Reseting the Internet

[IKWerewolf]

OK just seen this post...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.822793-UKs-block-on-internet-pron-what-do-you-think?page=1

... it got me wondering, if the Internet was restarted, what should be done to prevent the internet from becoming a target for everyone?

For example, what could be done to prevent copyright breaches, what could be done to make money transfers more secure (and other things besides!)

 

[DoPo]

... it got me wondering, if the Internet was restarted, what should be done to prevent the internet from becoming a target for everyone?

Erm, that's probably going to sound unorthodox but here we go: scrap HTML. I don't mean don't have it at all, just scrap developing it further to add more features. I'm serious - that's part of the reason why we have these flashy websites now and that's part of the reason HTML is so horrible when misused by newbies. What happened was that the first web pages were pretty simplistic - not much more than text on the web. New features were introduced like hyperlinks after than and several more that enabled easier usability but then businesses thought "hey this Internet thing is a good opportunity but it looks ugly", so they demanded stuff like backgrounds, coloured text and so on. Which in turn made the Web much more of a preferred destination for everybody. And the hacked and tacked on changes would continue being used to this day, too.

There you go - you're welcome

For example, what could be done to prevent copyright breaches, what could be done to make money transfers more secure (and other things besides!)

Those are really different and are only partially related to the Internet. Copyright breaches stem from rather unwieldy and weird copyright laws, rather than just people uploading stuff somewhere. Especially software copyrights and also digital media tend to be a bit of a mess - the whole licensing thing, for example. As for money transfers, that's really easy - don't let incompetent people near them. Actually the same thing can be said about Internet laws, as well. And other stuff...hmm, let's see - I'd burn Flash and then scatter it's ashes. Other than that, JavaScript should go fuck itself - not the language though[footnote]erm...not in this specific context, I still don't like it[/footnote] but the name - I hate it when people go "But isn't JavaScript like Java?" no, it's not, it was purposefully renamed to something new and hip when Java was being new and hip. It's like if they decided to rename it "FacebookScript" now because that's a big name on the Web.

And, of course, the biggest change I'd make is FORBID MICROSOFT TO MAKE BROWSERS! And also for them to even doing any technology that interfaces with it directly (they'll be allowed to use it through other services and stuff). In fact, just apply the payments solution here but make the text giant. bold, in italics, underlined, red, and on fire, shooting lightning and any time you see it Morgan Freeman would also read it aloud in a booming impossible to miss voice.

 

[hermes]

... it got me wondering, if the Internet was restarted, what should be done to prevent the internet from becoming a target for everyone?

Erm, that's probably going to sound unorthodox but here we go: scrap HTML. I don't mean don't have it at all, just scrap developing it further to add more features. I'm serious - that's part of the reason why we have these flashy websites now and that's part of the reason HTML is so horrible when misused by newbies. What happened was that the first web pages were pretty simplistic - not much more than text on the web. New features were introduced like hyperlinks after than and several more that enabled easier usability but then businesses thought "hey this Internet thing is a good opportunity but it looks ugly", so they demanded stuff like backgrounds, coloured text and so on. Which in turn made the Web much more of a preferred destination for everybody. And the hacked and tacked on changes would continue being used to this day, too.

Are you serious? I know personal pages can be ugly, but nowadays things are a lot better. Internet used to be a lot uglier in the late 90s, with people that barely discovered WYSIWYG design that turned Internet into the wild west...
Basically, once people discovered that they could include animated gif in the pages, every single page had animated fire, animated skulls and crossbones or horrible midi files playing in the background; on pages with bright green letters in front of black background (before Matrix was even a thing). I guess its understandable: Once people get a new toy, they feel like they have to use it as much as possible. Compared to back then, most personal pages now look like professional designs.

OT: Make online protocols that recognize that upload speed can be up to the par with download speed. Nowadays, all Internet is built under the assumption that people only downloaded content, never upload them; and the interaction was non-existent outside those operations. Even ajax is an awkward construction to work around that restriction. HTML5 is a step in the right direction, but in the end its mostly built on top of HTML4... We should create a new alternative from the ground up and, of course, force the browsers to support it as they are (don't add features and incompatibilities because you don't the way they are written)

 

[DoPo]

... it got me wondering, if the Internet was restarted, what should be done to prevent the internet from becoming a target for everyone?

Erm, that's probably going to sound unorthodox but here we go: scrap HTML. I don't mean don't have it at all, just scrap developing it further to add more features. I'm serious - that's part of the reason why we have these flashy websites now and that's part of the reason HTML is so horrible when misused by newbies. What happened was that the first web pages were pretty simplistic - not much more than text on the web. New features were introduced like hyperlinks after than and several more that enabled easier usability but then businesses thought "hey this Internet thing is a good opportunity but it looks ugly", so they demanded stuff like backgrounds, coloured text and so on. Which in turn made the Web much more of a preferred destination for everybody. And the hacked and tacked on changes would continue being used to this day, too.

Are you serious? I know personal pages can be ugly, but nowadays things are a lot better. Internet used to be a lot uglier in the late 90s, with people that barely discovered WYSIWYG design that turned Internet into the wild west...
Basically, once people discovered that they could include animated gif in the pages, every single page had animated fire, animated skulls and crossbones or horrible midi files playing in the background; on pages with bright green letters in front of black background (before Matrix was even a thing). I guess its understandable: Once people get a new toy, they feel like they have to use it as much as possible. Compared to back then, most personal pages now look like professional designs.

Erm...I'm not talking either about the 90s or about the spinning and flashing GIFs, as neither of these is HTML. I'm talking about mixing markup with presentation and oh gods why. Font tags, frames, acronym and abbr, color attribute, border attribute, actually all styling attributes, tables used to govern the entire layout of a website etc - not needed (well, one of abbr/acronym is enough) as they are a bloat designed to make people who do HTML weep, an obsolete remnant from the ye olden days that is sadly perpetuated until today. WYSIWYG editor do not help as they just love to sprinkle this shit all over the place. At least HTML 4.01 is a little bit better and slightly more standartized, eventually HTML5 should actually be design of reasonable human beings, so I'm hoping for the best there

 

[Esotera]

The internet was designed so that it was libertarian - at the lowest level, everyone is anonymous, all information is open, and the best are meant to succeed. It's changed massively since its early days and will continue to do so - there's no real need to reset it.

Anyway, if I had to build the internet from scratch I would make it a lot more reliant on P2P technology as opposed to the central server model we use now. It's a lot more resilient & actively resists censorship or loss of knowledge due to servers going down - and that's the whole point of the internet, to share knowledge. Thankfully there's a lot of cool P2P stuff being created today such as streaming videos, but big industry doesn't like this at all as they don't have control over users...

 

[evilneko]

I'd force an immediate move to IPv6, and make IPSec mandatory again. Everything would be encrypted. But, there's only so far one can go technologically. I'd enact laws making companies responsible for their security breaches. Got hacked? Pay a penalty proportional to your revenue, plus submit your network to a thorough security audit. Further penalties added for discovered deficiencies, but reductions given if mitigating factors can be proven (ie: prove they didn't get your database). Maybe that might make corporations take InfoSec seriously.

[small]I'd also shutdown Comodo and hang Melih upside down over a pirahna pit James Bond-villain style. Right after feeding the guys behind MyCleanPC/ezula/eaccelerator/etc. to them.[/small]

 

[lacktheknack]

[small]I'd also shutdown Comodo and hang Melih upside down over a pirahna pit James Bond-villain style. Right after feeding the guys behind MyCleanPC/ezula/eaccelerator/etc. to them.[/small]

What about these guys?

OT: I don't think there's much you CAN do to avoid having it be a target, unless you remove the "all are anonymous" aspect.

Roll with the punches and all that jazz.

 

[thesilentman]

I'd make it use technology that isn't as odd as the dinosaurs in present day, and make the Internet more secure by mandating encryption.

I would also make a gigantic "No idiots allowed" sign, but that's going to be an impossibility judging from what's here now.

 

[DoPo]

I'd enact laws making companies responsible for their security breaches. Got hacked? Pay a penalty proportional to your revenue, plus submit your network to a thorough security audit. Further penalties added for discovered deficiencies

Yeah, I can just imagine how that would have affected Sony. Why do you hate them? Did they kill your goldfish or something?

but reductions given

What, a bulk discount?

XD

 

[xDarc]

I'm none too pleased about social networking sites like facebook becoming the new AOL. Walled Garden they call it, your content and the content of others is cut off from everyone else not on facebook.

The internet today feels like Cable TV did when I got bored of it, there's a million channels and never anything good on.

If I were to go back in time, aside from killing hitler, I'd make laws to make e-commerce legally complicated, expensive, and prohibitive. I know people love e-commerce, but all that money has turned what used to be the wild west into another brightly lit and friendly looking store at the mall.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

At it's inception, set up a governing body that decides which content should be available and how it is restricted, so ISPs and governments have no power in that regard. And make all members of that body myself and clones of myself, as an example of someone who would not use their power virtually at all aside from malicious websites and spam. Basically a benevolent dictator. And by the way, rule no. 1 is that no website is liable for how its services are used.

 

[Norithics]

No porn!
Wait.
All porn!
Eh, uh-
Can I phone a friend??

 

[FPLOON]

If it was to reset... Then, in time it would still end up leading to how it is now, but just from a different perspective of individuals... and then it would then have to reset again...

It would almost become a set tradition in order to keep "the internet" for everyone... since there will always be someone out there that will take advantage of "the internet" in some way that will cause these kind of discussions of censoring/blocking "the internet"... Just an endless cycle of resets... (Someone get on making that kind of reality into a poem or something... LOL)

Overall, resetting the internet would, in turn, make it more safer for anyone to surf it without "accidentally" leading himself/herself to any "wrong turns"... But, then when you think about it, "the internet" is basically the world in a nutshell... Even with the reset, it will soon turn back into how the world truly is, "wrong turns" and all...

 

[Tom_green_day]

I think it'd be fine if everyone had access at the same time after resetting. The way I see it, the internet is the way it is because certain groups, maybe defined by age or nationality or social group or whatever, got to it and left their mark before or after certain groups. So now the internet is dominated by a certain kind of person, and other people feel excluded as they got here more recently.

 

[evilneko]

I'd enact laws making companies responsible for their security breaches. Got hacked? Pay a penalty proportional to your revenue, plus submit your network to a thorough security audit. Further penalties added for discovered deficiencies

Yeah, I can just imagine how that would have affected Sony. Why do you hate them? Did they kill your goldfish or something?

but reductions given

What, a bulk discount?

XD

Actually I wasn't even thinking of Sony, but yeah, for a breach of the scale they faced with so much customer data swiped, they'd be payin some seriously hefty fines under my system.

I work in the Information Security field, so I have some idea of just what can be done...and just how many idiots there are out there, handling your security online.