I'm forwarding a message I sent recently to the IANA (later also to IETF), that I though you might be interested in. It's about the creation of a united content-centered Internet, similar to the what happened with physical netoworking back in the 90's.<div>
<br></div><div>mark</div><div>Santa Fe, NM<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Mark Janssen</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dreamingforward@gmail.com">dreamingforward@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Date: Sun, Feb 19, 2012 at 9:08 PM<br>Subject: Internet Evolution, Internet 2.0; post SOPA<br>To: <a href="mailto:iana@iana.org">iana@iana.org</a><br>Cc: <a href="mailto:ignite@mozillafoundation.org">ignite@mozillafoundation.org</a><br>
<br><br>Hello,<br>
<br>
My name is Mark Janssen. I've been a network engineer "back in the<br>
day" and hooked up my University to the Internet back in 1993 (WHOIS:<br>
MJ24). I remember when the potential of the Internet seemed<br>
unbounded, with thousands of unique sites that would pop up on the<br>
radar weekly. I'm hoping this email message gets to some IANA network<br>
architect who remembers and appreciates John Perry Barlow's<br>
Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. Feel free to forward<br>
to others who may be relevant as well.<br>
<br>
While to many eyes, there's no problem with the Internet as it stands,<br>
I wish to make the case for the development of Internet 2.0. (This<br>
touches upon, but goes well beyond the issue of IPv4 address space; in<br>
fact, the solution I'm going to propose makes IPv6 a red-herring --<br>
the right solution to the wrong problem.)<br>
<br>
The problem is that the Internet evolved as a server- and geo-centric<br>
phenomenon, where only large institutions could host content and where<br>
one could depend on "always-on" networking; hencefrom came DNS, all<br>
the way to hyper-links and HTML. Since the government/RIAA shutdown<br>
of Napster and P2P networking phenomenon, this [geo, server-centric]<br>
limitation of architecture has *balkanized* the Internet. The<br>
billions of users now spend most of their time on so very few sites.<br>
The economic and cultural loss of this is hard to measure, but I<br>
insist that IT IS IMMENSE.<br>
<br>
There are a number of us that have been working on these problems,<br>
mostly under-the-radar, debating the solutions for this. The<br>
networking landscape of 2012 has millions of users with large hard<br>
drives and ubiquitous, mobile network connections, NONE OF WHICH can<br>
host the dynamic content that users are generating by the giga-bytes<br>
*everyday*. My generation (GenX) has the creative and intellectual<br>
potential to participate in a rich dynamic cultural experience, but<br>
our current economic system fails to provide the engagement to take<br>
advantage of it. This is part of the impetus of the Occupy Movement<br>
-- we're simply tired of participating in the Industrial Model.<br>
<br>
The Internet can provide the alternative for the 21st Century.<br>
<br>
What I'm proposing is the creation of a content-centric Internet, a<br>
true web 3.0 -- a Web 3D, where users navigate the internet, not by<br>
domain names, but by interests. It's tentatively called Pangaia<br>
(<a href="http://pangaia.sf.net" target="_blank">pangaia.sf.net</a>).<br>
<br>
Take the first 3 to 4 layers of the OSI network stack (up to TCP) and<br>
leave it as is -- that's the physical network. Then, separate out the<br>
top 3-4 layers, set them *orthogonal* to the physical layers and<br>
create a *unified content-network topology*, wholly independent of the<br>
details of the underlying network Internet 2.0. IP address assignment<br>
will be dynamic and a function of the hosted content -- a more<br>
efficient fractal-IP layout can occur rather than the fragmented IP<br>
assignments that we have presently. It would take a killer-app to<br>
pull it off, and I think Pangaia can do it.<br>
<br>
The Pangaia project has developed some sophisticated algorithms that<br>
can self-organizing the content of the Internet and scale to the<br>
billions. It comes out of various research in complexity theory and<br>
analysis of the various problems o community internet sites who have<br>
tried to solve the problems of decentralization without devolving into<br>
chaos.<br>
<br>
Pangaia provides what could be called a "Physics of Information", the<br>
rest will be provides by the community. It will re-organize the whole<br>
internet (the top content layers of course where billions of users<br>
spend a large part of their day). Think Wikipedia + a voting model<br>
that allows per-revision voting, plus a reputation model. It will<br>
create a whole new realm of economic activity, and the votes count as<br>
a type of currency. It is hoped that it will upturn the outdated and<br>
dying Industrial Model and create a new society.<br>
<br>
I've been working at this at a non-profit hackerspace/technology<br>
incubator called the Santa Fe Complex (<a href="http://sfcomplex.org" target="_blank">sfcomplex.org</a>) here in Santa<br>
Fe, NM. I'm writing to you guys to see what awareness there is about<br>
the issues mentioned, and what interest there might be to have further<br>
dialog. I believe the Mozilla Foundation will be interested (cc'd on<br>
this message) and is working on some similar explorations, but have<br>
not heard from them yet.<br>
<br>
I look forward to hearing from you.<br>
<br>
Thank you,<br>
<br>
Mark Janssen<br>
<a href="http://pangaia.sf.net" target="_blank">pangaia.sf.net</a><br>
Santa Fe, NM<br>
</div><br></div>