Do We Need a New Internet? (Article)

Article: "Do We Need a New Internet?"

"The idea is to build a new Internet with improved security and the capabilities to support a new generation of not-yet-invented Internet applications, as well as to do some things the current Internet does poorly — such as supporting mobile users."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/weekinreview/15markoff.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Stanford engineers are looking at building a more secure Internet. One security specialist quoted in the article discusses how the current Internet is Pearl Harbor waiting for the planes to land.

I wonder what the future of open source software would be on an Internet built by Stanford; of course my previous statement is mildly cynical. (Look, this is a job for a technical communicator!)

To quote the article again with something that most interests me as a dissertation topic:

"Proving identity is likely to remain remarkably difficult in a world where it is trivial to take over someone’s computer from half a world away and operate it as your own. As long as that remains true, building a completely trustable system will remain virtually impossible."

What will force us into Web 3.0 may actually be Internet security; Dell already ships laptops with the thumbprint scanner--and anyone who watches "Burn Notice" knows that THAT isn't very hard to get around. But if we're going to think of an absolutely secure Internet with some sort of driver's license verification, there's going to have to be a retinal scan database somewhere, perhaps a sub-dermal DNA database, and an agreement that Someone (capital "S") monitors that database to protect security interests. Of course there is a split problem with a centralized database: 1) Who monitors it, and 2) How much is it going to cost?

And really, now we're getting into my favorite consideration: can the Capitalist game that recognizes money as the points system viably survive when an individual is required to give physical evidence to prove that it is he who plans to buy that caparisoned wooden elephant figurine from, say, Thailand? And, in return, does that individual really need the Someone who Monitors the DNA Database to know he also has Addison's disease, via the DNA he supplied as his Internet driver's license?

I know this sounds sci-fi, but really, folks, don't be naive. Ten years ago we could argue that this dramatic shift would not happen, that we have nothing to worry about with unstable electronic identity narrative, but that was during Web 1.0--you couldn't make a web page where people left footprints. Now, electronic footprints are as easy to follow as if someone were collecting hair falling out of your head as you walked down a street.