The Internet and open source software are great enablers. These two innovations allow a large number of people to do things that previously required a huge investment or could not do at all in a practical manner. They empower people.
Whereas 30 years ago publishing was an expensive proposition, now you can get your message to the world through blogging, online forums, and desktop publishing software. Today, you can run an entire office network using free software only. You can communicate freely, obtain information from diverse sources, and make informed decisions without having to leave your desk.
There are still, of course, areas where ordinary people can get shafted, sometimes without their knowing it. Too often, consumers are left at the mercy of big business. Various service and utility providers, for example, get away with rotten service, erratic connections and downtime, unexplained or hidden charges, spam, and all sorts of shenanigans. Most of the time consumers can do little about it.
Well, Switzerland is a way to fight back.
What’s that? Here’s a quote from the Switzerland Network Testing Tool website:
Is your ISP interfering with your BitTorrent connections? Cutting off your VOIP calls? Undermining the principles of network neutrality? In order to answer those questions, concerned Internet users need tools to test their Internet connections and gather evidence about ISP interference practices. After all, if it weren’t for the testing efforts of Rob Topolski, the Associated Press, and EFF, Comcast would still be stone-walling about their now-infamous BitTorrent blocking efforts.
Developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Switzerland is an open source software tool for testing the integrity of data communications over networks, ISPs and firewalls. It will spot IP packets which are forged or modified between clients, inform you, and give you copies of the modified packets.!
Now this is a way cool idea! It’s not so much the tool or its capabilities that are important, but rather the very idea of empowering users to check up on their service providers. Yes, Switzerland has its limitations: it only watches your ISP and not other utilities; it only checks for only a narrow range of questionable actions; and it’s for the tech-savvy for now, being a command-line tool (as for that last limitation, however, I bet it won’t be long before graphical front-ends will be developed for it;. then even relative newbies can get in on the game).
Switzerland is licensed under the GP, which means that the community can improve it. As the tool’s website suggests, a developer can even take the routines and automate it in his own program. It seems that there are quite a number of ways to splice, dice, mix, and match Switzerland with other projects.
Here’s hoping that we will have even more tools to protect our rights and keep an eye on those who claim to be serving us. Kudos to the EFF for this one!
