This article was taken from the November 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Philipp Ronnenberg is preparing for a post-cyberwar world. "When regular networks are under attack from governments or criminals, there needs to be a set of alternative networks that will stay turned on," says the 29-year-old computer scientist. So he designed the Social Teletext Network, to stream simple data during an internet blackout.
The network repurposes Teletext -- the now defunct proto-internet, which overlayed text and blocky diagrams on a TV screen, using analogue video frequency signals. Ronnenberg's prototype network converts data entered into your computer into Teletext, via an instrument called an inserter, and requires an antenna and a television to view it.
Ronnenberg envisages that activists in the future will use it as a secret communication channel. "The internet in 20 or 30 years will be different to what it is today... because of more governmental control over our networks." By contrast, Social Teletext is an independent, uncontrolled alternative "where information can exist safely, driven and maintained by people".
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
