If information is the commodity of the Internet age then privacy of information will be the commodity of the crypto age.
It requires a special kind of ignorance to, in this day and age, be unaware of the degree to which one's privacy is being invaded on line. On the surface it might even seem beneficial to have your digital body language constantly read and analysed by the Internet behemoths such as Google, Facebook, Twitter et al. Talk about a new motorcycle over Whatsap or FB messenger and lo and behold, next time you are on line, you are inundated with motorcycle ads. How convenient. The Internet knows who your friends are and conveniently ensures their status updates and latest instagram posts reach you through the haze of grey information noise. Your friends and family conveniently receives updates of your whereabouts and activities while Google conveniently suggests the nearest restaurant which caters for your taste.
The fact is that every aspect of your life, likes, dislikes and dreams is gathered, analysed and used to shape your internet experience. Even your ISP (legally) gathers your browsing data and sells it to advertisers without your consent. The recent loss of net neutrality now allows those same ISP's to pick and choose the content you receive as well as the speed at which the content reaches you.
Along with the illusion of security, convenience is the most often used bait deployed to lure humanity into accepting the ever tightening noose of the global control matrix. Beyond targeted advertising lies the murky realms of state surveillance where an ill worded joke or reference to a forbidden subject gets you flagged and on a watchlist. While the logic of surveilling for references to bombs and poison in the water supply might still stand among some, the fact is that the list of forbidden subjects grows all the time to include what we would consider the mundane. We now live in a world where ordinary people are increasingly being targeted by SWAT teams and other instruments of state violence for partaking in what a reasonable person would consider the mundane.
Freedom is synonymous with responsibility and if we desire Internet freedom, we the people have to step up and assume the responsibility of ensuring the free and unhindered flow of information among ourselves. Fortunately, some incredible minds have been working on solving the problem of an increasingly centralised and controlled Internet since 2012. The Skycoin project is one of the oldest in the Cryptosphere and, besides being an altogether awesome and truly decentralised cryptocurrency, is heralding in the future of the free Internet. Free as in freedom, not free as in beer (apologies to mr Stallman).
Skycoin's Skywire is an incentivised meshent based on open design hardware and an entirely new set of privacy-centric protocols which ensures that all data on Skywire is encrypted by default from the link layer up without compromising on speed and performance. Apart from the incredible technological innovations, the genius of Skywire lies in the fact that participants in the network are rewarded in Skycoin for routing data and sharing bandwidth which means anybody now has the ability to be last mile ISP in what has been called the next evolutionary development of the Internet. Incentivisation drives uptake and the Skywire testnet already has in excess of 7000 active nodes globally.
The heart of Skywire is a custom piece of hardware known as a Skyminer. A Skyminer is essentially a router for the new internet and it can either be bought from Skycoin or built at home using commodity components with support from the community on the Skywug forum or one of the Skycoin Telegram channels.
Let us now consider some variables;
- It is clear that there is an increasing need for private, decentralised internet free from corporate control.
- Community owned mesh networks are increasingly seen as a viable solution.
- Skycoin offers a post meshnet, privacy-centric software defined networking solution.
- Skywire development is in an advanced stage with a live testnet.
- Unlike most meshnets, Skywire is incentivised which will drive adoption.
- Two batches of testnet participation payouts have been completed at the time of writing.
It should be clear that the Skycoin project is uniquely positioned to leverage an emerging commodity in the form of private and secure, decentralised information networking based on a unique set of technologies and methodologies. This sets it apart from most cryptos in that it's value is derived from more than mere speculation but from filling an actual growing need, something which is imperative for any project to succeed economically. Something which, in this writers opinion, makes a very strong case for sound investment.