The document discusses the darknet as a network of technologies for sharing information and addresses various control measures by governments to limit its effectiveness. It argues that technology biases can lead to a concentration of power, advocating for neutral technologies that allow for better information flow. The future of the darknet is also speculated upon, emphasizing that education and the building of unbiased technology are essential for navigating its implications.

1. The Darknet & the Future of Everything*
Peter N. Biddle
@obs3sd

2. *
Public service Education
Gun control Government
Surveillance Drones
Robots Drugs
Digital Goods Physical Goods
Terrorism Privacy
Actions Ideas
The Future Thoughts

3. 2002

4. The darknet is “a collection of networks
and technologies used to share”

5. P2P

6. Sneakernet

7. Forums

8. Usenet

9. Facebook

10. Bitcasa

11. Twitter

12. namespace
links stuff
nodes

13. • Links – physical or virtual connections
• Nodes – points in the network
• Stuff – the things on the network
• Namespace – this tells us where stuff is

14. It’s a LOT like the internet.

15. Control
• Block the namespace • Control what happens
– Ex: shut down piratebay inside nodes
• Throttle throughput – Ex: don’t let users be
within links admin
– Ex: DPI • Make stuff inaccessible
– Ex: DRMed content

16. There is no way for technology to
permanently curb the darknet as long
as there is an internet (as we know and
love or hate it).

17. I know, I spent a few years trying…
• Storage Evangelist for MSFT starting Dec 1995
• DVD: Yay! Cool! VHRA and TRD! Boo! Hiss!
• CPTWG compromises: “user accessible busses”, 40 bit keys*,
working inside existing mask ROM, no internet connection
• DivX – so yeah, some people at MSFT wanted to go that way
• Disney & Warner “no content above 480p without fixing the
(analog and digital) holes”
• Trusted Windows – make Windows PCs as good at protecting
stuph as everyone else without destroying ecosystem
• CPTWG worked so let’s try formalizing and solving the music
problem (SDMI)

18. My conclusion: Biased technology
allows for the concentration of power,
which makes for more harm than good.
Neutral technology allows goodness to
triumph naturally.

19. people
Lunatic Fringe Alt People Mainstream Alt People Lunatic Fringe
access
Deny Manage FUD Appease Delight Reward Delight Appease FUD Manage Deny

20. “If the darknet is efficient, then content
will be rapidly propagated to all
interested peers.”

21. What do you mean by “rapidly”?

22. Poppies: ~4K years to get to this:
Federal Controlled
Substances Act of 1970
(17) The term “narcotic drug” means any of the following whether
produced directly or indirectly by extraction from substances of
vegetable origin, or independently by means of chemical synthesis,
or by a combination of extraction and chemical synthesis:
(A) Opium, opiates, derivatives of opium and opiates, including their
isomers, esters, ethers, salts, and salts of isomers, esters, and ethers,
whenever the existence of such isomers, esters, ethers, and salts is
possible within the specific chemical designation. Such term does
not include the isoquinoline alkaloids of opium.
(B) Poppy straw and concentrate of poppy straw.
(18) The term “opiate” means any drug or other substance having an
addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability similar to
morphine or being capable of conversion into a drug having such
addiction-forming or addiction-sustaining liability.
(19) The term “opium poppy” means the plant of the species
Papaver somniferum L., except the seed thereof.
(22) The term “production” includes the manufacture, planting,
cultivation, growing, or harvesting of a controlled substance.
(23) The term “immediate precursor” means a substance—
(A) which the Attorney General has found to be and by regulation
designated as being the principal compound used, or produced
primarily for use, in the manufacture of a controlled substance;
(B) which is an immediate chemical intermediary used or likely to be
used in the manufacture of such controlled substance; and
(C) the control of which is necessary to prevent, curtail, or limit the
manufacture of such controlled substance.

23. Porn
1953 – Hugh Hefner starts Playboy
1965 – Bob Guccione starts Penthouse
1969 – First mainstream movie, followed by many notable porn
movies

24. 1976 – VHS enables broad distribution
1984 – Early online distribution of porn
1986 – US attorney General Edwin Meese published 1960 page
report investigating porn at the order of the President
1994 – sex.com registered by Gary Kreman

25. 1997 – DVD Introduction & Pay per view makes high quality
distribution and rendering easier
Late 1990 – early 2000 – Porn industry establishes a successful
internet distribution
2000 – 2003 – AmEx and Paypal stop processing porn
transactions, Yahoo removes porn banners from search
Current - technology makes it really easy to develop high quality
porn and find an audience for it

26. Riots
http://haimbresheeth.com/gaza/2012/02/07/

27. "Everyone in edmonton
enfield wood green
everywhere in north link up
at enfield town station at 4
o clock sharp!!!!," it began.
"Start leaving ur yards n
linking up with your
niggas. Fuck da feds, bring
your ballys and your bags
trollys, cars vans, hammers
the lot!!"

28. “if you are competing with the darknet,
you must compete on the darknet’s
own terms: that is convenience and low
cost rather than additional security”

29. DivX v1

30. Napster
June 1999

31. “i liked the old Napster
it was very user
friendly and had great
music selection”
“Napster was the
greatest program, you
could find all the music
new and old on it”

32. “If there are subverted hosts, then
content will leak into the darknet.”

33. “I’d rather they steal Office than pay
for something else.”

34. Walled Gardens

35. “In the presence of an infinitely
efficient darknet – which allows
instantaneous transmission of objects
to all interested users – even
sophisticated DRM systems are
inherently ineffective.”

36. Palladium

37. ERM vs. DRM
Bitlocker

38. You CAN protect some of the stuff
some of the time. You can’t protect all
of the stuff all the time forever.

39. “there will be short-term impediments
to the effectiveness of the darknet as a
distribution mechanism, but ultimately
the darknet-genie will not be put back
into the bottle.”

40. Barrel Proofing

41. Desktop printing
1985 - Apple Laser 1986 - Desktop
printer & Publishing moved
1983- Type Pagemaker to the home
Processor One introduced market
1984 - 1986 - GEM-based Desktop printing
Commercial Ventura Publisher software grows –
offering by Best, for MS-DOS coreldraw,
adoption explodes computers QuarkXpress et al
Sales of printers and
All-in-ones worldwide,
2000-2009

42. Darknets exist because somebody
somewhere is attempting to tax,
throttle or block the flow of
information.

43. What about the FUTURE?

44. 3D Printing and…

45. …Guns

46. …Knives

47. …Forks

48. …Baby Stroller Parts

49. …Drugs

50. …DNA

51. Surveillance

52. Drones

53. Terrorism & Public Safety

54. Boston Marathon bombings show us
the strengths and limitations of
controls and unregulated information
flow.

55. How will the Darknet change?
• Nodes will become links
• Namespace becomes infinitely distributed
• Content self distributes
• Content can become the darknet itself
through steganography and encryption

56. Proposals

57. Accept that we cannot control the flow
of information.

58. Education is critical.

59. Educate natives as natives – don’t try
to turn them into tourists. (FB Wall
experience)

60. Elect some natives. We have a couple
of years. Let’s get on it.

61. Build neutral, non-biased tech. Like,
oh, services that actually help people
connect and interact with other people
without inherent bias.

62. The more robust the end nodes, the
less awful the bottom half of the
internet will become.

63. Diplomacy Requires Compromise
(I’m sorry about DVD regionalization)

64. people
Lunatic Fringe Alt People Mainstream Alt People Lunatic Fringe
access
Deny Manage FUD Appease Delight Reward Delight Appease FUD Manage Deny