From e7d64732a0d1b72709e4b697b05435b16519d088 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Nico Schottelius Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2020 10:30:57 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] add the broken internet --- .../u/blog/the-broken-internet/contents.lr | 97 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 97 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/u/blog/the-broken-internet/contents.lr diff --git a/content/u/blog/the-broken-internet/contents.lr b/content/u/blog/the-broken-internet/contents.lr new file mode 100644 index 0000000..47f44c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/u/blog/the-broken-internet/contents.lr @@ -0,0 +1,97 @@ +title: The broken Internet +--- +pub_date: 2020-09-02 +--- +author: Nico Schottelius +--- +twitter_handle: NicoSchottelius +--- +_hidden: no +--- +_discoverable: no +--- +abstract: +--- +body: + +## TL;DR + +The Internet is broken and IPv6 can repair part of it. + +## The Internet is broken + +If you are working in IT or if you +computer scientist, you probably have mumbled this +sentence already before yourself: "the network is broken", or more +specific, "the Internet is broken". + +But what is really wrong with the Internet? + +## Computers are not reachable by default + +One of the most bizarre and weird things in the Internet is that +computers cannot reach each other. You might have a question mark +reading this claim, so I'll try to elaborate a bit: + +While you are reading this article, checkout your IP address on your +computer. Does it start with 192.168., 10. or 172.16.? It probably +does and that means your computer is configured to use a **private**, or +**degraded** IPv4 address. These addresses are being filtered on the +Internet and are used, because your provider does not have enough +**proper, public** IPv4 addresses. + +## What is the problem with degraded IP addresses? + +The first problem is that these IP addresses are used multiple +times. You, your neighbor, people in different cities - they all use +the same IP address. So if you want to reach their computer you need +to tell your computer "I want to reach that computer on 192.168.1.42", +but your computer is already on the same address! How can it send to +192.168.1.42? It can't! + +The second problem with these degraded IP addresses is that you cannot use +them on the Internet. Because these IP addresses are private and not +supposed to be seen in the Internet, they are filtered by ISPs. + +You might be puzzled reading this, because you are in the Internet +reading this article, aren't you? + +## You are not in the Internet + +Practically seen, having a private IP address, you are a second class +citizen of the Internet. You cannot tell anybody else "this is my IP +address, just download a file from my computer". If you want to +download a file from a friend, you will need to use an external +service, like cloud storage. + +If you want to chat with someone, you again cannot just connect to the +computer or mobile phone of the person you want to connect to. Instead +you will need to use another intermediary party. + +This is not the Internet. The Internet is a network of networks, which +allows anyone to connect anywhere. + +You want to access your own NAS that is in your home? You'll again +need to connect it to someone else to be able to reach it. + +![](/u/image/ipv4doublenat.png) + +All those intermediate services introduce latency and cost into your +daily routine. For many of us above scenario sounds like a normal +thing to do. However, it is a very degraded version of the Internet +that we are using. + +## No public IP addresses left + +So why are using private IP addresses anyway? Basically your ISP, like +almost all ISPs in the world does not have enough +public IP addresses to give every of your device a public IP +address. So instead of connecting you directly to the Internet, you +are given a maximum of 1 public IPv4 address for all your devices. + +However even 1 public IPv4 address per customer was too much for some +ISPs. So they started repeating the NAT process, making the network +more complex, slower and also putting you further away from other +participants of the Internet. + +![](/u/image/ipv4natandcgnat.png)