UUCP Manifesto
We live in an age of increasing centralization and regulation of the Internet. Major swatches of the global's IP infrastructure now rests in the hands of major Internet properties such as Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple. In addition, intrusive government policing is becoming prevalent, lack of privacy and increasing mis-use of data by marketing firms runs rampant. This runs contrary to the original idea and ethos of the internet, that ironically, was designed by the Department of Defense. Resilience, decentraliation and freedom are slowly becoming echoes of nostalgia.
In response to this growing bastardization of IP infrastructure; groups, nerds and hackers have created independent communities based on privacy, decentralization of authority, and mututal respect for all people. Services such as shell providers, BBSes, and Tilde networks have become a new rennasaice of technical thought. A forum on the forum that is no more.
In the formative days of the Internet, systems and sites were loosely linked over a protocol called UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy). Dedicated connections, such that have become common place now, were prohibitvely expensive. In response to this, universities and government research institutions formulated the UUCP network - a loosely coupled network of dial-up systems which relayed information across the network. Similar to Olympic torch relays. News, mail, files and a mulitude of services were provided by the UUCP network. In the early days of the Internet, a service known as Usenet was also carried across UUCP links and was in active service into the 2000s. As dedicated links have become more pervasive and affordable, the UUCP network slowly went away and faded to obscurity. While the UUCP protocol was designed from the ground up as a robust protocol ideal for communication over slow and unreliable data links with a great many virtues, it has been relegated to only the most obscure of legacy systems.
Until now.
We are a dedicated group of artists, system operators, nerds, geeks, nostalgics of every walk of life who desire a fully decentralized internet in the vein of the UUCP networks of yore. In this way, we have revived the network protocol adding modern essentials such encryption, permissions, better integration with dedicated links. While also keeping it's virtues of transparency, ease of implementation and resiliency. We also return to a place of mutual respect and understanding, freedom for all people who utilize it. Nobody "owns" it. It's everybody's to use, tinker with, contribte to and have equal say and access to its content and resources without fear of reprisal, condemnation or censorship.
It is a return to a network for everybody, everywhere.