Layer 8

Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 were technical in nature, examining communications networks. However, we also have to consider the so-called “layer 8”, the human part, which (to be more specific) spans three additional layers atop the standard ISO/OSI model, the layers 8 to 10.

Bruce Schneier and RSA define the “missing” layers from the standardized 7-layer models as follows:

• Layer 8: The individual person.
• Layer 9: The organization.
• Layer 10: Government or legal compliance

There are ongoing discussions on what centralization actually means in all kinds of spaces. One of the more interesting trends is that people question whether the term …

There are enough updates to last year’s “In Search of Foundational FLOSS Freedom(s)” to make a blog category of its own, or almost so. But instead of keeping a year-old post on life support, I’d like to extend a few thoughts from this year on much the same topic.

The new conversation in town is the Digital Commons, a somewhat broader perspective than merely the FLOSS ecosystem. But insofar as FLOSS can be thought of as “a commons”, much of the conversation applies pretty much directly.

It turns out, however, that what people understand by “a commons” may differ wildly.

A Common Definition of Commons

If we look back at the history of the term, …

2024 was a relatively quiet year for the Interpeer Project, so it’s only right to go out with a bang: Interpeer gUG joined the Datacom Industry Association as a founding member in December!

DIA aims to be the voice for the European Datacom Industry & Research Community, with its focus on secure, innovative, and collaborative digital communication solutions. We’re incredibly proud to be a part of this group!

At Interpeer, we consider it of vital importance Europe’s drive towards digital sovereignty is well supported by the R&D community, and a healthy digital commons is an essential component of any strategy pursuing this goal. There is no digital sovereignty if …

Recap

Part 1 focused on Baran’s terminology on this topic. Part 2 then briefly explored how graph theory treats network centralization, noting that multiple definitions exist, some of which align better with Baran’s terminology than others. Each definition of centrality has its own rationale; for that reason, analysis frameworks often include several of them.

For the most part, “betweenness” seems to be a measure that matches Baran’s thoughts rather well. In short, it measures how often a node sits on the shortest path between other nodes, thus becoming a likely centralization point the more often that is the case.

A distinguishing factor in centrality functions …