INTERNET ISSUES

The internet is an environment that connects personal computers, smartphones, servers, and IoT devices (physical objects connected to the internet and exchanging data) into a global information and communication network for data storage and transmission. The public internet exists thanks to the consolidation of data centers and providers, representing a centralized platform with physical and legal vulnerabilities.

Supporters of a decentralized network highlight three main issues with the modern internet:

1. Openness and accessibility.

2. Censorship and privacy.

3. Information archiving.

ABOUT OPENNESS AND ACCESSIBILITY

Centralization of the internet imposes certain limits on individuals and may deprive or restrict their freedom. For example, if you use iCloud by Apple to store your photos, you cannot grant access to it to a user of Microsoft OneDrive. These storage systems do not "communicate" with each other. By storing private information in cloud storage, you cannot guarantee that no one other than you will have access to your information. By placing information in centralized clouds, you agree that you are surrendering it to the corporation that owns that cloud.

ABOUT CENSORSHIP AND PRIVACY

Centralized web services allow companies to easily monitor your internet usage. Social media platform owners often make money by selling users' personal data, interests, and details of their lives. Fitness trackers and health monitoring apps store a large amount of users' personal and even intimate information. We create accounts on social networks and willingly provide them with our personal information, agreeing to their terms of service.

ABOUT INFORMATION ARCHIVING

The modern internet is ephemeral: information changes, websites are born and cease to exist. Very little data is retained and archived. Vinton Cerf, an American scientist in the field of computer science, often referred to as the "father of the internet," has termed this time the "dark digital age." When historians of future generations study this period, a vast amount of material on the internet will no longer exist, and records will not be preserved.

A good example of such loss is the company "Yahoo." First, they created the GeoCities website, and then they deleted it. Millions of user pages with their stories have been irretrievably lost.

To create a decentralized network, technologies are being developed, which you may already be familiar with. One of the key technologies supporting a decentralized network is the peer-to-peer (P2P) network. BitTorrent is based on this technology.

In P2P networks, information is distributed among thousands or millions of computers rather than being stored on a single server. Since the content of files or websites is distributed and decentralized, it becomes more difficult to shut down a website or delete a file unless you are the owner. This means that information uploaded to decentralized networks can be stored, creating archives of old information. Technologies such as cryptographic protection and blockchain provide a level of security that complicates tracking actions in these networks, making them very reliable. Together, these technologies can protect the privacy of internet users.