Don't want to let this blog end (or just hibernate, time will tell) on that all's doom and gloom note of the previous post, so i'll add this: there still is a slim chance for the internet to go back to its roots, i.e. with everybody having a direct IP connection, and this slim chance comes from IPv6. However, the reason i call IPv6 just a slim chance is that although IPv6 can bring back "the internet of peers" to the world, the ISPs (and, to a lesser extent, the various router vendors) can still f* this up e.g. by deciding to install default firewalls inside their residential gateway devices, in which case your average Joe will still not be able to set up his router to accept incoming connections. And no incoming connections means no P2P. And no P2P means no internet.
As i said in the previous post, at this point in time i'm incapable of assessing whether the internet is dying, or it's headed towards a rebirth (via IPv6), or whatever else, so for the time being i'll just wait. The only thing that i can think of possibly doing at this point is to somehow start an awareness campaign for including "you need to have an unrestricted public IP" in the very definition of "internet connection"; any other type of connection should simply not be called "internet connection". Maybe i'll make a clip on youtube about this if/when i'll find the time and energy to do it...
Update
Apparently i'm not alone in my paranoia: www.isoc.org/tools/blogs/scenarios
