Internet freedom in the age of information: The time for Substratum is now
In the age of information, free and open access to the internet should be a reality for everyone. The internet is an invaluable tool for the individual; to create and access limitless amounts of information, to connect with anyone globally, to build their own enterprise, to write their own story, to share their opinion, and much much more.
Yet in this age of information, free and open access to the internet is under attack. In December of 2017, FCC officials voted to repeal net neutrality in the United States. This will allow internet service providers, or ISPs, to speed up any site, as well as slow down, or block altogether the sites they choose - effectively allowing ISPs to censor the internet.
This dangerous precedent may one day lead to the censoring of information along political, social, and ideological lines. ISPs may one day control the social and political narrative by restricting access to what they deem right and eliminating what they deem wrong. In a country where the first amendment guarantees a citizen’s right to free speech, this censorship is unacceptable. This should be unacceptable not only to people of the United States, but to all free-thinking people globally.
Recently, both China and Russia have began to tighten their control over the internet as well. China, with the largest population of any country, is infamous for its “Great Firewall” - the restrictive digital barrier that limits its citizens access to websites and information, most notably websites such as Google and Youtube. The Great Firewall can at the moment be defeated through the use of a virtual private network, or VPN. However, this will soon change as China will move to officially ban non-government-approved VPNs by the end of March, 2018. Russia, in similar fashion, has moved to ban VPNs by November 1st.
The internet should be a tool of liberation, education, innovation, and connection. It should be used for the betterment of humanity - not as a tool for the thought police to control the creation and access to information.
Enter Substratum
Substratum is a project being developed by the software company of the same name, based in Delaware, Ohio. Substratum aims to solve internet censorship, and VPN-bans in a unique way.
The team intends to develop and distribute software that turns an everyday internet-user’s computer into a decentralized web-hosting server, called a SubNode. Thereby providing access to previously inaccessible content, no matter where the user is located geographically. Users will be incentivized to run a SubNode through the tokenized reward system, in which content-servers will be paid with the Substratum ERC20 token - SUB.
Second, Substratum intends to be a hosting service, much like Amazon Web Services, in which prospective businesses or individuals pay for their website to be hosted on the network. Sites that choose to host their domain names on the Substratum network do not pay a contract-based subscription fee - instead, they pay per request of content served, by the network of SubNodes with the SUB token. This incentivization is key in establishing a robust and truly decentralized network of content servers. This incentivization may prove to be the start of a basic income in the age the internet and the age of information.
The SubNode software will also act as a VPN by obfuscating the geo-location of both the end content-requester, and the person running the SubNode. Users running the SubNode will be able to anonymously and cryptographically surf the decentralized internet without fear of censorship, while serving decentralized content to others - all while being paid to do so.
The SubNode software will not be able to be defeated or censored, as, unlike a Torr data packet, which can be filtered by a website that chooses to block certain data packets, the SubNode disguises data as normal HTTP and HTTPS packets. HTTP and HTTPS are the foundations of internet communication protocols. Anyone who wishes to stop the Substratum network must either shut down access to the internet altogether, or reinvent the ways in which data is communicated across the world wide web.
Beta Testing
The SubNode software is currently in its closed beta phase, which began March 12. The team is allowing access to 100 new users, who have requested access to their beta software, a day. This will continue until the team has enough information to successfully and confidently move to the next phase - public beta release. The current private beta release only encompasses HTTP sites. The public beta release, however, will serve both HTTP and HTTPS sites. Upon public beta release, the team will publish their source code, which will be available to all who wish to review it.
Once released, users will be able to securely and openly access all content across the internet, regardless of laws and geographic location. Users will be laying the foundation for the mass adoption of the platform, and attract prospective businesses and websites to host their domain names on the Substratum network. This will also spur innovation and monetization across the platform. This includes projects such as CryptoPay - an electronic payment gateway that retailers can implement on their business’ website. CryptoPay uses the SUB token as a bridge between the consumer’s cryptocurrency payment method, and the retailer’s preferred currency of choice, which can be any crypto or fiat currency.
The Time is Now
By running the SubNode software upon its public release you will be participating in the open, fair, and decentralized internet. You, as well as thousands or perhaps even millions of others globally will provide a much needed boon to humanity. The benefits and justifications for participation are not only financial, but philosophical as well.
It may be too late to overturn the recent vote on net neutrality and wrest control from the internet service providers in the United States. It may be too late to convince the governments of China, and Russia to allow unrestricted access to VPNs and content across the web. But it may be the perfect time for Substratum to solve all of these problems and more.
