Global Airnet

Discussion

Andre Staltz on a Plan for the Global Airnet as an alternative to the Global Wirenet

Andre Staltz:

"In the next year or two:

• Developers improve peer-to-peer protocols that support the content-centered Web (IPFS, Dat) and the people-centered Web (SSB)

• Developers and hardware manufacturers write open protocols for mesh networking (comparable to MultipeerConnectivity, CJDNS, Open Garden)

• Developers bring peer-to-peer protocols to smartphones and build mobile apps that use those

Web enthusiasts and archivers help migrate content from the old Web to the new protocols

• Hardware startups compete in the market for regional mesh networks (e.g. goTenna, Beartooth, and others)

In two years or more:

• Smartphone manufacturers sell mesh-first mobile devices for the developing world

• Developers work with regional communities to localize mesh mobile apps (note the possibility of forking open source projects and customizing them to different cultures)

• Charitable organizations or companies offer mesh-first smartphones for free (or subsidized and cheap) to people in developing nations

• Mesh-based cyberspaces start to thrive in some countries

• Similar mesh cyberspaces in the developed world also gain relevance, specially in countries with unfair ISPs

In six years or more:

• Ecosystem of wireless mesh networks expands from regional “airnets” to national airnets

• National airnets are weaved together through a global mesh of satellites (much like Blockstream)

• Make the global airnet competitive with the wirenet

As a result of having competition between the two, we can hope to fix the overutilization of the wirenet and the underutilization of airnets, bringing balance to the wire-versus-air dichotomy, providing choice in how data should travel in each case." (https://staltz.com/a-plan-to-rescue-the-web-from-the-internet.html)