This is the talk I presented at Reading Geek Night 27 on Jan 10th; the theme was the power of mobile computing and of real networking, and of how NAT, IPv4, DNS, and the typical provision of network access (eg: browsing over NAT) to the user – rather than network connectivity ie: full bidirectional internet access – is a strategic risk to individual communication, an increased opportunity for censorship, and a threat to the health of the Net at large.
Video
Notes
- I referenced Cory Doctorow’s The coming war on general computation in the Q&A session
- I referenced the tremendously fast networking at TechHub in London, an environment where I am a enthusiastic visitor – plus the beer’s great! More #OpenSourceAle please! 🙂
- I alluded during discussion (no video) to Firefox plugins which bypass DNS takedowns; by coincidence they got some coverage on Boing Boing the day after the talk, but the one I was thinking of was MAFIAA-Fire
- I alluded to how measures to improve DNS Security are being undermined by US legislation to enable domain seizure (amongst other badness) – see also.
- One thing I’d like to clarify but which I don’t cover well in the video: the 20Mbit bidirectional bandwidth is when I’m connected to Wifi at somewhere with a fast network, but I am still NAT’ed behind a firewall. All the other ping probes and traceroutes shown are when I am connected over GSM, but yet again NAT’ed behind a firewall.
- What I want to highlight is the full server capability of the modern “smartphone” device – and that it is permanently hobbled by being stuck behind NAT for both GSM and domestic Wifi. Worse, people have come to expect this when in fact your
personal serverphone is more than capable of being fully attached to the Internet, 24×7, working for you.
Slides