<html><head></head><body><div>I hear tell there is talk of decentralizing the Internet, maybe even</div><div>breaking up the NSA/Google/Facebook duopoly fnord. I am skeptical.</div><div>It was a journalist, and I had not heard anything like it from a</div><div>credible source (except maybe the Free Software Foundation, but</div><div>they're way fringe). MOST suspect: the efforts were credited to the</div><div>same Vile Offspring that just yesterday replaced the verb "search"</div><div>with a new verb: "Google™".</div><div><br></div><div>As a monk I am proud of my people's tradition of running away, so I am</div><div>naturally interested in decentralizing the ever-lov'n blank out of the</div><div>Internet. The more "dark" corners there are, the safer I will feel.</div><div><br></div><div>Back before government-mandated-everything Americans banded together</div><div>in fraternal organizations that provided health/life insurance for</div><div>families, not desks. They also provided nosy brothers whom you were</div><div>rarely tempted to cheat. Again, as a monk, these kinds of</div><div>institutions seem natural, a necessary evil, like cooking. And they</div><div>seem a proper size for the autonomous entities of a decentralized</div><div>Internet.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm talking about a <b>local</b> organization of real people, e.g. the</div><div>Escanaba Lions Club[1], <b>not</b> a pit of lobbyists like The Humane</div><div>Society of the United States (not to be confused with the many</div><div>hard-working local humane societies, despite The Humane Society's[sic]</div><div>best efforts).</div><div><br></div><div>I have time to spend fanning the sputtering flames of demokrasy in</div><div>Amerika before I go, so I'm thinking about offering free technical</div><div>support to clubs that use a standard, KISS setup to offer their</div><div>membership federated services *just* like GMail, Skype, One Drive,</div><div>and Facebook.</div><div><br></div><div>These would be icing for an existing cake of common interests, local</div><div>concerns, maybe even group health insurance. And if there is a club</div><div>house, it would be able to offer any member living within maybe 20</div><div>miles a volunteer who will climb up on their roof with a pringle can</div><div>and get them cheap, high-speed Internet without the whole last-mile</div><div>cluster-mumble.</div><div><br></div><div>And discuss...</div><div><br></div><div>[1] - If you have not seen _Escanaba in da Moonlight_[2], you messed up</div><div>somewhere.</div><div><br></div><div>[2] - I was shocked (*not*) to see that _Escanaba in da Moonlight_ and</div><div>_Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ are "Frequently bought together" on</div><div>Amazon.</div><div></div></body></html>