Fostering Internet Innovation

CORDIS News (12/02/13)
The European Union-funded enabling innovation in the Internet architecture through flexible flow-processing extensions (CHANGE) project is working to accelerate the introduction of core technologies across the network, and also to enable completely new developments, which should result in a better, more efficient Internet. CHANGE researchers want to develop a novel, flow-processing network architecture, making it possible to perform specific processing for some flows but not for others, which would enable developers to overcome the major barriers to the Internet's evolution. A key facet of CHANGE is that the platforms under development can be assembled from standard hardware that is scalable, powerful, and flexible. Open-standard technology will direct traffic flows that need special processing through a set of specific platforms, allowing faster innovation and the deployment of new network technologies. The researchers' overall goal is to develop a broad Internet architecture that combines multiple communicating flow-processing platforms, on which application-specific virtual networks can be built. The researchers say this will accelerate development of innovative products and services on the Internet and lower reduce network costs. They plan to validate the new architecture by testing it with novel applications and services.
http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&RCN=36297

Group Thinks Anonymity Should Be Baked Into the Internet Itself

Technology Review (11/26/13) David Talbot 

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has asked the architects of Tor networking software, which is designed to ensure privacy of Internet browsing, to convert the technology into an Internet standard. The wide adoption of such a standard would facilitate easy inclusion of Tor in a broad range of consumer and business products, and consequently allow far more people to browse the Web without being identified by eavesdroppers. "I think there are benefits that might flow in both directions," says Trinity College's Stephen Farrell. "I think other IETF participants could learn useful things about protocol design from the Tor people, who've faced interesting challenges that aren't often seen in practice. And the Tor people might well get interest and involvement from IETF folks who've got a lot of experience with large-scale systems." When someone installs Tor on their computer and takes other precautions, it provides that system with a directory of relays, or network points, whose owners have volunteered to manage Tor traffic. Tor then guarantees that the user's traffic takes additional steps through the Web. The previous computer address and routing information get encrypted at each stop, so the final destination only sees the address of the most recent relay, and none of the previous ones.

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Build Your Own Internet With Mobile Mesh Networking

Technology Review (07/09/13) Tom Simonite 

Flinders University researchers have developed Serval, an app that creates a mesh network, enabling nearby phones to link up using their Wi-Fi connections, as long as they have been modified to disable the usual security restrictions. Serval enables voice calls, text messages, file transfers, and more to take place between devices, even if they are not in range of one another to communicate normally. "We're trying to dramatically increase the usability and take this out of the geekosphere," says Commotion Wireless project leader Sascha Meinrath. The project is developing several software packages that enable people to create mesh networks using low-cost Internet and networking hardware. The networks offer free Internet access by extending the reach of free connections offered by community centers, as well as Web services and apps that function only within the local mesh. The Commotion Wireless project also is developing mesh software for people that cannot use conventional connectivity because it is not safe, such as political dissidents. The researchers are adapting an encrypted chat program called Cryptocat so it can be used to communicate securely across a local mesh network.

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Your Gadgets Are Slowly Breaking the Internet

Technology Review (01/09/13) David Talbot 

Ever-mounting numbers of wireless devices are straining Internet capacity, and a number of U.S. labs aim to address this problem, with the overarching challenge being a Web overhaul to accommodate an anticipated 15 billion network-linked devices by 2015. Among the concepts under development is reworking networks to acquire data from the nearest location rather than from a data center at a fixed address. The University of California, Los Angeles' Named Data Networking (NDN) project would assign addresses to data packets that stress the information they contain in addition to the IP addresses of their point of origin and their destination. Such codes could effect easy exchange of data directly between devices, and this approach could allow cryptographic attachment of security and privacy settings directly to the data, instead of depending on antivirus programs, firewalls, and similar measures. Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientist David Clark says the NDN project "really changes the underlying model of what a network does. It replaces communication among end points with access to data, wherever it may be." New Internet architectures also could enable devices to attach to multiple networks simultaneously.

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Internet Anti-Censorship Tools Are Being Overwhelmed by Demand

Washington Post (10/22/12) James Ball

The overwhelming popularity of U.S.-backed programs to thwart online censorship is limiting access to the tools in repressive countries because demand is creating bottlenecks and there is insufficient funding to expand capacity.  The United States invests about $30 million annually in Internet freedom, with the government funding nonprofits and other developers of software that can be downloaded by users in nations where censorship is rampant.  But China, Iran, and other countries are stepping up their efforts to stifle Internet freedom, prompting proponents to urge the Obama administration to ratchet up its own initiatives.  Calls for the Broadcasting Board of Governors to boost Internet freedom spending are being weighed against congressional pressures for the agency to reduce its budget significantly.  Officials privately say the funding issues are mired in security and political concerns.  Internet freedom activists say the development of online censorship bypassing tools is partly challenged by the need to determine the amount to invest now to help users avoid detection, versus how much to invest on more complex future projects that could keep up with censorship technology.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/online-tools-to-skirt-internet-censorship-overwhelmed-by-demand/2012/10/21/390457a2-082d-11e2-858a-5311df86ab04_story.html

University of Minnesota Engineers Invent New Device That Could Increase Internet Download Speeds

UMNews (10/02/12) Matt Hodson

A device that controls light could lead to faster Internet downloading speeds, more affordable Internet transmission costs, and lower power consumption.  Scientists and engineers at the University of Minnesota developed the microscale device, which uses force generated by light to flip a mechanical switch of light on and off at a very high speed.  "This device is similar to electromechanical relays but operates completely with light," says professor Mo Li.  In the device, the force of light is so strong that its mechanical property can be dominated completely by the optical effect rather than its own mechanical structure.  The effect is amplified to control additional colored light signals at a much higher power level.  "This is the first time that this novel optomechanical effect is used to amplify optical signals without converting them into electrical ones," Li notes.  Glass optical fibers carry multiple communication channels using different colors of light assigned to different channels.  In optical cables, these multi-hued channels do not interfere with each other, ensuring the efficiency of a single optical fiber to transmit more information over very long distances.  The new optical relay device operates 1 million times per second, but researchers expect to improve it to several billion times per second.

http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2012/UR_CONTENT_412865.html

Iran Preparing Internal Version of Internet

Washington Post (09/20/12) James Ball
                ; Benjamin Gottlieb

The Iranian government reportedly has established a technical platform for a national online network that would exist independent of the Internet and allow for tighter information regulation.  The network's development has been accelerated by cyberattacks targeting Iran's nuclear program, according to Iranian officials and outside experts.  A forthcoming report from U.S. security researchers working under the aegis of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Global Communications Studies found functional versions of the sites of Iranian government ministries, universities, and businesses on the network, as well as indications of an operational filtering capability.  The researchers note the network already is "internally consistent and widely reachable."  The findings have sparked concerns not just about human rights violations but also about Internet integrity, says the U.S. State Department's David Baer.  "When countries section off parts of the Web, not only do their citizens suffer, everyone does," Baer says.  With the infrastructure for a self-contained, Iran-only Internet in place, the government would have more power to suppress online access during periods of civil unrest.  Retired U.S. National Security Agency deputy director Cedric Leighton says the construction of a national network could give government-supported hackers more capabilities to launch and repulse cyberattacks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/iran-preparing-internal-version-of-internet/2012/09/19/79458194-01c3-11e2-b260-32f4a8db9b7e_story.html

The Future of the Internet Is?a la Carte

NCSU News (08/09/12) Matt Shipman

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) recently asked a team of researchers from North Carolina State University (NCSU), the University of Massachusetts, the University of Kentucky, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to develop the key components for a networking architecture that could serve as the backbone of a new Internet that gives users more choices about which services they use.  "Ultimately, this should make the Internet more flexible and efficient, and will drive innovation among service providers to cater to user needs," says NCSU professor Rudra Dutta.  NSF says the new Internet architecture will hinge on users being able to make choices about which features and services they want to use.  The architecture should encourage alternatives by providing different types of services, which would enable users to select the service that best meets their needs.  The architecture also should enable users to reward service providers that offer superior services, which will encourage innovation.  Finally, the architecture must be able to give users and service providers the ability to exchange information about the quality of the service being provided.

http://web.ncsu.edu/abstract/technology/wms-internet-principles/