Can Net Neutrality and Decentralization be the Answer to the Attack on the Internet?
By: Kay Leclerc
Tags: Blockchain, Net Neutrality, Technology, Dcenternet, Cybersecurity

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

The internet is under attack. All around the world, governments and mega corporations are launching legislation and changes that put the very idea of a free and open internet at risk. Let’s take a look at the who, why, what, where and how this attack is shaping up and what it means to you, as a normal netizen.

Who really controls traffic on the internet?

This threat to the net is not a new development. Back in the early days of the net, we used the ping and traceroute commands to diagnose website traffic problems. We soon noticed that every data packet from every site was passing through routers owned and operated by a tiny handful of telcos at some point in their journey through internet space.

These choke points were a cause for concern among those of us who were the net nerds of the time. We knew how easy it would be for a hacker to bring large segments of the internet to a dead stop merely by attacking these main routers. We also knew the true power of the internet wasn’t in the hands of the users, but rather held by a tiny group of mammoth communications companies. They too could turn the internet for the entire world on and off at a whim, or slow it down with the flip of a switch.

Fast forward to today. While there have been improvements to the security surrounding the router checkpoints of the net, the same tiny group of communications companies with a few additions such as some large cable providers still controls the traffic on the net.

Why is it dangerous for internet accessibility to be held by so few companies?

There are three somewhat obvious reasons for the current system of internet accessibility being held by so few.

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

1. Security risks

The main routers and cables, especially the Atlantic underwater cable, are prime targets for hackers, terrorists and even governments. Hackers can hold telcos and major internet entities like Google, Amazon, and Facebook hostage. Bring down the cable or routing chokepoints and you can bring billion dollar entities to their knees.

An unfriendly government could easily use similar tactics to bring the armed forces and central government of even the biggest countries to a grinding halt. It has been said that the next major war will not be fought on a battlefield, but rather in cyberspace. Malicious actors could take down the power grid and interfere with the delivery of other utilities such as water and gas, disrupt vital communications, even cause transportation chaos in everything from traffic and rail signals to air traffic control systems simply by compromising specific routers.

2. Lack of competition

With so few competitors, the consumer is at the mercy of the service provider. In many parts of the world, rural areas and at times entire countries have only one internet provider. With no competition, the telcos have no reason to improve service through upgraded equipment and innovation.

Pricing can be set at whatever the market will bear. Net neutrality — meaning every site is equal, with no one having a surcharge for faster delivery of data — can be ignored. Consumers can be forced into a tiered system of access, with unlimited access to all the sites on the net becoming a thing of the past. Company websites that are in high demand by consumers such as streaming services or social media can be charged a premium to have their product delivered to the customer at high speed, while smaller online sites can have their bandwidth throttled resulting in slow site loading and delivery.

When you’re the only game in town, the consumer and the supplier have zero options to price, availability and speed of data delivery.

3. Government control

When only a few companies control access, it becomes ridiculously easy for a government to control what their population will see on the net. Blocking specific sites, or turning off all access to the online world becomes easy when you only have a handful of providers to handle. Surveillance of internet users can also be easily accomplished when the access providers are controlled by government entities.

Governments can also force those providers to show only government approved material, and government propaganda.

Where is the Net Under Attack?

Control of the internet has been and continues to be under attack all over the world. Countries such as Ethiopia, North Korea and Cuba heavily censor and surveil internet activity.

China limits some world wide sites from having access to the Chinese people. While this could be seen as government censorship, it also allows Chinese sites that compete with those world wide sites to have a captive audience made up of the 1 billion plus Chinese population. By using their power to control the internet, China can keep out anything they don’t want their people to see or hear from world news to foreign competitors for Chinese consumer dollars.

Anti net neutrality laws and policies have been implemented in several countries such as Portugal and most recently the United States. Other countries without net neutrality enforcement include Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, and Slovenia. For some, like the United States, these policies were put in place at the behest of the major telcos, for others, the government itself is using these policies and practices to control what their people can access online.

How Can Decentralization Help Safeguard the Internet?

The decentralized blockchain is the answer to several of the problems plaguing the conventional internet. Dcenternet, or Dnet is one of the leaders in decentralized blockchain platforms that can help free the net from the monopolies and governments that now control the conventional internet.

Physical decentralization of all data means data is secure from all third party prying or attempts to edit or change that data. Decentralization also means that no one entity can throttle the speed of the data streams. With companies like Anuvys pioneering an Operating System built on Dnet, we now have a native blockchain OS, which opens the door to unlimited apps, programs and websites running on a platform free from monopolies, government and third party interference, and data stream throttling.

As Naval Ravikant said in his epic series of tweets on blockchain,

Today’s networks are run by “kings, corporations, aristocracies, and mobs.” “And the Rulers of these networks [are] the most powerful people in society.”

Thanks to innovators like Dcenternet and Anuvys, autocratic governments, tech and telecom monopolies will no longer be the most powerful people in internet society. The internet will one again belong to the people who use it, fulfilling the vision of the original developers of the world wide web.

Welcome to the new world of a blockchain enabled internet.