definitive
followup-interest manifests, and I certainly
plan to write to the above listed WiFi "Coop"
fellow, among others.

In addition to commenting, adding suggestions/critiques
to, my idea, etc, are you or others interested in
helping make this happen this summer? The most
obvious way you can help is to help find
other people to contact, including higher-profile
folks, help co-draft letter(s) to them, and help
in the dialogue that will hopefully follow
with them as to where/how/what form to establish
such a RadicalThinkTank/Forum..

Harel



http://EconomicDemocracy.org

Topic:	MAKING A FREE, DECENTRALIZED INTERNET (5 of 7), Read 24 times
Conf:	Vision/Strategy
From:	Harel Barzilai hb@harelbarzilai.org
Date:	Thursday, May 29, 2003 08:36 PM

Frank,

I gave a framework leading to examples in which
Znetter/parecon/similar folks get together with
FSOS (FreeSoftware/OpenSource) movement people,
but yes, to the extent that FSOS is not the
same as the people building these WiFi and similar
networks (and there certainly is such an extent),
then yes, getting those folks together with Znetter
types is the idea -- but, I strongly suggest, while chatting
and informal discussions are certainly helpful too,
to critically include at least one place as a forum
for "big picture" (ie not bogged in technical details)
planning that is long-term and aims for the big goals,
working towards details/techincal details as/when
required, but not losing sight of the main aims..

Topic:	MAKING A FREE, DECENTRALIZED INTERNET (6 of 7), Read 27 times
Conf:	Vision/Strategy
From:	Harel Barzilai hb@harelbarzilai.org
Date:	Thursday, May 29, 2003 08:53 PM

Below is yet another potentially very useful technology.

Let me stress here the "big picture" as I intend
to try to convey it, not losing forest for the trees:
there are lots of stories, and when in the middle of
the semester I miss more, and if I see, am still less
likely to them on Znet.

So what's the point?

Certainly the details of the following technology are intersting and, as noted, have potential for helping realize mass-broadband and thus (some of) the ideas of "The
Revolution Will be Webcast" ( http://EconomicDemocracy.org/intro.webcast.html )
which build upon a far-more-available broadband, would be helped.

The the main "Broad brushstrke" point is there
are lots of existing and emerging technology with the
overall "direction" being clear (even if we can't
predict the details). One of the key overall directions
is, yes, relatively affordable broadband to a relatively
high proprotion of "first world" citizens. This doesn't
mean we forget the goal of 100% access to poor, third
world, etc populations, but when we wish to help
transform the entire media landscape, we need to grab
what tools are available, while working to get
more later.

And indeed, having the ability to broadcast
to tens of millions would make a big difference
(a huge one, one suspects, given that *elites* certainly
believe that their stranglehold on information during
e.g. the buildup to the attack on Iraq, is critical;
if they didn't believe it, they would not act as they
do; if they didn't believe it, they wouldn't exclude
Nader from debates, either, etc). So having a multi-year
strategic vision and plan for how to move towards
having demoratics-MASS-Media (as opposed to merely
"democratic media" without the middle word (that,
we already have in Z, indymedia, etc) -- would make a huge impact.

That is the purpose -- to not lose forest for the trees--
of posts like the one on WiFi and the "balloons" article
below. To put it together, see http://EconomicDemocracy.org/intro.webcast.html
and the forum I've suggested be created, would
be an even broader informational forum, into
which pieces like this Webcast article may
be contributed.

Hope all of this made sense..!

Ok, now some trees, and nifty ones too:

Key points:

i) "Just 18 base stations would provide total UK coverage, from densely populated towns to the remotest cottage in the Scottish Highlands."

ii) More than double the speed of most broadband services currently available.

iii) "would not slow down as more and more people use the service which is the case with DSL"

iv) "For people interested in uploading as well as downloading, it will provide the same speeds in both directions." This is critical if we wish to broadcast
e.g. internet radio, not just recieve it... (though
Alluvium and other broadband-sharing technologies
would help for grassroots internet broadcasting projects
anyway)

v) broadband to every area without
road-disrupting cable laying or expensive satellite connections.


vi) Price: "Initially the system is seen as most suitable for small businesses, and promises to be a tenth of the cost of leased lines which are often employed to provide high-speed access to firms. But in the future, the technology is likely to come down in price and be available to consumers as well"

And before it's affordable for an individual,
how about community-owndership?

"Communities in remoter areas of the UK are already taking advantage of wireless technology and sharing out costs among themselves and SkyLinc sees no reason why they should not be able to take advantage of the airborne broadband system"

Ok, here it is:

Broadband balloons take off



The air balloon can provide fast net access
The answer to providing broadband for all could lie in the skies with balloons offering a new way to deliver fast internet services.

It has long been assumed that affordable, high-speed broadband to every area of the UK was only possible via road-disrupting cable laying or expensive satellite connections.



But a company called SkyLinc has found a happy medium in base stations, floating 1.5km above the surface of the Earth on balloons, or tethered aerostats as they are more technically known.

The York-based firm has tested the technology and found that it works well.

Fast in both directions

SkyLinc's Libra (Low Cost Integrated Broadband Radio Access) system offers a solution to the age-old problem of how to get broadband out affordably to the whole of the UK.

Just 18 base stations would provide total UK coverage, from densely populated towns to the remotest cottage in the Scottish Highlands.

The system works by floating a helium-filled envelope in the air, which is held stationary and fed signals via a fibre optic pole.

Such a system would offer net access at more than double the speed of most broadband services currently available.

What is more, it is would not slow down as more and more people use the service which is the case with DSL - broadband via the phone line.

For people interested in uploading as well as downloading, it will provide the same speeds in both directions.

Problems such as bad weather conditions can be countered by an antenna stabilisation system which would make sure the antenna stays in place regardless of wind, rain or other conditions.

The technology behind the idea has been around for years, with the US Government operating several such aerostats as communication systems on its borders and the US military employing similar technology for about 50 years.

Watch out BT

SkyLinc has been talking to a variety of internet service providers about introducing such a system and is hopeful that it will have commercial contracts in the next year.

"There is a market reticence about investing in telecoms companies following the dotcom bust but if it doesn't happen in the UK it will happen somewhere else," said Matt Hobby, a technical engineer at SkyLinc.

Initially the system is seen as most suitable for small businesses, and promises to be a tenth of the cost of leased lines which are often employed to provide high-speed access to firms.

But in the future, the technology is likely to come down in price and be available to consumers as well, said Mr Hobby.



"We envisage it as offering true broadband across the country, no matter who you are or where you live," he said.

Communities in remoter areas of the UK are already taking advantage of wireless technology and sharing out costs among themselves and SkyLinc sees no reason why they should not be able to take advantage of the airborne broadband system.

Licenses for the aerostats need to be obtained from the Aviation Authority and SkyLinc currently has two approved sites in Yorkshire.

The idea of airborne broadband is gaining ground although Professor Jim Norton, the Cabinet Office's former director of e-commerce, said it could be between five and 10 years before such solutions become commercial reality.

"It is quite feasible but has to overcome the attitude in telecommunications that things have been done a certain way of 20 years and have to been done the same way for the next 20 years," he said.

If and when such a solution comes along, it could provide an answer to the problem of rural broadband as well as shooting BT's business model "out of the water" said Professor Norton.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2932806.stm

-Harel
http://EconomicDemocracy.org

Topic:	MAKING A FREE, DECENTRALIZED INTERNET (7 of 7), Read 16 times
Conf:	Vision/Strategy
From:	Harel Barzilai hb@harelbarzilai.org
Date:	Wednesday, June 04, 2003 10:39 AM

Frank, have I scared you away with too much info? ;-)

Then please don't look at http://www.currenttechnologies.com
already being in 100 or so homes being tested in DC area..
faster and (slightly) cheaper than DSL/cable, with bi-directional speeds of 2-4Mbps available from any electric outlet in any room in your home..

HB

http://EconomicDemocracy.org