Kort Explores conundrums of the human condition

Broadband Internet connections (DSL, Cable, etc.) are becoming increasingly popular. While the technical details of the Gateway I built to handle Overall Technology's DSL line might be of interest to a few readers, it seems to me that the potential impacts on information flow and availability, resulting from the proliferation of broadband Internet access, would be of wider interest.

Most people don't realize that an "always-on" connection will require a firewall to keep cyber vandals from breaking into their computers. Things get a lot more complicated when you want to share a broadband connection between multiple computers on a protected local area network, such as in a small office - or as is becoming increasingly common - in a multi-computer household. Then you need a gateway with a set of proxy servers to get through the firewall.

The easiest way to implement an HTML proxy server on a gateway is to use the Apache web-server that is commonly included with the Linux operating system. The easiest way to get email through the gateway's firewall is to use the sendmail mail server that also comes with the operating system. The key technical aspect is that Overall's Gateway is built out of the same software components used by many commercial ISPs, and the majority of web-servers on the Internet. Once you have a stable Internet address, all you need to turn your "introvert" gateway into an "extrovert" active web and mail server, is a domain name registered to your gateway's IP address.

One of the primary reasons I needed to build Overall Technology's gateway was to be able to do things that I couldn't do on a commercial ISP's system - things like processing compressed bursts of encrypted binary data sent to nonstandard ports on specialized back-end servers, and providing a web front end for the dynamically interactive logic engine of the Issues computer aided conflict resolution system.

The key is control. If I own the server, I can control both what the server does and what information I want to offer to the outside world. If I want to put a webpage on-line, all I have to do is copy it into a directory accessible by Overall's web-server. There is no "controlling authority" between my words and their availability on my web-server, other than my own enlightened self-interest.

We now have at least the potential for literally millions of active web and mail servers, under the direct physical control of independent individuals, being connected to the Internet on theoretically the same basis as any other "name brand" website or mail server. We also have a growing and highly competitive industry offering an expanding range of Internet access options over a variety of media - including wireless. The proliferation of ways to access the Internet, coupled with the dynamic anarchism of a self-configuring network that was originally designed to work around the "disruption" of a nuclear war, should ensure that unrestricted connections will remain available - even if the major ISP's sell out to the "protect the children" censors and the secret police.

Some people will no doubt be horrified at the thought that anyone can put anything they want on a publicly accessible website, simply by putting a file on the privately owned and controlled inexpensive personal computer sitting in their living room. No doubt some people will use the further dispersion of information technology to put vile and disgusting materials on their websites. No doubt some people will attempt to promote scams, revisionist history, advocate the most obscene or insane practices and policies, and engage in every other abuse that can be imagined.

I submit that the benefits of empowering the individual, and undermining the ability of the liberal dominated "old guard" capital-intensive print and broadcast mass media to manipulate public opinion through control over the availability of information, will far outweigh any downside resulting from "too much freedom" in the hands of individuals.

On the other hand, there are an estimated 800 million webpages currently on the Internet, but even the best search engines have only indexed at most 200 million of them.