Fixing the Internet

Interesting article about the Internet’s next iteration, The Internet Reborn, via Volokh:

A grass-roots group of leading computer scientists, backed by Intel and other heavyweight industrial sponsors, is working on replacing today’s Internet with a faster, more secure, and vastly smarter network: PlanetLab.

Most of the article deals with common-sense enhancements to speed up web browsing and conferencing that have the side effect of limiting viruses and DoS attacks. This is a good example of the benefits of good engineering.

3 thoughts on “Fixing the Internet”

  1. weird….look at all of those ‘systems engineers’ from universities in Planetlab. I thought academics who were systems people always come up with bad ideas, Richard. Or, is was it just that one bad idea/proposal ?

  2. The IP Internet was like a boot loader, and now that it’s running pretty well, it’s time to code the actual operating system.

    I think a replacement for SMTP that requires authentication would be a good start.

  3. No, no! If you change anything about the internet in any way other than tiny increments, you’ll ruin it. Ruin it I say! Doom! Doom! Doo….

    Ahem. Sorry. Was having flashbacks there.

    I second the motion for an SMTP that authenticates. For God’s sake, we should have had that years ago.

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