Back in the 80s technology was beginning to thrive and people were really going out of their way to introduce users to the next big thing. For instance, the GNU versus Linux debate that has ricocheted through time is still very much a thing. And let's not forget the confusion between TLS and SSL continues today, all due to Microsoft and Netscape's aggressive attitudes in besting one another back in the 90s. Either way, since the internet arrived in our homes, its technology has changed almost daily. More so now than it did ten years ago - and certainly even more so than it did twenty years ago.
But twenty-six years on, the internet has transformed our lives into, what i call the, inter-device-connected culture that we enjoy daily. From snaps of our dogs to reminding our loved ones we have them in mind over Facebook. Memes spreading around Twitter like wild fire; discussions on web forums. Wherever you look, you will see some crucial piece of information leave our fingertips and arrive on the web. And it's all thanks to the thousands of cables connecting our countries across the seven seas.
And that's where the controversy lies. Because as our technology has continued to evolve - and will continue to do so forevermore - we have also seen a rise in the anti-technology deployed by the sinister governments to spy on the innocent until they can prove one way or another of a person's guilt. I took a look around the net a short while ago and saw just how large the lists grow when it comes to intelligence gathering devices these agencies use: boxes that mimic a radio tower to eavesdrop on a person; software that activates a powered off phone and make use of its camera and microphones; aggressive stripping of encrypted internet packets as the information leaves our computers and traverses the world-wide-web; intruding on the traversal of all internet packets via the cables themselves as they leave our fair countries. The list is horrifyingly endless. And it makes me wonder: why are we still using the internet?
Of course, no one can argue that it's done some good. Information sharing has been its topmost advancement for our culture. Then we arrive to things like online entertainment and even things like online health assessments and banking and an even bigger list. But that's not my concern. My concern is the internet itself.
For a start every issue about the internet and its supported protocols are indefensible.
DDOS
Back in October, 2016, we witnessed the largest ever DDOS attack on Dyn, a company who controls a significant portion of the internet's DNS infrastructure. The attack was composed of a botnet of around one-hundred-thousand internet-connected devices from PCs to IoT technologies. More importantly, however, the attack was estimated by Dyn to have transmitted around 1.2 terrabytes of flood packets. That's 1,200 gigabytes! It was extraordinary in its execution.
Obviously, though, there would be no way to deny an attack of this magnitude from succeeding. But it's a start to the argument. Not many people realise but DDOS was, back in the 90s at least, a secret tool used by government intelligence. Nobody had even ever heard of it. Then suddenly sixteen year olds from all around the world using pictures of Guy Fawkes as their social media profile pictures started to make use of scripts that would do just this to online services such as the Playstation Network and Xbox Live. They didn't stop there either. Visa, Mastercard, Paypal and other financial services were targeted all because they withdrew funding from WikiLeaks - Operation Payback. DDOS mitigation is by far one of the biggest weaknesses of the internet.
Big Brother
Then we arrive to the biggest threat facing not only the internet but to personal privacy too: government spying. Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology is on the rise now more than ever. From Raspberry Pi boards - miniaturised computer components - all the way down to children's toys, televisions, gaming consoles and even television remotes. Anything that is connected to the internet can be used not only for our entertainment but also to be the eyes and ears in a bid to curb the effect encryption is having on information retention, a threat GCHQ and the NSA sincerely regret. Hence my cleverly coined term: anti-technology.
But this information retention is an interesting topic. We take things like SSL for granted at times but the truth is that it protects the information we transmit across the web. What can be read by humans as simple glyphs and letters, making words and sentences, enters a tunnel in which this text is turned into complete gibberish. It does the job. Only not so much anymore. I say this because agencies are now starting to tackle the problem of encryption by a process of "backdooring" the encryption codes, meaning they are able to decrypt packets sent via our Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on-the-fly. Even GCHQ and the NSA were linked to hacking Gemalto, a large SIM card manufacturer, in an effort to obtain the encryption keys for millions of SIM cards. Not only that but by gaining physical access to the cables that compose the internet, the UK GCHQ's Tempora system is able to monitor just about everything that leaves any UK citizen's devices.
How do we respond in order to keep our information secure? We turn to services like Tor, which in some rare circumstances is dangerous to say the least. Even efforts to deanonymise Tor are now entering academia. It won't be long until some form of weakness is found in that too.
Many people also turn to VPNs because "the professionals" claim they are the best approach. But the sad truth is that not even virtual private networks are much good to counteract the physical access Big Brother has to our transmissions anymore. To be truly safe in the world, you would have to be in a country that is not being watched so rigorously - and there really is not anywhere suitable in the world.
The point I'm trying to make in this article is one of concern. I picture the internet, and of course ourselves, as plugging the holes of a slowly sinking ship. It may be working for the time being but sooner or later, after so many thousand tiny holes are plugged to cease the breaching tides, one of them will bring the entire thing down.
Around the internet, technology continues to expand. Augment Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI). Even synthetic lifeforms are now a thing!
So I wonder. Is it not time for an Internet V.2?
Originally written for my website, V1O.
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