Submissions/Networking in an untrusted world

After careful consideration, the Programme Committee has decided not to accept the below submission at this time. Thank you to the author(s) for participating in the Wikimania 2014 programme submission, we hope to still see you at Wikimania this August.

Submission no. 5032

Title of the submission: Networking in an Untrusted World

Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop): Presentation (and breakout session for deeper technical discussion)

Author of the submission: Johan Koekepan

E-mail address: wikidotcsmctmto.arlyle.com

Username: jkoekepan

Country of origin: USA

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.): no

Personal homepage or blog: none

Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)

The Wikimedia vision is under threat in a surveillance-dominated world. Those people who could benefit the most, often stand to lose the most owing to subversion of networks by authorities, criminal organisations, or intolerant fringe groups.

This presentation presents the nature of the problem, the root causes in the IPv4 and IPv6 worlds, a technical proposal for networking technology which works around these problems, and how it could be achieved and put into practice. In the end there is a call to action. In addition, there is a presentation for a technical breakout session which should address the key feasibility questions, some analysis for efficiency questions, and approaches to bridging and migration. There is also a discussion of the limitations and the scope of the system.

The main presentation itself starts with a description of the key vulnerabilities in current networking, with a thumbnail sketch of well-publicised attacks, weaknesses and real world consequences.

The next stage is an examination of why these problems even exist, and can exist, in our current infrastructure, and how and to what extent they can be mitigated or worked around, and a demonstration that those workarounds are limited and ultimately inadequate. There is a discussion of how the organisational centralisation of IP administration is a key weakness of its design as it stands today, and how bad actors can subvert or rearrange the network to suit their needs. This is a keystone element in understanding why changes are necessary for the wikipedian vision of global access to information.

In the end the key features of a replacement arise from the established weaknesses of the status quo. These features are briefly elaborated upon, with a high level overview of how they can be implemented in the real world, and offering a vision to a semi technical audience of how the open source, open information, open access community can fix the problems created by a closed, authoritarian power structure. The intended audience is very broad, with no reliance on strong technical background or knowledge. The terms of discussion are broad and approachable.

In the technical breakout presentation, which is intended to kick off productive discussion and even offer a launchpad for interested parties in the development community, some of the thornier feasibility questions are analysed and the particular virtues of the alternative approach are highlighted. The intended audience for this part is explicitly technical, whether as programmers, security experts, computer science analysts or otherwise.

Track

* Technology, Interface & Infrastructure

Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long): 30 Minutes

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

A volunteer (current wikipedian and repeat conference attendee) will be presenting my work in any case. Travel limitations prevent me from reaching London.

Slides or further information (optional)

I already have a slide deck set up, and a second one for introducing the technical breakout session, if one should be desired.

Special requests

Please understand that a volunteer will present for me. I can make myself available via OpenMeetings server, Skype chat or similar for Q/A sessions.

Interested attendees

If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with four tildes. (~~~~).

--ralgis·/t/ 22:01, 17 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Slashme (talk) 14:08, 23 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Jasper Deng (talk) 09:17, 6 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
your name here