Why the small internet matters (and why I started this project)
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Tony Benn, who left this earth in 2014 at age 88, famously said, “broadcasting is really too important to be left to the broadcasters”.
He also gave us five questions that we should ask our leaders:
- “What power have you got?”
- “Where did you get it from?”
- “In whose interests do you use it?”
- “To whom are you accountable?”
- “How do we get rid of you?”
To which I might add a sixth questions, “Who the heck even are you?”
The internet runs every facet of daily life. It powers our telephones. It controls our power grids. It distributes our newspapers. It’s our bank, our shopping mall, and sometimes even our doctor.
Who is the internet?
In order to understand who runs the internet, first it is necessary to understand the various pieces of online access. You need:
- A device
- Working firmware and an operating system
- Physical (or wireless) access to a gateway
- A server to “answer the telephone” when you visit a site
- An IP address to find the server
- A DNS resolver to find the IP address
- A web browser
Each of these links in the chain are places where someone else gets to make decisions about your life.
The bad news? Each of these links are in very bad shape in the United States.
The good news? By understanding the problem, we can fix it.
First, computers (laptops, cellphones, etc) are not made in Minnesota. Without Chinese and Taiwanese parts, we cannot have computers. This isn’t a matter of cost. We no longer have the raw materials (for which we need strong trade agreements or to restart our domestic mining), the tools for assembly (for which we need to invest in training machinists), or the architects to design them (for which we need to train more electrical engineers).
Second, residential access is controlled by ISPs who have regional monopolies. Despite many, many attempts, the internet is still not classified as a utility in the United States. The solution is to say goodbye to these monopolies. It’s expensive and easier said than done, but many towns and cities across the country are creating their own municipal broadband. You can read more about that on https://communitynets.org.
We’ll leave IP addresses and DNS resolvers for another day, but I do encourage you to read about IANA, ARIN, and ICANN, if you’ve never heard of them. ARIN, for example, made a small administrative error last month that temporarily removed 256 addresses from the internet.
I’m also going to skip operating systems and firmware for now. You’re probably familiar with the Microsoft and Apple duopoly and maybe also with the Intel and AMD duopoly. At the request of enterprise customers, Intel and AMD have included code in their firmware which allows people over the internet to control your computer or cellphone even when it is powered off, provided they have the right access keys to do so. Some federal government agencies have the ability to buy computers without this spyware code, but Dell won’t sell those computers to regular Americans anymore.
Web browsers? There are three of them. Google makes Chromium, which is repackaged as Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, DuckDuckGo Browser, and many others. Google heavily funds the development of Firefox. And Apple makes Safari. Firefox is perhaps the best of a bad lot, but all of these browsers feature spyware and anti-features that track you online.
Wow. That’s a lot and we’re not even on a website yet.
That’s where this site comes in.
Social media
I believe the big online discussion platforms (like Facebook, Tiktok, etc) have let us down. They have power and make rules, which makes them like a government. . . but not one we elected and not one that respects our rights. By blocking, banning, shadow banning, and flagging, they trample on freedom of speech. And by using algorithms to replace posts from our friends and family with ads and influencer garbage, they violate our freedom of association.
The history of communication technology has always been consolidation: many people read books, few publish them; many people watch T.V., few people broadcast T.V.; many people listen to radio, few people broadcast radio; some people still read newspapers, but nearly all newspapers in America are owned by a few wealthy individuals.
I believe that communication in a free country must be owned by communities and individuals themselves.
That’s why I started this project. I wanted a social media platform for the PEM area that is run by a resident of this area. Of course, being locally run does not cure all the ills of social media. It just means that when you want to share something with your community, you have a platform that won’t distort or hide your words. Or drown it in ads. When you have a problem with the platform, you know that your inquiry will be met by a real person who cares about you.
If that sounds like fun, I invite you to join me.