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SkyNet just around the corner?

Hands up all those who remember the attempt to create "Sealand", an independent sovereign cybercountry which was to be physically located on a dis-used sea fort in the North Sea, some 10 miles off the coast of England.

The whole rational behind Sealand was to create a totally independent sovereign state where internet servers and services could be hosted without fear of falling under the control and regulation of existing nations.

In theory, it was a great idea and would have effectively sidestepped many of the problems that have since plagued the thorny issue of legislating to control the Net.

However, I suspect that even if it had received the support it deserved, this tiny hub of internet freedom would have already been stormed by crack US Navy Seals and its inhabitants spirited away to some clandestine prison.

The big problem with Sealand, as an practical embodiment of a free internet, is that it has a physical presence that can be assaulted by anyone who dislikes the threat that such freedom represents to their own power and control.

However, I believe it is only a matter of time before we see a real Sealand created, far from the reach of those who would seek to limit the true power of the Net -- as a way of protecting their own outdated business models or powerlust.

How will this come about?

Just look up -- that's where the real Sealand will eventually appear.

thanks to incredible advances in technology and ever-falling costs of its implementation, it will very soon be possible for anyone with enough money to launch their satellite-based "internet freedom bird".

Even today it would be quite viable for keen-spirited amateurs to launch high-altitude balloons designed to function as a mesh network capable of carrying "freedom traffic" over huge expanses of the globe -- albeit each balloon would be short-lived and those launching such a device would run a high risk of being caught.

Perhaps intelligent solar-powered "light as air" unmanned aircraft might offer a far better platform for such a network.

Each craft would simply orbit at a high altitude, using a lighter than air gas such as hydrogen or helium to sustain its altitude and electric motors with GPS guidance to maintain position (although a rogue jetstream may throw it off course).

If properly designed and built - these little autonomous craft could quickly climb to their designed operating altitude and then loiter, almost forever, each acting as a single node of a large network (a SkyNet) that could span massive distances.

Over time, individual units would fail from mechanical or electrical/electronic failure so there would be a "rotation" of such craft required -- but once established, such a network would be relatively easy to maintain.

Yes of course this would likely violate a mass of laws relating to the use of airspace and RF spectrum -- but then again, so do many of the things Net users like to do right now (such as exchange files).

I tend to think that it's not a case of "if" this will happen but "when" it will happen.

The prospect of a passenger aircraft being knocked out of the sky by colliding with one of these loitering unmanned Net-craft doesn't bear thinking about -- so maybe it's time for authorities to realise that strangling the Net too tightly could have some very nasty and unexpected consequences.

As a part of the UAV design work that I've been doing, I've come up with a system that allows for "over the horizon" (OTH) deployment of unmanned, remotely piloted aircraft by using an orbiting "relay" craft which flies half-way between the ground-station and the OTH vehicle. Extending this to carrying internet traffic is a trivial operation - although I won't be doing it.

The big problem with politicians and legislators, when it comes to trying to constrain technology, is that they don't fully understand the capabilities of that technology, nor the ingenuity of those who might seek to use it for purposes other than it was originally designed for.

Might "SkyNet" be an enemy only to those who seek to constrain the current internet?

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