,
9 tweets,
3 min read
Read on Twitter
Generally debates our problems with the Internet concentrate on application layer issues, such as platforms and algorithms, while the Internet architecture is still perceived as engine of innovation. This is WRONG.
The Internet architecture is where the privatization and commercialization of the Internet has started.
Up to the early 90s commercial traffic was actually forbidden on the Internet.
Also innovation has been made very hard in the architecture, especially on core protocols.
Up to the early 90s commercial traffic was actually forbidden on the Internet.
Also innovation has been made very hard in the architecture, especially on core protocols.
Initially all computers connected to the Internet were equal.
Also this was undermined through Internet architecture (with the introduction of NAT directionality).
Also this was undermined through Internet architecture (with the introduction of NAT directionality).
The subversion of equality through the Internet architecture has created the difference between producers and consumers.
This is why you cannot host a website from your home or phone.
This is why you cannot host a website from your home or phone.
The Internet has historically been been a military project, an academic project, and a commercial project. This does not need to be the end-stage.
We should understand the Internet architecture as an inherent part of our democracies and design, maintain, and regulate it as such
We should understand the Internet architecture as an inherent part of our democracies and design, maintain, and regulate it as such
Also the @nrc, one on NLs largest newspapers, in its weekly comment, wrote that there is no real difference between ISPs. That the Internet is the Internet. This really is not true. There are many ways to do internetworking, and many different ways in which the net can develop.
'Intelligent' middleboxes introduced by network operators have seriously hampered a more peer-to-peer design of the Internet, and stimulated concentration of content providers (think Netflix, Amazon, Google, etc).
Infrastructure and architecture matter - they distribute power, wealth, and opportunities. This is where (infra)structural power resides.
That is why we should study them, and their impact on our lives and societies, and not take them for granted.
#STS #infrastructuralista
That is why we should study them, and their impact on our lives and societies, and not take them for granted.
#STS #infrastructuralista
(This rant was inspired by the compilation of 'Fixing the Internet' , thanks @vfrissen, Arief Ernst Hühn, @marleenstikker @FreedomLab and @WvNoort)
