On IOL this morning I found an interesting article pointing to the fact that some people are calling for the Internet’s head. Researchers from top institutions around the world are using what they call a ‘clean slate’ approach. These researchers figure that the Internet requires some drastic changes and the only way to do this is to start from scratch…I am sure Google are jumping up and down in their sandpit at the thought of this.
The basic logic behind this move seems to be that the Internet, according to these researchers, has outgrown its shoes. For them there is a stark difference between what the Internet was intended for, back in the late sixties, and what it is being used for at present.
The main problem they have with the current use of the Internet is that originally it was based on a trust system. The people using the Internet in the early days knew each other and where happy to be on an open network. These days hackers and other cyber criminals are making this trust system obsolete.
The article points out that the most probable evolution of this ‘clean slate’ Internet will be that it will run concurrently with the existing Internet, eventually swallowing it up.
The biggest problem I have with this idea is that it allows certain elements to have a say in the way the Internet works. Big corporations and governments want to tame this wild animal and this could be their chance.
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