Talking about internet business in Indonesia is really stressful for me. It is true that there are a lot of facilities and simplicity which help us, but there are things that we all have to confront as well, especially about security and privacy. True, it is very annoying, but if take a look at it furthermore, we can see that actually the real issue is about monopoly and capitalist dominancy of its business. They can do whatever they want for their own benefits, while we all the users could only use and pay and do not have power to control anything. We can not even get any compensations when suddenly there is some problems with the connections, we still have to pay no matter what happened. For me, this is terrible and definetely, I want to stop it.
I could say about this because of my own experience. In 2003 I was asked to get interviewed by PLN (Indonesia State Electricity Enterprise) which is Indonesian government-owned corporation which has a monopoly on electricity, to work with them. They had a new subsidiary company that have vision to provide internet through electricity that could help a lot of people throughout Indonesia to have access to internet. It will be much cheaper as well since they do not have to invest that much for the infrastructure. I did not take the job which made me have to get an image as a “snob” since there were a lot of others who craved to get that job and willing to do everything, while I refused it even though I got the over. The reasons for me was so easy, I was pretty sure that project will never happened. There is another state enterprise that has a monopoly on teleccomunication, including internet, and they will not just stand still and accept it easily. And I was right, internet via electrity program was stopped and forgotten.
Another experience that I have is when I tried to sell a new technology of internet which used in United States and another developed countries, it is from Vivato. Well, I was working with Siemens Telecommunications Office and a company that manufacture microchip for a lot of IT products, that was the reasons why I got involve with this kind of business. Anyway, this Vivato product at that time could help a lot of people to get access to internet as well as to have a much cheaper price. I and my partner sent some of the equipments to Indonesia and let a couple of company to test it, including Telkom, the Indonesia State Telecommunication Enterprise. They liked the technology, but they did not want to use it for several main reasons. What was the most ridicolous for me was in fact, it was about the security and the price. They did not allow a certain “closed” frequency to be used, though it was important for our country security, such as for our defence and airports. About the price, they did not think they should lower the price of the internet though there will be a lot of eficiency. I could not do anything but shallow all the reasons with anger in my mind and my heart.
That is why I do not surprised if today we have to have security and privacy dillemmas that caused by internet my experience long before the explosions of internet users in Indonesia, I knew that this is going to be happened. Especially when all of big tellecommunication enterprises, state-owned and private, were sold to another country and very much involved with the politics. If this is continued, I dont even dare myself to imagine about it. We need to do something, changes is very crucial and needed. I would never ever be able to die in peace if there is nothing that we can do about this.
I am glad when I got introduced to blockchain technology by a close friend of mine. I made my own reasearch and learned about it, I still do at the moment, with hopes that blockchain could make a real changes for a better world and future. When I read about decenternet (Dnet) at https://decenternet.com, I have to be honest, I jumped from my sit even when I just read its surfce. It said “The Decenternet(a.k.a. Dnet) is an alternative P2P permanent hyperspeed neutral decentralized internet infrastructure platform solution unbound by politics and oppression”. I was instantly fall in love with Dnet with that phrase and for sure I read all about it, I don’t want to miss it!
You can also read about it in more details and its white paper at https://decenternet.com and ANUVYS website at https://anuvys.com. You can also follow Dnet from Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Decenternet200962407141047/, Twitter: https://twitter.com/dnet_official, and join Dnet Telegram Group: https://t.me/dnetofficial.
This is something that I was waiting for quite a long time, and it is a solution for us in Indonesia and the whole world who have to deal with internet dillemas and problems, especially with those issue of monopoly and capitalist dominancy of this particular business. I do not have to wait for the changes, I could get involve in it with Dnet. If John Lennon still alive at the moment, I could say to him, “Let’s get out of that yellow submarine, Mate! We have a solution!”.
Bandung, 8 July 2018
Warm Regards,
Mariska Lubis