Keith Whyte @keith@tic-ac.org
Technology Coordinator / Rhizomatica.
Se unió el ago 2021
@silverwizard
People on the thread might get something from this talk:
@silverwizard
Hehe.. one thing about fediverse is you don't always see the entire thread on an instance, so one should always read the original page before replying! (Note to self.)
So, reticulum was already mentioned. Good.
And a few people talking about payment gateways and infra and DNS/CA. If commerce is a raison d'etre then harder to see the point in doing it, again.. why replicate?
I'd avoid #DNS like the plague in any new network. Somebody already had the terrible idea to start assignment of names on reticulum.
After reading the thread, just wanted to add that being aware that it is not only about the physical layer and the network stack is obviously important. (you point to this in the original post, I believe.)
Ultimately it comes down to having enough interest locally to have the so-callled "human resources" to make it work, and thrive. you might be able to do this with a capitalist model, but I doubt it. Not as long as the other internet exists anyway.
@silverwizard
Great idea! And you are not alone.
It is being done. No need to think about it so much, just do it.
There might already be a network in your area, all you need to participate might be a (reasonably) affordable LoRa radio. Take a look at #reticulum.
Apart from reticulum as a complete departure from traditional internet, all the #fediverse tech will "work" in isolation, there is no need for "internet".
humble advice:
Possible stumbling point in my experience is thinking in terms of "Internet". Don't compare or try to replicate.
Size does not matter. >1 is a "network". so it does not need to scale, but it does need a purpose. It might be good to pre define WHAT it is and WHY it exists, then you can hopefully attract like minded participants and avoid those who may damage the project.
Beyond initial outlay, fibre rollout is maybe not as costly as might be imagined. Running the fibre optic cable might be an issue in your locality however, but maybe worth looking into.
Keith Whyte
retooteado
I'm thinking about what a Local Internet looks like. Can we build a setup, local servers, local webdevs, local helpdesk. Get local businesses to pay us to make local pages. Organize local delivery drivers. What if we didn't scale?
Could we make it work? How big a city do we need?
Keith Whyte
retooteado
A/I may be ending. The story is nowhere near over.
For twenty-five years, #AutisticiInventati showed what it could mean for movements to build and control their own communications infrastructure. Its loss should not send everyone searching for the next single service to replace it.
It should send us looking in a hundred directions.
In Boise, the Boise Autonomous Solidarity Hub is experimenting with one of them. @BASH has put a small independent publication on NomadNet, a system running over Reticulum rather than relying solely on the conventional web. It has articles, archives, submissions and contact functions, reachable through a cryptographic network destination instead of an ordinary domain.
99a904b9ab830b7baa9d5115eb8854d7:/page/index.mu
That is not the answer. That's what makes it interesting.
Other projects are trying other things: cooperative infrastructure, self-managed servers, RSS, mirrors, print, radio, downloadable archives, federated publishing and networks that barely resemble the commercial web at all.
We don't need to find another A/I. We need to understand how to build a thousand different pieces of what made A/I possible.
Sabot is beginning a living guide to autonomous media and infrastructure, aimed especially at small and rural projects: how to publish, archive, distribute, host, mirror and keep going when a platform, host, domain, provider or collective disappears.
Coming Soon:
BECOME THE THOUSAND SERVERS
A living guide to autonomous publishing, infrastructure and survival
Follow the people experimenting. Follow small radical media. Preserve what matters.
Then build something.
Keith Whyte
retooteado
You do not own your DNS name, you rent it. And it can be taken from you at any time, for no reason at all.
https://neil.fraser.name/news/2026/09/03/
Keith Whyte
retooteado
Faint hope ✊:
The blunt, unsatisfactory decision that has emerged from #Debian is sorta least common denominator that means something to someone but something else to somebody else... Yet maybe an attempt at a statement: "_irresponsible_ or _non-reponsible_ use of #LLM/#GenAi is not acceptable."
So now would be time for #Debian and #FLOSS communities at large to lead the way and determine: what would be "_responsible use of #GenAI_"?
Is the use of LLM/GenAI "responsible" if:
- it boils rivers?
- it belongs to evil US tech overlords?
- its model is proprietary?
- its training dataset is not public? (then can anything even be Free/Libre software?)
@aral , the phone number analogy is really great!.
Imagine, so you get a new phone number...you're fine with that, then the person dealing with this process says to you;
OK! so how would you like to be known on the network? let's see.. no, I'm afraid your actual name is taken (at least in the most common phone books) - but I can offer to rent you one in a more obscure book for €50/year. Hmm. which box should we put you in anyway?
Or.. you could make a bid here.. that starts at €200, or let's see ...there's this one, that is on offer at "only" €10 (it'll be 50+ next year, along with threats of "losing your identity on the network" but ssssh don't tell anyone that!)
#DNS is absurd.
See:
"....#Domain names are tiny little rows in a database. They cost next-to-nothing to set up and maintain. There’s absolutely no reason why they couldn’t be a public good, paid for from the public purse.3
And yet you pay (at times extortionate) amounts for them… why?
Because #capitalism..."
quoting from:
https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/117203125607188510
@geodesk
Yes! This also makes the pages very well suited for porting to #reticulum's nomadnet.
Static is quite a limitation and maybe not a necessary one?
Keith Whyte
retooteado
Keith Whyte
retooteado
As an analogue to my "local businesses, nonprofits, and community groups please use RSS instead of exclusively posting to Instagram" rant, please consider "please if you have an event calendar, make it a ***calendar*** and not an image on Instagram."
Keith Whyte
retooteado
@cavallette That’s rough. Dependence on the domain name system and dns is a real problem for digital sovereignty.
Keith Whyte
retooteado
A single signature by Trump can remove you from the internet
di @smaurizi
"A new David-versus-Goliath battle is being waged on the internet, after the U.S. government’s war against Julian Assange and #WikiLeaks. This time, the epicenter is Italy, and David is an Italian volunteer organization – a tiny collective of low-profile individuals who create and distribute encrypted email accounts, blogs, and mailing lists for free.
..."
https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2026/08/29/autistici-inventati-trump-terrorists-news/8491452/
Keith Whyte
retooteado
Autistici/Inventati's domains have now been revoked. I updated the link in the above post with a wayback machine copy.
Every now and then someone tells me, "We have a decentralized naming system, it's called DNS!" and I say, no we don't, DNS is extremely centralized? And if that wasn't clear to you before, hopefully it's clear to you today.
Keith Whyte
retooteado
🍉
Keith Whyte
retooteado
I found a new disrupive technology called pen and paper. Its a text and image storage and editing system. Its a game changer.
Technology Coordinator / Rhizomatica.
Se unió el ago 2021
