h a l f b a k e r ynon-lame halfbakery tagline
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
Using either Bluetooh or Wi-fi, a free, wireless relay network an be used to access the Internet in areas with no actual net connection. It works like this.
Each laptop client keeps a record of sites in it's cache, and a record of other clients within range. When a site is requested, the software
checks all other clients to see if the site is available in their cache. If not, the request is relayed from client to client until a copy of the site is found. Only then is the site relayed back to the original requester. If no cache has the site, then a msg goes out that the request was unfulfilled, and anyone who is actually online can download the site to their cache in order to fulfill the request, in exchange for Rep.
By this method, free wireless ( though unsecured ) Internet will be available to anyone with a laptop.
OLPC - Mesh?
http://laptop.org/e...ware/features.shtml
[Dub, Aug 10 2009]
peer to peer caching (Google search results page)
http://www.google.c...+to+peer+cac&aqi=g2
[21 Quest, Aug 10 2009]
A discussion about widening the WiFi web
http://ieeexplore.i...f&authDecision=-203
[21 Quest, Aug 10 2009]
Free wireless file sharing
http://www.download...s-File-Sharing.html
[21 Quest, Aug 10 2009]
[link]
|
| |
wireless range is a couple hundred metres on a good day, and what happens when somebody turns their machine off ? [-] |
|
| |
Well I counted about 20 people on the train with laptops this morning. They were all within 100 meters.
What do you mean what happens when someone turns their machine off?? It goes off. |
|
| |
"access the Internet in areas with no actual net connection" |
|
| |
oh, you mean "mooch offa people who have a net connection" not "get Internet access in a blackout area". |
|
| |
[-] for the idea itself but [+] for the electronic equivalent of reading the neighbour's paper over his shoulder. |
|
| |
You call it mooching I call it sharing. Did you miss the part about Rep for the seeders? |
|
| |
how many Rep = a cup of coffee ? |
|
| |
Don't get me wrong, it's a cool notion; sorta distributed mini-ISP and cacheing. |
|
| |
? Laptops can already share their internet connection. |
|
| |
No i'm not talking about sharing Internet connections, that would use bandwidth which has to be paid for. I'm talking about sharing the cache, once the data is in the cache it is essentially free and can be shared without further payment.. |
|
| |
//once the data is in the cache it is essentially free//
can't have that; what about putting advertisements in with the shared data ? |
|
| |
How is this different than WiFi? In my town, there are open WiFi
networks everywhere. I went a week without carrier service on
my smartphone because I didn't pay my bill, yet during that
week I didn't go without internet much at all because of WiFi.
Sure, there are some gaps between open WiFi network
generators, as many networks are locked and require a
password, but there will still be gaps even with your idea. I
understand the cache thing, but people aren't likely to get much
out of mine because I have my smartphone set to clear the
cache everytime I exit the browser. This isn't being selfish, it
frees up memory. I don't think I'm the only person who does
this, and I doubt folks are going to stop their routine cache
clearing just to help out a mooch. I sure wouldn't. |
|
| |
//How is this different than WiFi? |
|
| |
Wifi is paid for by somebody. You are lucky to live in a place where that option is available. |
|
| |
Still sharing a cache is easily possible on a laptop - so the idea is about getting more people to do it. I think. |
|
| |
So is the internet in your idea, Simon. Somebody paid for the
bandwidth that was initially used to view that page. Even if
you're only viewing a cached copy, it was paid for at some point. |
|
| |
duh, so what? Pay once share many. Is this really so hard to understand? |
|
| |
does your contract with your ISP allow you to act as an ISP, yourself ? |
|
| |
It's his computer and his wireless card, there's no business relationship between cache consumers and the computer owner, and no physical role for the ISP in that connection. This doesn't involve the ISP; so why should it have a say? It's not like it has a copyright over the data it sent you! |
|
| |
First of all, Simon, let me assure you that I haven't fishboned
your idea yet. Second, I have a few questions about this idea,
which I'll try to politely outline. |
|
| |
First, when you say that the request for the cached copy is sent
from client to client, do you mean that my computer will
automatically send copies of my cache to any nearby computer
that pings it? Or is the request sent in the form of a message
that I read, which I can choose to respond to or deny? I would
be more inclined to accept your idea if I have direct control over
what my computer is sharing. |
|
| |
Second, given that cached pages are by their very nature
outdated, would the pages come with a date and timestamp so
you know how far out of date the information you're viewing is? |
|
| |
Third, why would you want to view out-of-date cached
webpages? Kinda defeats the point of having the internet,
doesn't it? |
|
| |
//First, when you say that the request for the cached copy is sent from client to client, do you mean that my computer will automatically send copies of my cache to any nearby computer that pings it? |
|
| |
Not quite. It sends the message that you have a copy of that page to all nearby computers, the actual page is only sent to the person requesting it. Sure you can switch sharing on or off for individual pages, but personally vetting every request would get a little time-consuming |
|
| |
// Second, given that cached pages are by their very nature outdated, would the pages come with a date and timestamp so you know how far out of date the information you're viewing is? |
|
| |
Yes all pages would be timestamped, and the most recent version would be sent. |
|
| |
// Third, why would you want to view out-of-date cached webpages? |
|
| |
Because an out-of-date page is better than no page at all. |
|
| |
Sounds like there's scope for all sorts of malicious shenanigans here by someone who knows how to insert fake pages into their cache. |
|
| |
To be fair, those shenanigans start not with caching but when you're using someone else's wireless - you don't know whether what you're looking at is the "real" internet, or some phisher's filtered, altered, harvested simulation of it. |
|
| |
knowing the contents of someone's cache can be the first step of a scam. |
|
| |
In the countryside, you could use farms as server farms. You
could probably also distribute aspects of the running of a
clandestine ISP among the farm assets, such as the combine
harvester also taking on the task of the routing. The cache
itself could be assigned to the animals, wearing individual
cantennae. Cows, it has been determined, always align
themselves magnetically along the same polar alignment.
Maybe they'd be the ideal place to put the storage. |
|
| |
I'm not sure, but I think this sounds similar to OLPC's mesh (network) might work. [linky] |
|
| |
I don't think it's a good idea for one's computer to send out a broadcast saying what pages are in one's cache, even if it's just the urls of those pages. Someone could take advantage of that info, and use it for a scam. |
|
| |
There are better ways of handling distributed data securely... hash trees come to mind. |
|
| |
Well I did mention it would only be for non-secure pages. News sites etc. |
|
| |
That OLPC link demonstrates almost exactly what I had in mind. |
|
| |
OK I just discovered Wireless Mesh Networks have already been invented, however using them to distribute cached web pages seems to be new |
|
| |
A quote from the Wikipedia article (see link) on P2P caching: |
|
| |
// P2P caching temporarily stores popular content that is flowing into an ISP's network. If the content requested by a subscriber is available from a cache, the cache satisfies the request from its temporary storage, eliminating data transfer through expensive transit links and reducing network congestion// |
|
| |
Not quite the same thing proposed here, I realize, but it seemed relevant to the discussion... |
|
| |
//WireleeGet allows you to copy and transfer shared files and folders quickly over networks such as Wi-Fi / Wireless LAN a.k.a WLAN. Those networks can be unreliable due to signal loss and bandwidth restriction by ISPs etc. It solves the problem of copying or transferring files using Windows Explorer which often fails due to the size of the file and instability of the network. It also works great for copy files and folders from one location to another on the local drives, or removable drives such as USB, CD-R(W)/DVD. There are no restrictions on the size of files moved or transferred as long as you have enough disk space.// |
|
| |