The Era of Internet Freedom Is Here

The Internet as we know it is broken.

From the tired old protocols to the oligarchs who sell, meter, and spy on the bandwidth they supply to you, the current internet that we all rely on every day is far from working as intended. We at Skycoin believe in a future where access to an open internet is a basic human right. There is an alternative to the legacy internet as we know it. The solution is Skywire — a cheaper, faster, democratized internet, free from prying eyes and bad actors.

Skywire is the dawning of a new era with the advancement of Internet 3.0.

A Better Internet Deserves Better Protocols

Overall, the internet today functions pretty well however most internet traffic today runs on inefficient Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) communication protocols. These protocols are more than 40 years old and are not well suited for modern communication speed and bandwidth demands, especially for decentralized applications.

TCP interprets any packet loss as a signal of network congestion and automatically scales back connection speed to alleviate congestion. Additionally, IP-based routing is slow and computationally expensive, requiring each node to independently look up the next routing location for sending the packet.

Skywire is a mesh network, meaning that it is comprised of thousands of nodes in diverse geographic locations, all connected to each other to transmit internet traffic. This network of nodes creates a spider web effect, such that when one node goes down, the other nodes continue to operate as if nothing happened. This is a truly decentralized, fairly distributed and more resilient internet protocol. Mesh networks operate differently than traditional centralized networks and present an opportunity to make necessary and long overdue changes to the global internet infrastructure.

The Skywire communication protocol uses Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), rather than TCP/IP, to enable highly-scalable and high-performance transport of any data across any medium. With MPLS, routes through the network are determined prior to sending traffic.

Imagine that your postman is delivering a package and does not have access to GPS. The postman would need to use a map and hand-trace the route to take in order to get the package to your house. Painful, right? That’s essentially how TCP/IP currently functions. It is disorganized, inefficient, and comes at the cost of the end user. On the other hand, MPLS would be like utilizing traffic-aware and route-optimizing GPS for the postman so that the package could be routed to you as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Skywire’s communication protocol also provides privacy and security advantages over TCP/IP. Each node on a packet’s route can only see the previous hop and the next hop for that packet, not the source, destination, or the content. This is a significant improvement over IPv4, where anyone handling a packet can see both the destination, the source, and worst-of-all, any unencrypted data.

It is time to raise our internet to a higher standard, replacing these stagnant protocols with adaptive ones that will better serve the needs of the free, interconnected world.

ISPs Are The Embodiment Of The Internet’s Biggest Flaws

In many areas of the United States and around the world, there is essentially no competition or choice for the provider of internet bandwidth to your home or business. This brings about the biggest issue that always arises when there is a monopoly on a resource: every aspect of the resource sold to you by your ISP is done so on their terms, not yours.

There is no reprieve from the increasingly aggressive terms that ISPs demand in order for you to simply have basic service and connect to the internet. From being locked into a contract as long as you’re able to pay only to have your online activity tracked and provided to the highest bidder — or worse — the government, there are practically no protections or considerations for the consumer.

With Net Neutrality laws being overruled in the United States, the wins keep racking up for big-name providers via their large lobbying budgets. Without change, ISPs will continually be able to milk you for every last nickel and dime for the simple service required these days for everyday life and the needs of the evolving world.

Mesh networks can provide relief from this constant assault on the basic human right of access to the internet.

Mesh networks not only provide a cheap and efficient means for people to connect, they provide the community with a choice of what kind of internet we want to have. A mesh network can be controlled by the community of users, rather than an oppressive organization or government.

Using Skywire as a network backbone, consumers will have a better alternative for access to and control of the internet. Skywire will cost pennies on the dollar compared to current methods of getting bandwidth, without any type of locked-in contract commitment. The rate you pay will never spike, as it will remain tied to the amount of bandwidth you need and consume. In fact, with the Coin Hours mechanism of the Skycoin platform, you may never have to pay a single cent out of pocket for access to the network.

User data is the most valuable asset to the institutions currently providing service, as they can sell it an infinite number of times once they have it. You should have the right to keep personal data private and not monetized in a deceitful manner. With Skywire, your anonymity and the right to your data is guaranteed. Since Skywire is encrypted end-to-end at the packet level, you will never have to worry about monetization or interception and exposure of data.

There is a better future for the internet, one without ISPs or governments controlling or monitoring your bandwidth, and Skywire will make that future a reality. Your access to a fast, reliable, low-cost internet will be ensured with Skywire.

Mesh Networks Can Be Successful

Mesh networks have been tried in the past and have failed. The critical and common flaw in all current internet alternatives has been the lack of incentive for the user and for the operators of the network. These alternative networks are run by unpaid volunteers who provide valuable resources and receive nothing in return for their effort. This creates an unsustainable model as it means that the network is propped up purely by the wallets of the unpaid volunteers keeping it running.

Skywire solves this problem with its embedded payment protocol. With this protocol, every node effectively acts as a micro-ISP capable of automatic metering, billing, and settlement.

Even with an advanced payment protocol, a successful mesh network cannot stand on its own. For this reason, the Skycoin team is developing a suite of distributed applications including a decentralized and encrypted messenger service, a BBS platform, a VPN utility, a flagship video game and a cloud storage platform, to name a few, all using the Skywire network.

Skycoin’s vision is for utility to be the main driver of adoption of the network and platform.

In order to have consistent, continuously active users on Skywire we have to offer more than Skywire itself. All of these applications are currently in development, several already in testing phases, with the completion target in time for the Skywire main net launch.

Decentralization Empowers Us All

Many wise men have waxed poetic about freedom, liberty, and justice but the core tenets of these concepts are tied the fundamental principle that accountability and authenticity are requisite in a free world.

A free internet must be built on open protocols where accountability and authenticity are enforced by standards that do not betray the freedoms that the internet seeks to embrace.

An unarguable foundation of a neutral internet is that you should not need to surrender your private personal information to gain access to it.

The foundation of a free internet we believe isn’t certain, however, as the infrastructure has become centralized and monopolized, the practices of providers have become malicious. As more and more users seek to keep their information private, this same user data has become immensely valuable, therefore the enterprises in charge seek to harvest, consume, and sell as much of that same information as possible.

Hands Off — That’s My Data!

You know this because you’ve seen your recent Google search advertised to you directly on other websites you visit and your data is being utilized to improve that company’s bottom line via directly interested parties. But, hey, you needed a keyboard and were shown a pretty good one that you ended up buying, so you don’t mind, right? Actually, many don’t mind, but hopefully that will change in due time because it’s not the advertiser you’re hiding from, it’s the internet itself.

Since you’re a customer, you are not concerned that a company knows that you like their products, rather you are afraid that some malicious party bought or stole that information. The information era is here, and many are feeling the “death of a thousand cuts” of having so much of their private information exchanged between services without their knowledge.

The base layers of the centralized internet enable rampant abuse of information because there is no alternative system for operators to be compensated to provide the service for the network. Without a balanced economic foundation, a network is doomed to malicious monopolization.

The only way monopolies are stopped in the modern world is to have a government intervene….think about that. We would need a larger centralized body to regulate a smaller yet powerful centralized body for getting too big, that rarely actually happens. Skywire solves this and presents a viable alternative.

Skywire: The Foundation Of Freedom

A free internet, one that respects privacy and encourages interconnectivity, requires independent, honest, fair compensation for its operators. As distributed applications become more prominent, there will need to be a means for these applications to communicate and interoperate safely and securely without incurring unfair costs. The decentralized future won’t work without a means of connecting that embraces our freedom and encourages expansion and adventure. Skywire’s information protocol will set us free through the fundamental core economic solution of fair compensation for work.

The Skywire network has an adaptive payment system embedded within the base protocol layer that enables operators of any speed, shape, or size to individually contribute to and participate in the network at a fair rate. This innovation in technology has provided us with a unique opportunity to build a new foundation for freedom.

The Skycoin Platform Was Made For This

Today there are more than 1,500 cryptocurrency projects listed on the free market, and even more operating behind closed doors. Most of them offer nothing unique, have no means to execute their vision, and have their market value made up out of hot air and speculation.

In the long test ahead for the cryptocurrency world, there will only be a few winners and many, many losers. It is our belief that the coins which will succeed in the long run are those that are backed by commodities as well as utility. Much as the U.S. dollar used to be backed by gold, there needs to be real monetary value behind a currency for the currency to have a value that goes beyond faith and speculation.

Skywire offers true value for Skycoin, where the commodity that backs Skycoin is internet bandwidth, file storage, and computational power. Through Skycoin’s Coin Hours mechanism, these resources will be available through the Skycoin ecosystem. Skycoin’s value will be guaranteed when these commodities grow in value and volume as we shift to a more directly connected world. Bandwidth will be the primary commodity of Skywire. Added value will come from multiple commodity-backed projects, like precious minerals and physical goods, running on the Skywire backbone shortly after launch, and growing as adoption rises.

Skywire is Truly Yours to Build Upon Using Skycoin

By distributing the network through an infrastructure capable of serving an infinite number of users and their vast need for interconnectivity, the Skycoin platform will run freely on an internet with no master.

Skywire’s existence is now a matter of finality, and once it goes online it can never be taken down.

There is no network attack capable of striking the foundation of Skyminers being distributed around the globe. Not even a state of complete physical disaster and limited connectivity, like Puerto Rico still faces today, will be able to bring down the fully decentralized mesh network when Skywire’s final foundations are complete, as there are no centralized points of failure like we have with ISPs.

Skycoin will leverage the indestructible nature of Skywire to build the most reliable distributed application service network on Earth, enabling the blockchain’s innovations with decentralization to free us from the chains that bind. The Skycoin platform will service everything from simple applications to important independent ecosystems.

Skywire will serve as the foundation for the world’s most critical services, like energy and financial services, to remain functioning during even the most catastrophic conditions.