Subject: We need an application layer Internet.

From: Phillip Hallam-Baker <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2017 12:52:20 -0500

Two score years ago, great minds looked at the confusion of networks and
networking protocols and realized the need for a network of networks. The
inter-network protocol was a protocol that went between the gaps in the
networks and connected them together. Once this Internetwork protocol was
established between the networks, people realized they could run the same
protocol on the LAN and it would provide the same capabilities as the
network protocol but with Internet capabilities.

Today we are facing a real problem in the messaging space. I have accounts
on Skype, Signal, Keybase, Facebook, LinkedIn, G+ and I only cover half the
set of things people ask me for.

A major part of the reason we got into this situation is that 20 years ago,
AIM was dominant in the messaging space and would sue the pants off anyone
who tried to interoperate.

We have fragmented protocols that all do the same thing. Jabber and SMTP do
exactly the same thing: they post messages. Only some minor differences in
the client UI make them seem different.

There is an old joke about 20 standards becoming 21. But that is because
creating a new protocol is the wrong approach.

We need to have an Internet for applications. That is some sort of
infrastructure that can bind all the existing systems together into one so
that if I want to talk to Fred and send a message, the infrastructure will
work out which common protocols we support and sets up the call. Or rather
tries to because Fred might not want to talk to me right now or by that
method or ever.

Such a system will of course inevitably converge on one communication
protocol. But that puts the cart before the horse. Before the pioneers
could build IP Networks, they focused on connecting the existing networks.

The requirements for such a system are not difficult, it isn't much more
than a contacts directory that the user controls and can be ported from one
device to another without regard for vendors. Oh and it should have PKI
client credential support built in.

My employer is no longer in the business of selling certificates. We are
not a CA. Instead of making money selling credentials that let other people
know who our customers are, how about we try to curate Webs of trust and
tell people what a good certificate to talk to Fred is?

I am about 70% of the way to complete building one. Anyone interested in
trying it out?