The Darknet and the Future of Everything*
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The Darknet & the Future of Everything*
Peter N. Biddle
@obs3sd
*
Public service
Gun control
Surveillance
Robots
Digital Goods
Terrorism
Actions
The Future
Education
Government
Drones
Drugs
Physical Goods
Privacy
Ideas
Thoughts
2002
The darknet is “a collection of networks and technologies used to share”
P2P
Sneakernet
Forums
Usenet
Bitcasa
namespace
stuff
nodes
links
• Links – physical or virtual connections
• Nodes – points in the network
• Stuff – the things on the network
• Namespace – this tells us where stuff is
It’s a LOT like the internet.
Control
• Block the namespace
– Ex: shut down piratebay
• Throttle throughput within links
– Ex: DPI
• Control what happens inside nodes
– Ex: don’t let users be admin
• Make stuff inaccessible
– Ex: DRMed content
There is no way for technology to permanently curb the darknet as long
as there is an internet (as we know and love or hate it).
I know, I spent a few years trying… • Storage Evangelist for MSFT starting Dec 1995 • DVD: Yay! Cool! VHRA and TRD! Boo! Hiss! • CPTWG compromises: “user accessible busses”, 40 bit keys*,
working inside existing mask ROM, no internet connection • DivX – so yeah, some people at MSFT wanted to go that way • Disney & Warner “no content above 480p without fixing the
(analog and digital) holes” • Trusted Windows – make Windows PCs as good at protecting
stuph as everyone else without destroying ecosystem • CPTWG worked so let’s try formalizing and solving the music
problem (SDMI)
My conclusion: Biased technology allows for the concentration of power,
which makes for more harm than good. Neutral technology allows goodness to
triumph naturally.
Lunatic Fringe Alt People Mainstream Alt People Lunatic Fringe
people
Deny Manage FUD Appease Delight Reward Delight Appease FUD Manage Deny
access
“If the darknet is efficient, then content will be rapidly propagated to all
interested peers.”
What do you mean by “rapidly”?
Federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970
(17) The term “narcotic drug” means any of the following whether produced directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of vegetable origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis, or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis: (A) Opium, opiates, derivatives of opium and opiates, including their isomers, esters, ethers, salts, and salts of isomers, esters, and ethers, whenever the existence of such isomers, esters, ethers, and salts is possible within the specific chemical designation. Such term does not include the isoquinoline alkaloids of opium. (B) Poppy straw and concentrate of poppy straw. (18) The term “opiate” means any drug or other substance having an addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability similar to morphine or being capable of conversion into a drug having such addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability. (19) The term “opium poppy” means the plant of the species Papaver somniferum L., except the seed thereof. (22) The term “production” includes the manufacture, planting, cultivation, growing, or harvesting of a controlled substance. (23) The term “immediate precursor” means a substance— (A) which the Attorney General has found to be and by regulation designated as being the principal compound used, or produced primarily for use, in the manufacture of a controlled substance; (B) which is an immediate chemical intermediary used or likely to be used in the manufacture of such controlled substance; and (C) the control of which is necessary to prevent, curtail, or limit the manufacture of such controlled substance.
Poppies: ~4K years to get to this:
1953 – Hugh Hefner starts Playboy
1965 – Bob Guccione starts Penthouse
1969 – First mainstream movie, followed by many notable porn movies
Porn
1976 – VHS enables broad distribution
1984 – Early online distribution of porn
1986 – US attorney General Edwin Meese published 1960 page report investigating porn at the order of the President
1994 – sex.com registered by Gary Kreman
1997 – DVD Introduction & Pay per view makes high quality distribution and rendering easier
Late 1990 – early 2000 – Porn industry establishes a successful internet distribution
2000 – 2003 – AmEx and Paypal stop processing porn transactions, Yahoo removes porn banners from search
Current - technology makes it really easy to develop high quality porn and find an audience for it
"Everyone in edmonton enfield wood green
everywhere in north link up at enfield town station at 4 o clock sharp!!!!," it began.
"Start leaving ur yards n linking up with your
niggas. Fuck da feds, bring your ballys and your bags
trollys, cars vans, hammers the lot!!"
“if you are competing with the darknet, you must compete on the darknet’s
own terms: that is convenience and low cost rather than additional security”
DivX v1
Napster June 1999
“i liked the old Napster it was very user
friendly and had great music selection”
“Napster was the greatest program, you could find all the music
new and old on it”
“If there are subverted hosts, then content will leak into the darknet.”
“I’d rather they steal Office than pay for something else.”
Walled Gardens
“In the presence of an infinitely efficient darknet – which allows
instantaneous transmission of objects to all interested users – even
sophisticated DRM systems are inherently ineffective.”
Palladium
ERM vs. DRM Bitlocker
You CAN protect some of the stuff some of the time. You can’t protect all
of the stuff all the time forever.
“there will be short-term impediments to the effectiveness of the darknet as a distribution mechanism, but ultimately the darknet-genie will not be put back
into the bottle.”
Barrel Proofing
Desktop printing 1983- Type
Processor One
1984 - Commercial
offering by Best, adoption explodes
1985 - Apple Laser printer &
Pagemaker introduced
1986 - GEM-based Ventura Publisher
for MS-DOS computers
1986 - Desktop Publishing moved
to the home market
Desktop printing software grows –
coreldraw, QuarkXpress et al
Sales of printers and All-in-ones worldwide,
2000-2009
Darknets exist because somebody somewhere is attempting to tax,
throttle or block the flow of information.
What about the FUTURE?
3D Printing and…
…Guns
…Knives
…Forks
…Baby Stroller Parts
…Drugs
…DNA
Surveillance
Drones
Terrorism & Public Safety
Boston Marathon bombings show us the strengths and limitations of
controls and unregulated information flow.
How will the Darknet change?
• Nodes will become links
• Namespace becomes infinitely distributed
• Content self distributes
• Content can become the darknet itself through steganography and encryption
Proposals
Accept that we cannot control the flow of information.
Education is critical.
Educate natives as natives – don’t try to turn them into tourists. (FB Wall
experience)
Elect some natives. We have a couple of years. Let’s get on it.
Build neutral, non-biased tech. Like, oh, services that actually help people
connect and interact with other people without inherent bias.
The more robust the end nodes, the less awful the bottom half of the
internet will become.
Diplomacy Requires Compromise (I’m sorry about DVD regionalization)
Lunatic Fringe Alt People Mainstream Alt People Lunatic Fringe
people
Deny Manage FUD Appease Delight Reward Delight Appease FUD Manage Deny
access
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