The Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem (By* DE) is an interdisciplinary, and ethics-oriented non-proprietary digital ecosystem which challenges the existing proprietary American digital ecosystem while operating concurrently alongside it. On a global scale, By* provide Internet Application Services which preserve autonomy and privacy of the individual. BISOS: (By* Internet Services Operating System) is a unified and universal framework for developing both internet services and software-service continuums that use internet services. BISOS is a layer on top of Debian. Blee: (BISOS Libre-Halaal Emacs Environment) is a layer on top of Emacs and BISOS, which creates a comprehensive integrated usage and development environment. Blee and BISOS are fully integrated. See the Nature of Polyexistentials book for the bigger picture of how all of ByStar fits together. Some of the material on this page has been taken from that book.
For bootstraping BISOS, Blee and ByStar; you can start at: https://github.com/bxgenesis/start
Here we provide some pointers to related ByStar github organizations and various ByStar git Repos and introduce the basic concepts of ByStar.
- ByStar Related Github Organizations
- The Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem
- ByStarEntity Realization Models— By Way of Some Examples
- ByStarEntityId Registrations
- Shared Cloud Autonomous Model
- Hosted Private Cloud Autonomous Model
- Premise Private Cloud Autonomous Model
- ByStar Autonomous Services Use and Access Examples
- Some Examples of ByStar Autonomous Services Capabilities
- ByStar Federated Services Examples
- Bob And Alice’s ByStar Digital Ecosystem
- The Libre-Halaal vs. Proprietary-Haraam Battle
- Joining ByStar
See https://github.com/ByStar – file:/bisos/git/bxRepos/ByStar/
See https://github.com/bisos-pip – file:/bisos/git/bxRepos/bisos-pip
See https://github.com/bisos-pip/b – file:/bisos/git/bxRepos/bisos-pip/b
The Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem model is fundamentally different from the American Proprietary Digital Ecosystem in every respect.
In terms of ownership, there is no ownership: Libre-Halaal Services in software form are a communal public resource, with no patent, copyright or secrecy barriers to free access and usage by anyone.
In terms of functionality, the software is open, so the services are completely transparent in operation. This transparency allows professional oversight by the engineering community, to verify the integrity of the service, ensuring that it in no way violates the interests of the user or the general public welfare.
And in terms of policy, operation of the service is governed by a social contract, drafted with full representation and advocacy for the individual user and the general public welfare.
The Libre model thus fully guarantees the critical civil liberties that are endangered under the proprietary model.
By* Federation of Autonomous Libre Services are Internet Application Services that are internally transparent and focus on preservation of user’s privacy and autonomy. By* stands against Facebook/Google/Yahoo/MSN/iCloud the same way that Linux stands against Microsoft Windows.
This is very different from existing Internet services capabilities. The Internet landscape of today has arisen in a highly disorganized, unstructured way, driven by a multitude of uncoordinated commercial ventures. The existing services capabilities have been built in a completely ad hoc manner, based on immediate business expedience, rather than any sort of coherent design. The result is the Internet Services industry as it appears today: a multiplicity of functionally isolated, incompatible services. And while this may not be apparent to the everyday user, having never experienced anything different, this limits the capabilities of Internet services in many ways.
By* is the model for a new generation of unified Internet services, far superior to the uncoordinated mishmash of services that exists today. It is designed for consistent, uniform interoperability across all types and manners of service usage. By* is the Internet services industry, done right.
We now present an overview of our work and the contours of ByStar in 4 regards – Ideology, Model, Capabilities and Economics.
A very important aspect of societal framework which has immediate impact on the shape of digital ecosystems are laws and models governing polyexistentials (knowledge, ideas, information, the digital entities). Societal Agreements governing all that is digital (and more broadly polyexistential) in the West are based on the IP regime. This has shaped the entirety of Western Digital Ecosystems.
In contrast, ByStar is ab-initio driven by the ideology that morality and health of society should be the foundation of the ByStar digital ecosystem. The fundamental difference between ByStar ideology and the Proprietary American ideology is that in ByStar priorities, society/humanity comes first and profit/economics come second. In the Proprietary American priorities profit/economics comes first and above all else.
In Figure [[#fig:bxIdeologyDocs]fig:bxIdeologyDocs], we present a roadmap in forms of layers. Each layer has a document that addresses that concept. Each layer builds on the layers below. At the lowest layer lies moral and societal questions of right and wrong (halaal and haraam).
Our focus as engineers is to build the right thing.
We introduce the sensitive and potent word “Halaal.” We define this in the document titled:
Introducing Halaal and Haraam into Globish
Based on Moral Philosophy of Abstract Halaal\ http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/120039 — \cite{PLPC-120039}
We precisely define what we mean by “Halaal” and “Haraam” and the explicit context and scope of the “Libre-Halaal” label. We use the word Halaal carefully and consistently to emphasize that our work is anchored in morality.
Briefly, philosophical halaal is “manifestation” of “moral sensibilities” relevant to a specific topic where “the set of actions” map to “right.” And, philosophical haraam is “manifestation” of “moral sensibilities” relevant to a specific topic where “the set of actions” map to “wrong.”
We then focus on the halaal manner-of-existence of polyexistentials. There are things in nature that exist in singular and there are things that exist in multiples. That which exists in nature in singular, we call monoexistential. That which exists in nature in multiples, we call polyexistential.
Increased importance of role of polyexistentials (knowledge, ideas, information, the digital domain) in our lives and their impact on society and humanity now requires analysis towards recognition of halaal and haraam for different forms of polyexistentials. And once we have recognized the halaal manner-of-existence of polyexistentials we need to label it.
In the “Libre-Halaal” label, Libre indicates that:
- The scope of consideration of Halaal is manner-of-existence of polyexistentials.
- We reject the Western IPR regime. That the natural right to copy and the natural right to apply knowledge are the basis of our ideology.
Halaal indicates that:
- We are rooted in philosophy and morality — Not just economics.
- For each form of polyexistential, the manner-of-existence that permit Professions to safeguard society and humanity are the Halaal manner-of-existence for that polyexistential.
In ByStar ideology, it is the responsibility of the Internet engineering profession to preserve autonomy and privacy of the individual and health of social and societal interactions.
In order for the engineering profession to fulfill these responsibilities, certain societal agreements with respect to the manner-of-existence of software and Internet services need to be in place. We use the “Libre-Halaal” label to express the required societal agreements.
In the Proprietary American Ideology, there is no Internet engineering profession responsibility – engineers are instruments of business. Profit is the prime directive. As a result, manner-of-existence of software and Internet services is closed and restricted (proprietary), rooted in the Western IPR Regime.
We draw a clear distinction between what Software Internet Engineering Profession means in the context of the Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem and what it means in the context of the Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem. In ByStar we use the term “profession” in the way it is understood in the East.
The notion of a “profession” in the West consists of training and the acquisition of specialized skills, to perform specialized work, to create monetary income. The responsibility of a profession towards society at large does not factor significantly in this. Western society is mostly, if not totally, economically driven. The Western model of economically driven individuals existing within an industrial context considers only money and self-interest. Such broader concepts as society, profession, responsibility and respect are very weak in the Western model.
In the East the word “profession” carries a greater meaning. It includes the Western meaning of a specialized skill set to perform work of value to others. But it also includes an agenda of trust and responsibility. The professional person is entrusted by society to maintain guardianship over an important aspect of life. Based on proper execution of this responsibility, the profession is respected.
The primary author of this essay, attests that: for him as an engineer it is only in Iran that he is called “Mr. Engineer Banan.” That has never happened to him in America, Canada, England, France, or anywhere else in his travels throughout the Western world. In return for all that respect, Mr. Engineer Banan owes the society something, doesn’t he?
So it is in this Eastern sense that we are here speaking of “professional responsibility.”
Regime
Central to our ideology and approach is full rejection of the Western so-called Intellectual Property Rights regime of copyright and patents.
In a document titled:
The Nature of Polyexistentials:
Basis for Abolishment of The Western Intellectual Property Rights Regime\ http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/120033 — \cite{PLPC-120033}
We analyze and discredit the Western Intellectual Property Rights regime based on the inherent nature of what it seeks to control and restrict – polyexistentials: all that can be learned and remembered and all that is digital.
Polyexistentials are poly-possessable. Assignment of restrictive ownership to what is poly-possessable is in conflict with nature.
The Western Intellectual Property ownership regime is in conflict with nature, it does not serve the ideal intended purpose of societal regulations, i.e. to balance rights equitably among conflicting constituencies. On the contrary, it has the effect of enriching a minority of powerful vested interests, to the very great detriment of society at large. The detrimental effects include the obstruction of engineering creativity, a distortion of the competitive business environment, and denial of the benefits thereof to the public.
Many societies fully reject the basic concept of patents and copyright. Yet, the Western Intellectual Property ownership regime is portrayed by Westerners as universal and global. Since polyexistence and digital entities are inherently not restricted by borders, the nature of global Internet demands rejection of the Western Intellectual Property ownership regime.
[sec:Libre-HalaalSoftware–HalaalManner-of-ExistenceofSoftware]
Next we focus on the correct manner-of-existence of software.
We do this in a document titled:
Libre-Halaal Software
Defining Halaal Manner-Of-Existence Of Software\ http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180044 — \cite{PLPC-180044}
Our definitions for Halaal manner-of-existence of software and Internet service are concrete and precise. These definitions are similar to the “Free Software” and “Open Source” definitions but are distinct. As engineers, our legitimacy for addressing this topic is our responsibility to the engineering profession and the engineering profession’s responsibility to society.
We have created the http://www.HalaalSoftware.org site for further cultivation of the concept of Libre-Halaal Software.
Software (and more broadly Digital-Entities) is Libre-Halaal Software (and more broadly Libre-Halaal Digital-Entity) if it has the all of the following attributes:
- Halaal Criterion 1 – Unrestricted Multi-Possessibility. There are no restrictions is possessing the software by anyone who wishes to possess it – There are no restrictions in copying and redistributing copies.
- Halaal Criterion 2 – Unrestricted Usage. There are no restrictions for using (running) the software.
- Halaal Criterion 3 – Internal Transparency. The source code of the software is available to all software engineers to examine the software and study how it works. Unless software is internal transparent, the software cannot be trusted.
- Halaal Criterion 4 – Modifiability. Software engineers must be able to modify the software, re-install the modified version and use the modified version without restrictions. The available source code of the software permits software engineers to change and enhancement it.
- Halaal Criterion 5 – Proper Authorship Attribution. The authorship of the software is not misrepresented.
Additionally, the software engineering profession requires from software engineers that the perpetuallity of all of the above be applied to all public modifications of the software. In other words, any modification or enhancement that is generally offered as software or service forever shall also have all of the above attributes.
Internet Services
We then introduce the concept of “Libre-Halaal Services” and describe the model for guaranteeing internal transparency of Internet application services in a collaborative environment.
In the document titled:
Libre-Halaal Internet Services:
Defining Halaal Manner-Of-Existence Of Internet Application Services\ A non-proprietary model for delivery of Internet services\ http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180045 — \cite{PLPC-180045}
We have formulated a radically new, non-proprietary model for delivery of Internet services.
Internet services are in essence access to remote execution of software. Fundamental Difference between software and service is Possessibility. Possession is personal and increases autonomy. Lack of possession decreases autonomy. Hence, software by nature is less of a threat than internet services are to autonomy.
Libre-Halaal Services are an extension of the principles of Libre-Halaal software into the Internet services domain. They are Internet services that can be freely copied and reused by anyone. The Libre Services model exists in relation to the proprietary Internet services model of Apple, MSN, Yahoo and Google, in an analogous way to how GNU/Linux exists in relation to Microsoft Windows.
We have created the http://www.LibreServices.org site for further cultivation of the concept of Libre-Halaal Services.
In addition to being Libre-Halaal, ByStar is based on the Unified Autonomous model.
The internet services industry as it exists today is chaotic, non-collaborative, uncoordinated, and falls far short of its true potential.
In contrast to this, the ByStar Digital Ecosystem is based on a coherent, collaborative, scalable, generalized Internet Services model.
Together, the Libre-Halaal Services and By* models have enormous implications. The Libre Services development model, and the By* unified services model can transform the internet completely, from the proprietary and ad hoc model of today into something far more powerful.
The realization of this potential is large, complex and ambitious. It is far too large in scope to be accomplished by any one company acting alone, but instead can only be accomplished as a coordinated industry-wide effort. But the ByStar Libre-Halaal Services model enables precisely the necessary large-scale, distributed, cooperative effort.
In the document titled:
The ByStar Applied Model
Of Federations of Autonomous Libre-Halaal Services\ http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180015 — \cite{PLPC-180015}
We provide an overview of the model and design of ByStar Federation of Autonomous Services.
Based on this model and structures, ByStar services can consistently grow and interact with other ByStar services to provide a rich and healthy environment.
ByStar is based on a set of key abstractions, representing the major real-world entities that must be represented within a generalized web structure. These entities include such things as individual persons, businesses, physical locations, and events. For each such entity we have defined the structures and conventions required to represent, instantiate and name that entity in a unified, consistent way, and at a very large scale. We have then defined the major classes of services required to manage these entities, and to allow highly generalized interactions within and among each other.
In the ByStar applied model, a real-world entity type (for example,
individuals or a physical locations) maps on to a ByStarEntityType
(BxEntityType). A real-world entity instance maps on to a
ByStarEntity (BxEntity) All ByStar services are anchored in
ByStarEntity.
ByStarEntityTypes are structured hierarchically in a tree.
ByStarEntityType is either a ByStarAutonomousEntityType
or a ByStarControlledEntityType.
ByStarAutonomousEntityType and ByStarControlledEntityType are either
Classified or UnClassified.
In this structure, persons identified by their name, are represented as:
ByStarEntityType= ByStarAutonomousEntityType.Classified.Person.ByName
Each BxEntity (an instance) is identified by BxEntityId.
A BxEntityId is structured as:
BxEntityId=RegistrarId+BxEntityType+InstanceId
All ByStarEntityIds are unique. The InstanceId is assigned by the
RegistrarId.
Each BxEntity can be activated within a
ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine\
(BxAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine).\
The representation of a BxEntity in a
BxAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine\
is called a ByStarServiceObject (BxServiceObject).\
A ByStarServiceObject maps to a Unix account and a user-id.\
The BxServiceObject can have any ByStarServiceCapability\
that BxAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine offers.
Currently, ByStarServiceCapability is one of the capabilities enumerated in Figure [[#fig:bxEntityCapabilities]fig:bxEntityCapabilities].
Any ByStarServiceCapability can be bound to and exposed through a
registered domain name.
Based on the above structures, ByStar services can consistently grow and interact with other ByStar services to provide a rich and healthy environment.
Each ByStarEntity consists of specific information and a set of
computing and communication services.
Publicly, BxEntity is usually exposed throughout the internet at a
selected DNS domain name. In the ByStar model, binding of a BxEntity
to one or more domain names is designed to be very flexible. This
flexibility relates to Service Portability but is broader. These notions
are absent or very rare in the Proprietary American model.
For instance, in the context of the examples described in Section
5, Bob Smith is assigned
BxEntityId=23.1.2.7.3.32674 which is canonically bound to the base
domain name
5.bob.smith.byname.net.
ByStar permits Bob Smith to bind his BxEntity to other domain names, for example bobsmith.fr. In the ByStar BySMB service this is commonplace. Often, with the anticipation of obtaining example.com, example.bysmb.com and its BxEntity can be pre-generated. The owner can re-adjust the binding of BxEntity to a chosen domain name at will.
Different information, different capabilities and different features of
a BxEntity are usually bound to different domain names within a base
domain name hierarchy.
For example, Bob’s imap service is at imap.5.bob.smith.byname.net, his
genealogy service is at
geneweb.5.bob.smith.byname.net and his synchronization repository
(version control — git) is at:\
git.5.bob.smith.byname.net.
In cases where the owner asserts autonomy by possession of the service
as a
BxAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine, ByStar provides the ability to
selectively DNS resolve BxEntity domains locally. This then also permits
fully local (non-networked) development and access to BxEntity – based
on existing DNS bindings.
These flexible ByStar domain name to BxEntity bindings, and flexible DNS resolutions, are built on top of djbdns.
Internet services come in all shapes and sizes, serve all manner of purposes, and interact with each other and with societal entities in all manner of complex ways.
In some cases a service may be associated exclusively with a particular societal entity, such as an individual, an organization, or a corporation. Such entities enjoy a high degree of autonomy within society, and so we refer to these as autonomous entities. When a service is associated uniquely with particular autonomous entity, we refer to the entity as the owner of the service.
When a service is associated with a unique “owner”, certain characteristics of the service are of particular concern to the owner. The service may include information of a personal or private nature, and the owner may wish to ensure that his/her/its privacy is protected. It is also important that the service reflect and maintain the autonomy of the owner, providing parallel freedom of action to that which the owning entity enjoys at large.
Certainly, the privacy and autonomy of the owner are fully guaranteed if the owner exercises direct control over the functioning and provision of the service. In practice, an owner may or may not choose to exercise such direct control of the service. In many cases the owner of the service will leave the service provisioning in the hands of a second-party service provider. Nevertheless it is sufficient to guarantee the autonomy of the owner if the nature of the service is such that the owner could in principle take control of the service himself.
We define an autonomous libre-halaal service as an Internet service associated with a unique owner, that the owner could in principle and at his option take control over and provide for himself.
ByStar services are structured in two layers. (1) ByStar Autonomous Services and (2) ByStar Federated Services.
Any ByStar Autonomous Service may also include ByStar Controlled Services.
As noted, in many or most cases the service will be provided by a second-party service provider, who runs and administers the service on behalf of the owner. The autonomy of the owner requires that he is in no way tied to this or any other service provider. The general societal autonomy of the owner means that for any other type of service—banking, legal, medical—the owner is free to move from one provider to another, leaving no trace of himself behind with the previous provider.
In the case of Internet services, similar principles apply. For a service to be an autonomous halaal service, it must satisfy the twin requirements of portability, and non-retention. Portability, meaning the owner can transport the entire service to a different service provider. And non-retention, meaning the previous provider must retain no trace of the owner’s information.
Specifically, when a second-party provider is providing the service on behalf of the owner, the service is an autonomous halaal service if the provider meets the following requirements:
- Service and Data Portability. On the instruction of the service owner, the entire service can be transferred to a different service provider. This could be another second-party provider, or the service owner himself.
- Service and Data Non-Retention. At the instruction of the service owner, the service provider must destroy all service-related information (i.e., all owner data and log files).
Any ByStar Autonomous Service may control certain “ByStar Controlled Services” that are his.
A ByStar Controlled Service is a ByStarEntity which is in control of
ByStarAutonomousEntity.
As an example, consider an individual (say the author – http://mohsen.1.banan.byname.net) who hypothetically owns a house, a bicycle, a Nike fuel band and a tag for his suitcase.
Virtual representation of these could be:
- A House – http://info.1-98008-5807-10.bywhere.net – where ByWhere structure links control to its owner (a ByStarAutonomousEntity).
- A Bicycle – whose location information goes to it owner (a ByStarAutonomousEntity) and not Google.
- A Nike Fuel Band – which sends the exercise information to its owner-individual.
- A tag for his suitcase – which links to its owner (a ByStarAutonomousEntity).
Each of these as a ByStarControlledEntity will be controlled by the ByStarAutonomousEntity. All of these are ByStarEntity-s. The ones that are controlled, link to their controller. The ByStarAutonomousEntity has links to all the ByStarControlledEntity-s that it controls.
So, we now have a framework for abstracting individuals as owners/controllers through ByStarAutonomousEntity. And we have abstractions for things to be owned and controlled through ByStarControlledEntity. And we have a framework for interaction of individuals/things and things/individuals through ByStar Federated Services.
Now, compare the model of ownership and interactions of Things in Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem – which is anchored in the autonomous individual – with the Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem – which is anchored in the Proprietary Corporation. There the proprietary internet service provider controls individuals also through Things.
Autonomous services and their controlled services may wish to engage in end-to-end interactions with other autonomous services. But in order to facilitate such interactions, involvement of some intermediary services may be needed.
We refer to such enabling intermediary services as federated services, and we refer to the association of a federated service plus its subscribing autonomous services as a federation of autonomous services.
The concept of Federated Services is layered above Autonomous Services and focuses on interactions amongst Autonomous Services and facilitation of information aggregation amongst ByStar Services.
An example of a federated service for information aggregation is ByTopic.org where autonomously published content (documents/music/videos) is optionally centrally republished – autonomous and federated publications are fully consistent.
Users experience ByStar Services through ByStar User Environments.
ByStar services can be accessed in a variety of ways. In addition to the traditional browser based model, ByStar provides for rich and deep Software-Service integration.
Initially we are focusing on two convivial user environments for ByStar.
Blee (ByStar Libre Emacs Environment) – \cite{PLPC-180004} – is a layer above Emacs that integrates ByStar platform (Debian GNU/Linux) capabilities into Emacs and provides for integration with ByStar Services.
An overview of this User Environment is provided in:
Blee and BxGnome:
ByStar Software-Service Continuum Based Convivial User Environments\ http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180004 — \cite{PLPC-180004}
The deep integration between Libre-Halaal Software and Libre-Halaal Internet Services creates a Libre-Halaal Software-Service continuum, far superior in capability to any Proprietary/Haraam Software/Service combination.
ByStar offers a rich environment and a number of facilities for content generation.
Autonomous Content Publication facilities are a well established feature of ByStar.
In the document titled:
ByStar Content Production and Publication Facilities
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180038 — \cite{PLPC-180038}
we describe capabilities and features of ByStar content generation facilities and ByStar autonomous content publication facilities.
Autonomous self-publication can then be augmented by information aggregation federated services such as ByTopic, ByContent and BySearch.
The ByStar Digital Ecosystem is driven by a set of engineering architecture principles. We summarize some here.
[sec:ToolsForConviviality]
Our primary criteria for software component selection and service design is “conviviality”.
By conviviality we refer to the concept of “Tools for Conviviality” as Ivan Illich introduced it.
In the document titled:
Introducing Convivial Into Globish
http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/120037 — \cite{PLPC-120037}
we introduce the concept of “Convivial” into Globish.
Briefly, in Illich’s words:
Tools are intrinsic to social relationships. An individual relates himself in action to his society through the use of tools that he actively masters, or by which he is passively acted upon.
To the degree that he masters his tools, he can invest the world with his meaning; to the degree that he is mastered by his tools, the shape of the tool determines his own self-image. Convivial tools are those which give each person who uses them the greatest opportunity to enrich the environment with the fruits of his or her vision. Industrial tools deny this possibility to those who use them and they allow their designers to determine the meaning and expectations of others. Most tools today cannot be used in a convivial fashion.
The dynamics of the Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem are such that they produce industrial tools.
The Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem is designed to fully reside in the Libre-Halaal-Convivial quadrant, \cite{PLPC-180044}.
The dominant model of interaction between people and the model of access to information in the Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem is the centrally controlled Rise-of-the-Middle model – which puts the service provider at the center of all interactions so that it can exploit users and traffic information.
The ByStar model, in contrast, is end-to-end oriented and is based on the following principles:
- Make Services Autonomous Whenever Possible (peer-to-peer oriented)
- Invest and Focus on End-to-End communications facilities amongst Autonomous Libre Services
- When a Federated Service functions as an intermediary, limit its role to the bare essential of hooking the two ends. Thereafter, communications can be end-to-end.
The Libre-Halaal software model is a flourishing creative environment, generating a constant stream of new and better software packages, duplicating and surpassing the capabilities of an ever-increasing portion of proprietary software territory. Indeed, for any particular item of functionality, there are typically multiple alternative free software packages available.
In this environment the model for implementation of By* service functionality is not one of original software development. Rather, it is a process of intelligent selection and integration of functional components from the Libre-Halaal software creative environment.
So, in creating By* our task has not been to write functional software components—in fact we have written almost none. Our main task has been to make careful engineering choices among the available free software components, and integrate these properly into the By* framework. In making these choices we consider not just the features and capabilities of each software component, but also the compatibility of the component within the overall By* architecture.
The main considerations in our choice of software components have been:
- Conviviality
- Scalability
- Libre-Halaal Mainstreamness
- ByStar Consistency
Virtually all the initial By* service functionality has been created this way. The following are some of the basic By* features that have been included by this process:
- Debian GNU/Linux.
- Base: djbdns, daemontools, ucspi, multilog, …
- Mail: qmail, courier, spamassassin, ezmlm, …
- Web: apache, zope, plone, geneweb, squirellmail, jquerymobile, galleria, …
We will continue to select and incorporate additional software packages as these materialize within the free software environment. We will not create so much as we will harvest. Or to paraphrase the common industry dictum: Good programmers write good software; great programmers reuse and integrate.
By confidentiality we mean: ensuring that information is accessible only to those authorized to have access.
By anonymity we mean: the characteristic of any interaction where an individual protects his or her identity from being shared with another person or with a third party in the context of particular communications. In other words, people know what you do but not who you are.
By privacy we mean: the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively. In other words, people know who you are but not what you do.
ByStar Autonomous Services are designed to provide tangible confidentiality, anonymity and privacy on a large scale. All of Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem has this inherent design.
The basic assumption in the ByStar Digital Ecosystem is that all communications and traffic is subject to eavesdropping and traffic analysis.
Fortunately, the nature of digital information is such that it is easier to encrypt than it is to decrypt.
With nature on our side, ByStar Digital Ecosystem provides large scale countermeasures which include end-to-end data confidentiality and traffic flow confidentiality.
ByStar federated services are governed by transparency and well understood logging expectations and audit trail protections which are oriented towards preserving privacy.
All of this is in stark contrast to how confidentiality, anonymity and privacy are in the American Proprietary Digital Ecosystem. There, they have become a currency.
The basic design of ByStar is very distributed. Services are generally autonomous and interactions are usually end-to-end.
This means that ByStar is centrally light. But there are some fundamental, infrastructural, and foundational organizations and services that are required at the center of ByStar.
The following infrastructure and foundational organizations have been put in place towards administration, guardianship, direction setting and facilitation of collaboration and growth of ByStar.
Libre-Halaal Foundation is the non-profit legal entity that facilitates collaborative development, maintenance and administration of ByStar.
Neda Communications, Inc. is the for-profit legal entity that has developed Libre-Halaal ByStar Services. The core of ByStar software is subject to the Affero v3 General Public License and also the Neda Commercial License (dual licensed). Neda plans to profit from widespread usage of The Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem in a variety of ways.
LibreCenter.net is Neda’s data center. It is distinct and different from other data centers in that is built purely on Libre-Halaal Software. At this time most ByStar Services are hosted at Libre Center.
BySource.org is the Software Distribution Center for ByStar software in source form.
ByBinary.org is the Software Distribution Center for ByStar software in binary form.
ByStar Name and Number Assignment Authority is responsible for central assignment of names and numbers for ByStar services.
Design of ByStar as an ab initio independent separate digital ecosystem permits ByStar to expand beyond the Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem. This is desired and possible for two main reasons. First, ByStar ideology may demand certain separations. Second, end-to-end purity of ByStar software-service continuum enables ByStar to do things that are not possible in the Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem.
ByStar’s Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and the possibility of a ByStar Alternative DNS Root, and ByStar Digital Currency are some examples.
ByStar Services are vast in scope. They are designed to be ever growing. Basic structures of ByStar are in place and many services are built or partially built. The Libre-Halaal Services collaborative framework allows for ByStar to grow dynamically.
Thus far our focus has been in making sure that the overall architecture of the ByStar Digital Ecosystem is sound. We have been designing big and implementing gradually. A complete stable system is in place. It is now a matter of expanding and improving it.
In ByStar today, for email we don’t use gmail, yahoo, msn, outlook.com, aol or other proprietary centrally controlled mail services. We use BystarMail. Similarly, for web presence, content publication, photo and video galleries ByStar has existing capabilities in use.
Here we provide a summary of where ByStar services stand today.
A snapshot of the organizations, services and software that form the ByStar Digital Ecosystem today are shown in Figure [[#fig:LS-Assets]fig:LS-Assets].
Libre-Halaal Foundation central resources are shown in violet in Figure [[#fig:LS-Assets]fig:LS-Assets]. Neda resources are shown on the top. Current ByStarEntity generators are shown under the “ByStar Autonomous” label and ByStar federated services are shown next to them. ByStar software consists of three major layers, these are shown in the lower part.
The current status and growth of ByStar falls into four broad categories:
- Current capabilities of ByStarEntity (ByStarServiceObject) – what any autonomous services are capable of offering.
- Current span of ByStarEntity generators – what type of autonomous services (ByName, ByArtist, BySmb, etc) can be readily generated and supported?
- Current scope of ByStar Federated Services.
- Scale of user base – how many people are using ByStar?
Current capabilities of =ByStarServiceObject=s are enumerated in Figure [[#fig:bxEntityCapabilities]fig:bxEntityCapabilities].
Every ByStar autonomous service is anchored in a ByStarEntity. Every ByStarEntity can be provisioned to provide any of the current capabilities enumerated below.
- ByStarEntityIds and credentials – single password. [Unix account based]
- PKCS – ByStar Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) – Credentials.
- Autonomous VPN services and ByStar overlay networks. [openvpn based]
- Large amounts of autonomous disk space. [secure ftp based]
- Autonomous synchronization and version control facilities. [git – and also svn and cvs based]
- A Content Management System based website – with both public and private access. [Plone based]
- A conventional public website. [Apache based]
- Mobile websites. [jQuery Mobile based]
- Content publication services. [Plone based]
- A photo gallery. [galleria based]
- Genealogy web services. [geneweb based]
- Mail transfer service (MTA). [qmail based]
- Mail access service. [Secure Courier IMAP based]
- WebMail service. [SquirrelMail based]
- Mailing list services. [Ezmlm based]
- Mailing distributions. [Gnus based]
- LibreTexting. [qmail and emsd based]
- Matched User Environment Profile. [Blee based]
Various other capabilities are in the works. With the ByStarEntity model in place, addition of features is quite simple.
Current ByStar services sites are depicted in Figure [[#fig:bystarDomainsTable]fig:bystarDomainsTable].
/lcnt/lgpc/bystar/permanent/common/figures/bystarDomainsTable.pdf
ByStar services sites are organized by “types” in Figure [[#fig:bystarDomainsTable]fig:bystarDomainsTable]. The Autonomous ByStar Services are PALS (Possession Assertable Libre Services). An example of Autonomous ByStar Services is ByName.net. The ByStar Central sites support the infrastructure of ByStar.
The Libre Services and By* models are revolutionary, and can be expected to have a revolutionary effect on Internet usage. But these models are about service development and functionality, not about technological infrastructure. We are not reinventing the Internet protocols, or any other technical aspect of Internet operation.
What is being presented here is not a tear-down and rebuild operation.
Libre Services and By* imply no discontinuity, in terms of either technology or service deployment. The implementation model for Libre Services and By* is wholly evolutionary—there exists a continuous migration path from the proprietary model of today to the Libre model of tomorrow.
Based on ideology, the Libre-Halaal ByStar Digital Ecosystem fully avoids proprietary software and proprietary services. We simply avoid The Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem.
But, any and all of our services can be used in the Proprietary American model.
The core of ByStar software is subject to the Affero v3 General Public License and also the Neda Commercial License (dual licensed).
In a document titled:
A Strategy For Rapidly Becoming An Internet Application Service Provider
Joining, Adopting and/or Licensing ByStar\ A Public Unsolicited Proposal\ http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180040 — \cite{PLPC-180040}
We describe various options for those interested in joining, adopting and/or licensing ByStar.
Libre-Halaal ByStar Ideology and FOSS Ideology have a great deal in common and we closely collaborate with our FOSS brothers and sisters, but the ByStar Libre-Halaal Ideology is distinct.
We invite our “Free Software” and “Open-Source” brothers and sisters to recognize that the “Libre-Halaal Software” model is a more complete model and that the “Libre-Halaal Software” label is a better label.
What we want to do on a very large scale and in the open has been done in medium-scale in private.
For instance, the United State’s National Security Agency (NSA) has created a separate parallel private digital ecosystem for its own use. NSA operates the private .nsa TLD; many NSA internal email addresses are of the form [email protected], mirroring the NSA organizational group structure. NSA has a particular ideology for its digital ecosystem which includes a large element of security, confidentiality and secrecy. The NSA, through use of its own particular software and services has created a completely different environment in parallel to the internet.
The precedence of such private parallel digital ecosystems combined with the proven power of Libre-Halaal software demonstrates that widespread realization of ByStar digital ecosystem is very viable.
Some engineers kind of get it and have been trying to build various piecemeal privacy and autonomy software and services. Such efforts have always stayed limited in scope and scale. That is primarily for two reasons. First, the engineers have failed to connect with society. And second, piecemeal solutions don’t work.
We build on these piecemeal privacy and autonomy software and services and bring them into ByStar as integrated and complete large scale services.
An example of a piecemeal privacy effort is PGP - Pretty Good Privacy. A bunch of engineers and technologists use it amongst themselves, but PGP never penetrated society at large. ByStar comes with Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) as an integral part of the service and equivalent of PGP is an inherent part of ByStar.
Another example of a piecemeal privacy effort is:
Tor https://www.torproject.org.\
Tor attempts to accomplish traffic flow confidentiality just through
redirection. Traffic flow confidentiality is an inherent part of ByStar
which includes redirection plus layer 3 and layer 7 padding as well.
We have given you a brief summary of ByStar above.
This summary is over simplified and captures the gist of a series of articles that we have developed to analyze and describe various aspects of ByStar.
In ByStar Publications List – http://www.by-star.net/bxPublications – we provide pointers to ByStar related articles. These documents evolve as ByStar evolves, and the publications list will be kept up to date. The ByStar publications list is structured primarily for reference. Below we provide a description of how these documents collectively draw a comprehensive picture.
The big ByStar picture is shown in Figure
[[#fig:bystarEcosystemRoadmap]fig:bystarEcosystemRoadmap].
[[#fig:bystarEcosystemLayers]fig:bystarEcosystemLayers].
Each of the layers in this figure represents either a conceptual definition (shown in blue), or an actual software/service implementation (shown in orange). Each layer builds on the layers beneath.
The layers in Figure [[#fig:bystarEcosystemLayers]fig:bystarEcosystemLayers] are color coded. Each of the layers are either:
- A Conceptual Layer.
- Representing concepts. Layers 1,2,3,4,7 and 8 are in Green, Blue and Yellow.
- A Tangible Layer.
- Representing software/service implementations. Layers 5 and 6 are in Orange and Brown.
The tangible layers are bound by the conceptual layers underneath them and receive legitimacy from those concepts.
The conceptual layers are validated by the tangible layers.
The green layers (1 and 2) at the bottom are philosophical, moral and societal. Their scope is wider than the moral digital ecosystem that we are after. Generally speaking, these are not the domain of engineers. They are the domain of ethicists, philosophers and sociologists.
The blue layers (3, 4 and 8) are philosophical, moral, societal, social and engineering aspects of digital ecosystems that require direct involvement of engineers and the engineering profession. The yellow layer (7) addresses economics and business dimensions of ByStar.
The orange/brown layers (5 and 6) are engineering constructs. They are in-use software and in-use Internet application services.
In ByStar Roadmap: http://www.by-star.net/bxRoadmap
we provide a reading roadmap to ByStar related articles.
Figure [[#fig:bystarEcosystemLayers]fig:bystarEcosystemLayers] shows how the moral, legal, societal, engineering, economic and business dimensions of the ByStar Halaal Digital Ecosystem are layered as described above.
Note the differing characterizations of this layering on the left and right. Both characterizations are valid, but they reflect entirely different viewpoints. The left side characterization is called “The Human Model,” and reflects the philosophical, moral and societal elements of the model. It also identifies the role of the engineering profession in maintaining these elements. The right-side characterization is called “The Venture Capitalist Model,” and is very different from the “The Human Model.” The same elements are present, but now represent their significance as part of an investment strategy. Thus, the moral and societal concerns within the human model are now viewed as a sales and marketing opportunity. This makes clear that when dealing with Venture Capitalists, issues of morality and societal welfare are not the topic of discussion. In this regard Venture Capitalists need only understand that human beings are in fact concerned with vital moral considerations such as “privacy” and “autonomy,” and that these considerations have powerful sales and marketing consequences. And that our unconventional strategy of overturning their sacred-cow – Copyright and Patent model – gives us a huge competitive advantage.
The gigantic picture we have drawn in Figure [[#fig:bystarEcosystemLayers]fig:bystarEcosystemLayers] is a blueprint. It represents a complete framework for collaborative work towards an alternative to the current proprietary digital ecosystem. By aligning ourselves with the natural forces and dynamics of polyexistentials, and by means of large-scale unrestricted collaboration, we can achieve this.
Let’s explore ByStar in the context of a few examples. All these examples are completely fictional.
Let’s consider Bob Smith, a 46-year-old university researcher and his 15-year-old daughter, Alice Smith. Alice is a freshman (9th grader) at Garfield High School (GHS).
Bob wishes to have the following in ByStar.
- An Autonomous ByName BxEntity for his private and public use – 5.bob.smith.byname.net (he is the 5th bob.smith requesting byname services).
- An Autonomous ByFamily BxEntity for his family – 8.smith.byfamily.net.
- A Controlled ByFamily BxEntity for his daughter Alice – alice.8.smith.byfamily.net (Alice is a minor and Bob wishes to have the option of overseeing her communications).
- A Controlled ByWhere BxEntity for their condo in Kirkland, WA – 1-98034-3681-74.bywhere.net (say for reliable driving directions).
There are 3 different realization models for Autonomous BxEntity-s.
- Shared Cloud Autonomous Model
- Hosted Private Cloud Autonomous Model
- Premise Private Cloud Autonomous Model
Bob is concerned about privacy and prefers the “Hosted Private Cloud Autonomous Model” over the “Shared Cloud Autonomous Model”. He trusts the ByStar model enough not to need the “Premise Private Cloud Autonomous Model”.
In the following sections we describe ByStarEntity realization models in the context of Bob and Alice’s example.
As we go through these examples, we will also be comparing them with their counterpart in the Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem.
Through ByStar, Bob needs to have an Autonomous ByName Registration, an Autonomous ByFamily Registration and a Controlled ByWhere Registration.
So, Bob goes to http://www.byname.net and provides his name “Bob” “Smith” and an email address and agrees to conform to ByStar usage policies and in return, he receives:
- 5.bob.smith.byname.net – BxEntityId=23. 1.2.7.3 .32674 – BxEntityIdPassword=
Similarly, Bob goes to http://www.byfamily.net and provides his
autonomous BxEntityId=23.1.2.7.3.32674 and gets:
- 8.smith.byfamily.net – BxEntityId=23. 1.2.9.5 .4689
He then provides his autonomous BxEntityId=23.1.2.7.3.32674 and gets:
- 1-98034-3681-74.bywhere.net – BxEntityId=27. 2.2.6.4 .4689
for a ByWhere controlled entity.
All of the above were external registrations. In the ByStar model, Bob himself has now become a registrar for some ByStarEntitys.
Under the 8.smith.byfamily.net domain, Bob now registers
- bob.8.smith.byfamily.net – as BxEntityId=23. 1.2.9.5 .4689 .1
And
- alice.8.smith.byfamily.net – as BxEntityId=23. 1.2.9.5 .4689 .2
Note that Bob has the option of using a single password and that all his ByStarEntityId are related.
With his 5 ByStarEntityIds in place, Bob now can realize his ByStarEntitys in the model that he wishes.
This model is very similar to how Gmail and other proprietary Internet services works. It involves Bob going to http://www.byname.net, logging in and using the web service.
Even at this level, there is a big difference between the Proprietary American Services and the Libre-Halaal ByStar Services. ByStar is transparent – not opaque/dark/closed.
Even in the shared cloud autonomous model, Bob has the choice of demanding that his entire service be delivered to him as a ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine – that means the entire software for the ByStar service and his entire data be delivered to him. And that the service provider abides by the “Service Data Portability” and “Service and Data Non-Retention” obligations.
In the Gmail (and other) Proprietary American Model there are no such concepts.
Bob downloads to his laptop the latest generic ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine. This has all the relevant software for ByStar services.
The latest generic ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine is available at http://www.bybinary.org.
ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine
Bob then adds his ByStarEntitys to the ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine.
This involves Bob running the ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine on his laptop and entering his ByStarEntityIds into the ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine. All of Bob’s ByStar services are now added to his ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine.
Bob then chooses a host for his Virtual Machine.
His choice of ByStar Private Cloud Provider may be influenced by the location and laws of where the ByStar Private Cloud Provider operates in. If U.S. wiretap laws are too invasive to his taste, he may choose a ByStar Private Cloud Provider outside of the U.S. – ByStar is very global.
Let’s say that Bob chose http://www.librecenter.net.
Bob then transfers his fully configured ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine to http://www.librecenter.net and runs the service.
Bob is now in control of his own service.
ByStar and LibreCenter have given Bob what is necessary and are supporting him. Bob is in possession of all of the service’s software and the service is Bob’s.
In the Premise Private Cloud Autonomous Model, Bob is in possession and control of the entire software and the entire hardware for the service.
A Premise ByStar Host is a computer with a static public IP address capable of running a ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine. Any modern desktop or laptop would do just fine.
Bob does what was previously described in Section 5.3.1 and Section 5.3.2 to prepare his ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine.
A typical ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine is capable of containing 100s of ByStarEntitys.
Bob then puts his ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine on his “Premise ByStar Host” and runs it.
Bob now possesses all of the software for ByStar,
all of his own data,\
all of his logs and audit trails,\
and all of his services.
This means real and tangible autonomy.
Efforts like FreedomBox have been attempting to accomplish this in a more limited fashion. But in the ByStar model the Premise Private Cloud Autonomous Model is just one of many ways to realize tangible autonomy.
So, now Bob and Alice have a number of autonomous services in place. Now, let’s see how they will be accessing them and what these ByStar Autonomous Services can do for Bob and Alice.
Most ByStar services are also offered as interactive web services just like traditional web services.
The generic ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine includes all ByStar user environments. A Tor-Firefox browser is all you need for ByStar interactive web services.
But the preferred model for accessing ByStar services is through Blee.
Blee (ByStar Libre Emacs Environment) is a layer above Emacs and Firefox that integrates ByStar platform (Debian GNU/Linux) capabilities into Emacs and provides for integration with ByStar Services.
Use of Blee makes for a very rich software-service continuum model that does not have a real counterpart in the Proprietary American Digital Ecosystem.
With everything in place, let’s see what are some of their ByStar capabilities. ByStar full set of Autonomous capabilities is determined by the capabilities of Bob’s ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine. These are already quite powerful and they are ever growing. Below we mention some.
In terms of email capabilities, ByStar email is similar to Gmail. However, ByStar email is very autonomous, very personal and very private.
For example, note that email communications between Bob and Alice need not even leave Bob’s ByStarAutonomyAssertionVirtualMachine.
Beyond Gmail like capabilities, ByStar email service is inherently multi-address and multi-mailbox.
For example Bob and Alice can each have a specific address for Alice’s school – Garfield High School (GHS). Those email addresses would be:
Libre-Halaal ByStar email services are superior to Proprietary-Haraam email services both in capability and privacy.
ByStar public and private web presence services are very rich. They are based on the Plone Content Management System.
The URL for Bob’s public web site would be http://5.bob.smith.byname.net. Its capabilities could be similar to the author of this document’s site: http://mohsen.1.banan.byname.net.
Bob and Alice and their family’s (8.smith.byfamily.net) photo gallery can be similar to what is in: http://mohsen.1.banan.byname.net/albums.
ByStar Photo and Video Galleries are based on galleria and are integrated into Plone. ByStar photo gallery capabilities comfortably compete with the likes of flickr and photo bucket. The difference of course is that Bob and Alice remain in control of their photos with ByStar.
Bob and Alice can build their genealogy tree in ways similar to what is in: http://mohsen.1.banan.byname.net/genealogy.
ByStar Genealogy Services are based on geneweb. ByStar genealogy capabilities comfortably compete with the likes of ancestry.com, FamilySearch, and MyTrees.com.
The difference of course is that with ByStar, Bob and Alice remain in control of their genealogical personal information.
Bob Smith is an academic. He writes and publishes a lot. Some of his thoughts and writings are outside of the mainstream. As a true academic, he prefers not to subject his publications to restrictions that the likes of IEEE and ACM demand. His publication philosophy is consistent with ByStar Publication Philosophy.
He uses the ByStar Content Production and Content Publication Facilities to write and publish.
The list of his publications is similar to what is in:
http://mohsen.1.banan.byname.net/publications/collections/bystarDE.
The access page to Bob’s documents are similar to this document’s:
http://mohsen.1.banan.byname.net/PLPC/180016.
Bob, can optionally use ByStar Federated Services to achieve permanence and ease of search and access to his writings. See Section 5.7 for more details.
So, ByStar has empowered Bob to be a true academic and avoid pseudo academic copyrighted publication traditions.
Bob has chosen to subject some of his publications to “Federated
Re-Publication”.
He uses http://www.bycontent.net for that.
ByContent is a ByStar Federated Service where ByStar self-published documents are republished.
By submitting some of his documents and podcasts (videos) for ByContent re-publication, Bob accomplishes several things.
ByContent Federated Services offer the following:
- Permanence. If Bob’s web site or he, himself disappear, his documents still remain.
- Large volume publication. ByContent runs on large computers with access to lots of bandwidth. Bob need not worry about slowness of access to his public videos and public writings.
- ByContent republication maintains reference to original source.
- Classification with peer content. Bob’s content is classified and sits next to other similar and competing content.
- Searchability. Bob’s content are now subject to search features of http://www.BySearch.org
ByContent is similar to YouTube, except that ByContent allows your content to be clearly referred back to you. All of ByContent is copyleft.
Now, Let’s look at this example in its entirety and see what Bob and Alice gained by buying into the ByStar Digital Ecosystem.
First, they lost nothing. ByStar exists in parallel to the proprietary Internet. Everything that everybody else can do, Bob and Alice can do as well. Through peer pressure Alice will likely be pushed to join Facebook.
But, Bob and Alice now have autonomous and private email. They communicate with everybody else in normal email fashion. But they are in control of their personal messages. When Bob deletes an email he knows that the email has truly been deleted.
And Bob and Alice are truly in control of what they do with their photos, and their content on the Internet.
That can be considered a good beginning. ByStar is evolutionary. ByStar is designed to be ever-growing and comprehensive.
Are you ready to follow Bob and Alice’s example?
The inherent nature of software, Internet services and other polyexistentials is fundamentally at odds with these historical conventions of physical property (monoexistentials) ownership. Such constructs have the inherent potential for unlimited replicability and dissemination, and in the age of the Internet this potential is now fully realized.
As a result the existing Western Intellectual Property conventions are coming under increasing stress, as the internal forces of replicability clash with the externally constraining Intellectual Property framework. The Intellectual Property regime is also coming under formal intellectual attack, as the dysfunctionality and true costs of this regime become increasingly apparent.
In practice, the proprietary software and services model has engaged in various forms of bastardization of libre-halaal software model. Well recognized examples of such bastardizations include the service loophole, Tivoization, Appleization, and Androidization.
In practice, open-source and free software movements represent compromising models and ideologies. For the most part they are comfortable being intertwined with the proprietary model. Full rejection of the proprietary model is considered radical in much of the open-source culture.
In practice, with ByStar ideology we accomplish three things. First, we create a completely separate and independent digital ecosystem that fully rejects the proprietary model. Second, we take all possible measures to prevent bastardization of ByStar software and services by the proprietary model. Third, we create a comprehensive internet services business model which competes directly with the proprietary model in terms of revenue and profit.
Today, the internet services industry is owned entirely by business interests. But the Libre Services and By* initiatives represent a startling challenge to this: they represent a determined reassertion of proper guardianship of the internet by the Engineering Profession. This challenge will bring us into massive conflict with existing commercial interests, who will fight ferociously to defend the status quo.
<tab:engBusinessWarfare>
| Laws, Values | Patent-free | Patented |
| and Model | Copyleft | Copyright |
| Software and | Transparency | Secrecy |
| User Env | Public ownership | Private ownership |
| Internet Services | Privacy, Autonomy | Surveillance Capitalism |
| Content | Guardianship | Exploitation |
Table 1 shows the many elements of contrast between Engineering and Business value systems. As the table makes clear, these two values systems are in complete and total conflict. We will fully exploit this conflict as the metaphor of a war: a war between Engineering and Business, in which Business represents exploitation of the Internet for profit, and Engineering represents guardianship of the Internet on behalf of the public.
ByStar is huge, powerful, and viable. But given the entrenched vested interests in opposition to it, the promotion of ByStar amounts to a kind of war. ByStar has the inherent characteristics to prevail in this war – we have moral superiority, intellectual correctness, and a construct that is viable in every respect: technological, economic, societal etc. But it is essential that all this be communicated effectively.
The ByStar Wars (to coin a phrase) will be fought on multiple fronts. But as a revolutionary movement, to a significant extent it will be fought as a war of words and ideas. This means that the movement is advanced effectively in words, defended against attack in words, and extremely forceful and effective counter-attack made against its detractors.
Please refer to http://www.by-star.net/bxPublications for a list of publications that we have felt is necessary for ByStar to be equipped with.
Successful Digital Ecosystems are dynamic. They grow and are ever evolving.
In the early stages of the evolution of ByStar we have adopted the strategy of limiting the size of our user base. A large active user base requires more support and is more difficult to maintain when service changes are frequent and when structural corrections may be needed.
At a certain point we would invite the public at large to use fully automated services to obtain ByStar accounts and start using ByStar. But that is not now. ByStarEntityGenerator web services such as ByName.net ByAuthor.net ByWhere.net, etc. are in place. However, at this time we screen account requests individually.
Any individual wishing to join ByStar can make a request and we usually activate accounts for these requests. Please see http://www.by-star.net/joiningByStar for details.
Groups of users (Autonomous ByStarEntities) such as students or staff at a university or High School or a church can join ByStar en masse and obtain ByName services. Other ByStarEntity abstractions can also join ByStar en masse and obtain associated ByStar services.
In an article titled:
Joining, Adopting and/or Licensing ByStar
A Strategy For Rapidly Becoming An Internet Application Service Provider\ A Proposal\ http://www.by-star.net/PLPC/180040
We describe various options for those interested in joining, adopting and/or licensing ByStar.
