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April 11, 2023

The Evolution Towards A More Secure, Private, And Sovereign Internet

Today, the Internet is a ubiquitous part of our daily lives, and it continues to evolve. As we continue to innovate and collaborate, we can build a better, more secure digital future for all.

The Internet has undergone a natural evolution from its early days as a fragmented network of computers, to the vast interconnected web of infrastructure and platforms we know today. This has shaped the way we communicate, work, and live. With each passing decade, new technologies and protocols have emerged to address growing concerns about cybercrime, surveillance, and censorship. Let's take a closer look at each phase of this evolution and how ThreeFold is taking action for the next step.

🔗1960s to 1980s: Internet's Early Days

The Internet as we know it began as a project of the US Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in the 1960s, with the aim of creating a communication network that could withstand a nuclear attack. The network was designed to be decentralized, so that if one node was destroyed, the network could still function. The result was a decentralized system that allowed computers to communicate with each other over long distances, without relying on a central server.

By the 1970s, the ARPANET (as it was then called) had grown to include dozens of nodes and was used by government agencies, educational institutions, and research organizations for communication and data sharing. However, it was still very much a fragmented network, and accessing information from one system to another was not easy. So, in the early 1970s, Ray Tomlinson developed the first email system, which enabled users to send messages between different computers on the ARPANET.

In the late 1970s, the TCP/IP protocol suite was developed, which enabled computers to communicate across different networks and laid the foundation for the global Internet. This was the dawn of the peer-to-peer concept. In the early 1980s, the Domain Name System (DNS) was developed, which provided a way to translate human-readable domain names into IP addresses, making it easier to access websites and other resources on the Internet. Finally, in 1989, Tim Berners-Lee developed the World Wide Web, which provided a user-friendly interface for accessing and sharing information on the Internet.

The early days of the Internet were a time of experimentation and innovation, as researchers explored new ways to connect computers and share data. This phase of the Internet was focused on building the underlying infrastructure of the network and establishing protocols for communication between computers.

🔗1990s & 2000s: Popularization & Commodification of the Internet

The 1990s marked a turning point in the Internet's evolution. The World Wide Web became the primary way people accessed information and connected with one another online. This new platform, which allowed users to easily access and share information, changed the Internet's use from an exclusive network for institutions and organizations to a tool accessible to the general public. As such, there was an explosion in its use, which allowed for the rise of e-commerce and online advertising – creating new business opportunities and changing the way we shop and consume media.

The emergence of new ways to interact online in the 1990s and early 2000s further popularized the Internet. Companies such as Amazon, eBay, and Yahoo! capitalized on this trend, creating a massive online market for goods and services. The further commodification of the Internet led to the rise of tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

This phase of the Internet was thus marked by the consolidation of power in the hands of a few large companies who controlled the infrastructure and thus access to information and data. The introduction of social media created new ways for people to connect and share information, but it also enabled the spread of misinformation and misuse of data. Some companies began to build their businesses on the collection and analysis of user data to sell advertising, which started raising concerns about data ownership, privacy, and security.

The 2000s also saw the rise of cybercrime and surveillance on the Internet. Cybercriminals began to exploit vulnerabilities in websites and software to steal sensitive information like credit card numbers, passwords, and personal data. Governments also started to monitor online activities in the name of national security. This led to the development of more advanced security protocols like HTTPS and VPNs to protect users' privacy and data.

The 2010s saw the rise of big data and social media, which brought a new set of privacy and security concerns. Issues such as data breaches, cyber attacks, and online harassment were becoming increasingly common as the Internet continued to evolve. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter collected vast amounts of data on their users, often without their explicit knowledge or consent. Governments continued to monitor online activities, and there were widespread reports of government surveillance and censorship.

These issues led to a growing awareness of the need for a more secure and privacy-centric Internet. This phase of the Internet was marked by growing concerns about data ownership, privacy, and security. The Cambridge Analytica scandal and the Equifax data breach are just a few examples of the risks associated with the commodification of user data. To combat these issues, new technologies like blockchain and decentralized networks began to emerge. These technologies promised to create a more secure and private Internet by removing centralized control and giving users more control over their data.

🔗2020s So Far: A Shift Towards Privacy and Sovereignty

The 2020s have seen a growing movement towards creating a more private and sovereign Internet. With continued concerns about data breaches, surveillance, and censorship, there has been a growing demand for more secure and private online services. Many people have started to switch to privacy-focused services like Signal and ProtonMail, which offer end-to-end encryption and other privacy protections.

Governments and tech companies are also starting to recognize the importance of privacy and sovereignty. The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) are examples of legislation that aim to protect users' privacy and give them more control over their data. Tech companies like Apple and Google are also introducing new privacy features in their products to give users more control over their data.

We are now seeing the emergence of Web3 technology, which aims to create a decentralized Internet that is more secure and private. Web3 is built on blockchain technology, which allows for decentralized control and eliminates the need for third-party intermediaries. This technology also enables the creation of user-centric digital twins, which are unique digital representations of individuals that can be used to authenticate their identity and provide secure access to online services.

Secure cloud technologies are also becoming increasingly important in the quest for a more secure and sovereign Internet. Cloud technologies provide scalable and reliable infrastructure for storing and processing data, but they also come with security risks. To address these risks, new technologies like confidential computing and secure enclaves are being developed to provide secure cloud environments that protect sensitive data from unauthorized access.

Together, these emerging technologies are driving a paradigm shift towards a more secure, private, and sovereign Internet. While there is still much work to be done to address the challenges of cybersecurity and privacy in the digital age, these developments are promising signs that we are moving in the right direction.

🔗Looking Ahead: Together We Build

Today, the Internet is a ubiquitous part of our daily lives, and it continues to evolve. As we continue to innovate and collaborate, we can build a better, more secure digital future for all. Already, we are seeing the emergence of new technologies, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, that promise to transform the Internet even further. As we move forward, we can expect to see more innovations and developments that aim to create a more secure, decentralized, and user-centric Internet that prioritizes privacy, data ownership, and security.

On our side, at ThreeFold, we see that many of the solutions being presented today are mere band-aids, without addressing the root of the problems of what the Internet has become. Our founders, who were early Internet pioneers themselves, along with a dedicated team, are building the infrastructure for tomorrow’s Internet. One that takes inspiration from the early days. One that is decentralized, peer-to-peer, open-source, secure, private, and much more! We believe that putting people at the forefront of our project is crucial, and that protecting our planet’s resources while doing so is equally important. We have a project like no other, and if you believe in the evolution of the Internet towards more security, privacy & sovereignty, we invite you to dive in to learn more.

Visit our Website.
Visit our Forum.
Collaborate on GitHub.
Subscribe to our Weekly & Monthly Newsletters.
Connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, & Reddit.
Join our Community Chat and Updates Channel.

Visit our Website.
Visit our Forum.
Collaborate on GitHub.
Subscribe to our Weekly & Monthly Newsletters.
Connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, & Reddit.
Join our Community Chat and Updates Channel.

April 11, 2023

ThreeFold: An Organisation Building a Decentralized Internet

Greetings fellow decentralization lovers, I am in search of people looking to contribute to what is now the largest decentralized network in the world, working towards the goal of providing a decentralized internet that breaks down barriers to information and compute resource access. Our network provides digital equality to all users while placing the control of their data back into their hands.

🔗ThreeFold: An Organisation Building a Decentralized Internet

Disclaimer: This blog has been written by ThreeFold community member Drew Smith, and was originally a Reddit post. The team found so much value within it that we felt it was important to give it a permanent space within the ThreeFold Blogs collection, and Drew agreed to this. Besides a few grammatical corrections and minor contextual tweaks, the content has not been edited – and you can find the original post here.

Greetings fellow decentralization lovers, I am in search of people looking to contribute to what is now the largest decentralized network in the world, working towards the goal of providing a decentralized internet that breaks down barriers to information and compute resource access. Our network provides digital equality to all users while placing the control of their data back into their hands.

The project I’m discussing is Threefold.io, this is a project that currently has nearly 3000 Bare-Metal** **nodes in 64 countries allowing anyone in the world to deploy an industry standard VPS on the decentralized infrastructure with no involvement of the centralized cloud providers, This is a network meant to be used by everyone that can be expanded by anyone. You can check out a current map of the nodes online on the ThreeFold Explorer

The ThreeFold Grid consists of three synergistic layers: The Nodes, The Network, and the BlockChain.

The Nodes: These are hardware that gives its grid its power, The requirements for running a 3Node are a bare metal x86_64 machine and a reliable internet connection. These nodes can be hosted in a variety of environments spanning at home deployments to rented-space DC's. This includes DC's themselves being able to bring capacity online so long as it’s a fully bare metal device.
- You can find plug and play solutions for bringing a 3Node online on the [3Node marketplace](https://marketplace.3node.global/index.php?dispatch= categories.view&category_id=167), this marketplace includes node offerings from both the organizations itself as well as multiple independent businesses that have become certified 3Node Resellers.
- If you're familiar with the concepts of building a server/pc you can also bring your hardware online as D.I.Y 3Node this allows you to contribute any additional hardware you may have in your deployment to the support of both the grids network and compute capacity. you can find documentation on D.I.Y nodes on the Forums or in the Wiki
Each node is booted using a fully in house developed autonomous operating system that automates both node deployment and workloads being deployed on the node after its online, called Zero-OS. This OS is a hypervisor environment that accepts commands from and is managed by the block-chain.

The Network(s): The grid is supported by multiple internal and external networks that allow for the nodes to function as a decentralized data center. This is made of two major components.
- Z-Net- is an internal private overlay network between VMs, Kubernetes Nodes, Containers and the grid. This network allows for minimal usage of Public ipv4 space while still allowing for global deployment solutions encompassing multiple 3Nodes.
- Planetary Network- This is a peer to peer end to encrypted network solution based on opensource technologies (yggdrasil) that allow grid users to create, develop and overlay networks designed to protect users ability to communicate and access information. You can find the github Repo here, with 3000 endpoints all controlled by a single DAO, the potential exists to create the most reliable peer to peer mesh in existence.
- Public IPv4- Threefold farmers have the ability to add Public Ipv4 to the grid in addition to their compute capacity, these IPs can be deployed as gateway addresses in support of the grid, or rented by end users for their workloads, at the time of this writing the threefold grid has 1114 Public Ipv4 addresses available for use. you can find documentation on adding I.P addresses to the grid here

The BlockChain: the blockchain technologies built into the Threefold Grid represent what makes the grid truly unique and allows it to be utilized to support customer facing workloads or provide a decentralized compute resource pool. grid utilization is supported and created through two avenues
- Individuals: can deploy any workload they need on any node on the grid, if it can run on Linux it can run on the grid, this type of use is supported by the Threefold Playground, a decentralized deployment solution that provides industry standard Linux vps deployments as multiple use case specific deployment solutions for Kubernetes, Caprover, Peertube, Funkwhale, Mattermost, Discourse, Taiga, Owncloud, Presearch, SubSquid, CasperLabs, and Node Pilot
  - Custom VM images cab be uploaded to the Threefold Hub allowing full deployment customization with any Linux os image supporting cloud-init. Documentation on creating custom images can be found On the Forums
  - Storage workloads can be deployed using Terraform with offerings of HDD, SSD and Quantum Safe File Storage
- Solution Providers: these are developers of user facing services that utilize the grid as their hosting platform. These organizations/individuals are able to develop customized solutions that provide needed services in their market and receive rewards for the utilization that their developments bring. A great example of this is Zonaris, which is a third party organization that is quickly taking the lead in grid solution development. They have recently released an interface that allows end users to deploy Streamr nodes on the Threefold grid while paying in fiat currency. you can get started with them at Get Zonaris.
  - This allows developers to invest in only their code while having the infrastructure of a worldwide virtual data center at their disposal to scale their solutions with their business needs.
  - Solution providers are able to automate their tools being deployed on the grid using Terraform.

What this has all truly come together to form is an organization where anyone can contribute to building a more private and secure internet that is designed to allow universal access to information and compute power regardless of the end user's nationality or beliefs. Threefold truly exists to capitalize on the ideal economies from every corner of the world, in order to provide a better digital future for all.

What Can You Do?

Much of what you see today at Threefold.io is the work of 100s of decentralized contributors working together towards a common goal. The grid is designed so that anyone can contribute whether you're a developer, a property owner, an I.S.P, or just someone with a spare computer and a network connection. As it stands the grid is strong and well supported across the world. The biggest impact that can be made today is by developing solutions that leverage the grid and use its resources to bring affordable and accessible hosting to end users.

There are many discussions happening on the Threefold Forum about partnerships with other projects and how we can better support both the crypto landscape and the general internet user base. Even by just joining discussions on the Threefold Forum and providing your input and ideas you can help to make sure that the internet of tomorrow is built for and by the users of tomorrow. but there are lots of ways to contribute:

You can purchase the TFT token following this guide.
You can learn about farming here.
You can learn more about the Threefold Cloud and Deploying here.

Written by Drew Smith

November 9, 2022

Technology as a Tool for Humanity

While technology has had an important role in the creation of today’s societies, it might have an even greater role for our future. Two opposite pictures could be painted - a utopia or a dystopia. Technology should not be a tool to extort humanity, but one at the service of humanity.

🔗Technology as a tool for humanity

Technology… In today’s world, technology holds a central role. Younger generations in developed countries grow up amidst technological wonders of all sorts, truly immersed in an evolving digital landscape. Any information is a click away, offering immense intellectual capital unlike ever before – and on the other hand, great distraction, misinformation, and potential for division.

Technology is a word dating back to the early 17th century, formed from the Greek tekhnologia meaning ‘systematic treatment,’ itself formed from tekhnē meaning ‘art, craft.’ Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word technology may also mean the product of such an endeavor, as it is mostly used today.

As technologies enter our world they either add on incrementally to already existing technologies (i.e., tablets) or shake everything up (i.e., television). Technology can be found in most industries and at different levels, ranging from vehicles to home appliances, passing through healthcare, education, and even entertainment. Sometimes technology replaces human labor by replicating it, other times it facilitates processes and makes labor less intensive. Some technology even surpasses human precision.

While technology has had an important role in the creation of today’s societies, it might have an even greater role for our future. Two opposite pictures could be painted: a utopia or a dystopia. The utopia of a world full of values-driven, well-constructed technologies promises an increased quality of life for all, with digital tools which, for instance, could provide or enable equal educational opportunities for all, mobility everywhere, a universal basic income and the promise of never having to work again (e.g. in the sense of wage labor).

On the other hand, a dystopia could be the result of reckless technological advancement. Questions are raised, like, will most jobs be dominated by artificial intelligence (AI) in 20 years? Will privacy become a myth, with personal data being controlled by a handful? Will consumerism rule societies and reinforce social struggles?

One technology that has been slowly taking the dystopian route is the Internet. While major Internet and Cloud infrastructure advancements were made since the beginning of the millennium through hyper-scale data centers, the current Internet infrastructure model has many flaws:

It is centralized: The GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft) own 80% of the global compute, storage and network infrastructures. Also the global infrastructure is concentrated in the U.S in large majority, as well as Europe and China.
It is inefficient: Most of the data centers are located in the U.S, forcing the rest of the world to connect via Internet sea cables and having their data flowing outside of their borders and back.
It is not scalable: Emerging technologies require the global Internet infrastructure to triple in size in the next 4 years. It took 20+ years to build the current Internet infrastructure. So, we need to build 3 times more in 5 times less time.
It is not affordable: It costs billions of dollars and enormous amounts of energy and time to build, manage and productize hyper-scale data centers. Only the richest countries in the world build data centers and the rest of the world become their clients.
It is not private: Anyone can access Google Chrome or Facebook for free. But as outlined by movies such as the Social Dilemma or The Great Hack, if it is free, you are the product. The web’s Ad model is threatening our privacy and the net neutrality of the global internet.
It is not secure: The current IT stack depends on human error and it has been considered as the major cause of cybersecurity breaches with more than 95% of the cases. Human errors allow attackers to access encrypted channels and sensitive information
It is not sustainable: Data centers are extremely power hungry, consuming over 2 trillion gigabytes of storage and consuming around 205 TWh - More than the State of New York. According to statistics, the Internet consumes between 10-20% of global energy resources.
It cannot support future demand: To meet projected demand for 2022, more than 4,000 new data centers, costing an estimated $5 trillion, will be needed to build and consume an additional 400 GW/h. This is roughly equivalent to Japan’s energy consumption and would place an impossible strain on the global electricity grid. The rising demand for Internet storage is already causing hardware shortages and price hikes.

At ThreeFold, we want to encourage the creation of a utopian future driven by thoughtful technology. Our founders took part in the way the Internet was created, full of beautiful promises, and have seen first-hand how those promises have been corrupted throughout its evolution. By building a new Internet infrastructure from scratch, ThreeFold goes back to those original promises while having learnt from the development mistakes.

Kristof, our CEO, wrote in a blog:

"The Internet allows the expansion of our village life to become a global community. It allows us to act as a global tribe with all information at our fingertips, it offers the possibility to get equal access to all planet resources. It has the promise for global free communication, instant availability of information, unlimited opportunities for growth and education. But what happened to our Beautiful Internet?"

"The Internet allowed us to become more efficient in depriving mother earth from her resources. It allowed us to become more addicted to immediate gratification, examples are social media networks and the adult entertainment industry. Beautiful new possibilities like digital currencies became a gambling game and a source of wealth for the smartest hackers. The communication capabilities of the Internet allowed the few to manipulate the many."

By putting people, planet and authenticity at the core of the development of our technology, we want to gift societes a remade internet. Features of this technology include sovereignty & decentralization, security & privacy, unlimited scalability, green & self healing properties, cost effectiveness, and reliability. The human is put at the center of our Internet model.

Technology should not be a tool to extort humanity, but one at the service of humanity.

October 28, 2022

What is a Digital Twin?

In the current Internet system, each of us exists many times, each application provider owns our data while offering functionality they own. We become the user. We become the product. Instead, what if we were at the center of our digital lives?

🔗What is a Digital Twin?

In the current Internet system, each of us exists many times, each application provider owns our data while offering functionality they own. We become the user. We become the product. Instead, what if we were at the center of our digital lives?

The Web4 Digital Twin architecture does just that: it puts us at the center of our digital experience. Indeed, Digital Twin is a user-centric technological platform to build efficient, sovereign and secure digital experiences. Digital Twin technology empowers people and businesses to exchange information and value without any intermediaries, while making applications more scalable, efficient and secure than on any other web paradigm such as Web2, Web3 or Web5. Digital Twins require a decentralized Internet infrastructure and run perfectly on top of the ThreeFold Grid.

🔗Your Digital Twin is a mirror of yourself!

Your Digital Twin runs on a location of your choice, which becomes your personal Internet Gateway. Each Twin is owned by only one owner, who in the end is more like the human mirror to the Twin. The Twin has lots of capabilities and is available for its “human mirror” 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Experiences are being built which use the capabilities of the Twin. A Twin owns your data and your identity, all stored in such a way it can never be corrupted or lost. Thus, you own your data, your identity and your digital skills for all your life.

🔗Your Digital Twin has Capabilities

Twins are powerful and have many capabilities which are used when they enter an experience. Here are the capabilities of the Digital Twin:

Communicate
- Chat, video conference, send messages to anyone.
Create
- Create content, any content (metaverse, video, websites, ...)
Share and Promote
- Share your creations to the rest of the world
- Promote your products and services
- Share your knowledge and help others to grow
Discover and Learn
- Find information, alternative indexing engine (neutral)
- Know what is truthful and what is not (proof of authenticity)
- Learn and become smarter
Economy
- Manage my digital wealth (digital currencies)
- Exchange anything for anything else (money for tokens, services, products)
- Buy/Sell goods and services
Collaborate
- How can I collaborate on documents, images, videos, code, ...
- How can I manage a project, plan events, define deadlines
Organize
- Manage your agenda and time
- Organize your digital content so you can find it back, and it's nicely organized
- Manage your circles (groups of people)
Protect
- Make sure that only the right people have access to your digital assets
- What happens if you die, make sure your loved ones can inherit your digital assets
- Make sure your digital life is secure (give access to your assets to your circles)
- Give proof of authenticity to assets and information from others
Develop and Expand
- Code and extend the Twin (improve Twin capabilities for yourself and others)
- Create your own experiences

The Twin has basic capabilities listed above which are strongly version controlled, but contributions from the global community are more than welcomed. The idea is to create a system which is simply good enough for any possible experience.

Your Digital Twin

This is a very different paradigm compared to current web or mobile applications where capabilities are owned by the provider of the application. Besides, rather than survival of the fittest, we believe in a system of collaboration, where we invite everyone to make the system better so it fits us all. We don't need three chat systems, we need one which is usable by thousands of experiences.

Developers can create experiences re-using the open source capabilities the Twin offers, also eliminating the need to reinvent features.

🔗Note on Connection & Security

As a “user”, you can use any browser to access experiences built on top of your Digital Twin. For example, a storage experience that stores data on your Twin or a browser experience that allows you to surf the web from your Twin's node. When you connect to your Twin, our ThreeFold Connect makes sure that the connection is secure. The Twin runs on a node on the ThreeFold Grid, which you are securely connected to. This takes care of a very safe approach and unlimited scalability. We will dive deeper into the Twin’s security and scalability aspects in a future blog!

🔗Digital Twin in a nutshell

Hopefully, by now you will have a better understanding of the Digital Twin concept. Here is a short recap of everything mentioned so far about it:

You have full control over your own digital life.
Experiences can be created using standard web & native technologies.
The Digital Twin delivers the web interface to your (secure) browser.
No need for information to travel to central data centers, all communication is fast and private between Digital Twins: No more client-server.
All logic of your digital life is 100% private to you running in your Twin.
This is super efficient and sustainable, +10x power savings.
No blockchain required for your digital life = more privacy, performance, green
- Exception: blockchain is needed for digital currencies and as a phone book for Digital Twin’s identity.

If you would like to see what the current iteration of the Digital Twin looks like, try it out yourself with FreeFlow Twin in its current beta version! Connect with ThreeFold on Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn, and Reddit to join our community and stay updated about evolutions of the ThreeFold project and Digital Twin.

October 18, 2022

🔗lorem ipsum

🔗1960s to 1980s: Internet's Early Days

🔗1990s & 2000s: Popularization & Commodification of the Internet

🔗2020s So Far: A Shift Towards Privacy and Sovereignty

🔗Looking Ahead: Together We Build

🔗ThreeFold: An Organisation Building a Decentralized Internet

🔗Technology as a tool for humanity

🔗What is a Digital Twin?

🔗Your Digital Twin is a mirror of yourself!

🔗Your Digital Twin has Capabilities

🔗Note on Connection & Security

🔗Digital Twin in a nutshell

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March 21, 2022 -

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The Evolution Towards A More Secure, Private, And Sovereign Internet

ThreeFold: An Organisation Building a Decentralized Internet

Technology as a Tool for Humanity

What is a Digital Twin?

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FEATURED POST

Co-Realizing the Promise

March 21, 2022 -

The Latest from Ourworld Free Zone

This is a Blog Title

🔗lorem ipsum

The Evolution Towards A More Secure, Private, And Sovereign Internet

🔗1960s to 1980s: Internet's Early Days

🔗1990s & 2000s: Popularization & Commodification of the Internet

🔗2010s: The Age of Big Data and Social Media

🔗2020s So Far: A Shift Towards Privacy and Sovereignty

🔗Looking Ahead: Together We Build

ThreeFold: An Organisation Building a Decentralized Internet

🔗ThreeFold: An Organisation Building a Decentralized Internet

Technology as a Tool for Humanity

🔗Technology as a tool for humanity

What is a Digital Twin?

🔗What is a Digital Twin?

🔗Your Digital Twin is a mirror of yourself!

🔗Your Digital Twin has Capabilities

🔗Note on Connection & Security

🔗Digital Twin in a nutshell

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