If researchers (who have the US govt blessing) have their way, the possibility is that the Internet may be scrapped and replaced with a more efficient model in the future. Although right now, everything moves on the Web as in “business as usual,” there are already ongoing experiments with new models, one of which is called GENI (Global Environment for Network Innovations) to replace the existing Web infrastructure from the inside out.
There’s an article that talks more of this in MSN news.
Apparently, the existing Web is riddled with weaknesses that are partly the reason why spammers and hackers continue to thrive, and not get caught yet. The original Internet infrastructure was not designed to cope with spammers, because it was built for peer to peer researchers who knew each other and connected from fixed locations – unlike today. All the existing security add-ons and mobile surfing ability of the Web are just “band-aids,” according to them, and will collapse if more users switched to mobile surfing and such.
Will this “new Internet” be for better or worse? That’s the question.
How long this change is implemented is unknown, but according to them, it may take anything between 10-15 years ( a lifetime on the Web). From the looks of it, this “new Internet” is supposed to improve security and usability, but at the same time, I have doubts. If spammers cannot hide, then that means privacy concerns are going to be an issue for every single Web user – legal or illegal. Also, is it just a move on the part of powerful telcos to solidify their control of the Web, and introduce “zones?” A new set of infrastructure would just make it easier to monitor everything, and ….control everything.