> actual alternative physical networks would have to be built
I'd say this is an unfounded assumption. Given a choice of two massive changes that I could snap my fingers and will into existence:
1. Grassroots community and individual-run mesh networks of individual dwellings, not controlled by corporate entities, running IP/DNS/HTTPS and other naive protocols already in widespread use.
2. The same corporate-controlled physical Internet we have right now, but with widespread use of protocols that allow for decentralized permissionless identities (nyms), independent of the centrally-adminstered IP/DNS namespaces. Most traffic going to individually-run VPSs or consumer connections.
I would choose #2 in a heartbeat. The only reason I would see that we might need #1 is because #2 failed to gain a critical mass before the ISPs clamped down on non-corporate-endpoint traffic while it still only affects a minority of users. It's also not clear how the networks in #1 wouldn't just borg back up into corporate Ma Dell, or at the very least succumb to government regulation (each a different avenue for authoritarianism).
I'd say this is an unfounded assumption. Given a choice of two massive changes that I could snap my fingers and will into existence:
1. Grassroots community and individual-run mesh networks of individual dwellings, not controlled by corporate entities, running IP/DNS/HTTPS and other naive protocols already in widespread use.
2. The same corporate-controlled physical Internet we have right now, but with widespread use of protocols that allow for decentralized permissionless identities (nyms), independent of the centrally-adminstered IP/DNS namespaces. Most traffic going to individually-run VPSs or consumer connections.
I would choose #2 in a heartbeat. The only reason I would see that we might need #1 is because #2 failed to gain a critical mass before the ISPs clamped down on non-corporate-endpoint traffic while it still only affects a minority of users. It's also not clear how the networks in #1 wouldn't just borg back up into corporate Ma Dell, or at the very least succumb to government regulation (each a different avenue for authoritarianism).