Typically on the internet I consume. I buy joggers and songs and pay for books and movies. I binge shows and scroll posts. In a lot of ways the internet has become a tool for capturing "users" (addicts?) and extracting capital from them. In moments of reflection, there is a lot about this technology that makes me sad.
The advent of "dark patterns" that make unsubscribing a nightmare (The New York Times requires me to live chat with a person before I can unsubscribe, Blue Apron requires an email, Facebook hides the delete button from users almost better than it hides it's earnings from the IRS). Content suggestion algorithms are so keen to command our attention and money that it feels like watching a TikToc video from a friend is on par with "trying out" cigarettes. Not to mention the endless parade of ads and the tactics of advertisers. It is easy to think that the internet is inherently no good.
It feels like the individual has less and less potential to make an impact and we will all be tugged along in this mad race to the bottom in pursuit of profits.
But this was not always the case.
I took this state of consumption to be the default and only use of the internet. But while much of the internet has become a weed ridden garden with high walls and low standards, the original builders of the pipes themselves took a different approach. It was in reading about the technical make up of this system that I began to find hope and I want to share that with you.
In most technical literature you are bound to come across a phrase such as "Protocol layering has conceptual and structural advantages [RFC 3439]." (Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach, 7/e). The important part is at the end there, RFC 3439. Usually I assume the document waiting on the other end of such a reference (RFC 3439) would swallow my brain whole. I avoid it and move on. But since being laid off I've got lot's of brain to spend and so I've started following the links. And what I found was unexpectedly heartwarming.
RFC standard for Request for Comment. The first RFC was released by Steve Crocker on April 7th 1969. Since then, over 9000 documents have been added ranging from the most obscure technical minutia to an obituary to the yearly April fools submissions. These documents contain an optimism for the technology they discuss. They demonstrate the care of craftsmen working together to create something beyond their individual egos. But make no mistake - the ideas that are presented as RFCs helped to define everything that makes the web possible.
It was not until the third Request For Comment document (RFC 3, "Documentation Conversations") that Crocker outlined the format. It is defined as follows:
The content of a NWG note may be any thought, suggestion, etc. related to the HOST software or other aspect of the network. Notes are encouraged to be timely rather than polished. Philosophical positions without examples or other specifics, specific suggestions or implementation techniques without introductory or background explication, and explicit questions without any attempted answers are all acceptable. The minimum length for a NWG note is one sentence.
(emphasis my own)
t is gratifying to see this ethos exist at a level of engineering that went on to define a piece of technology that has arguably gone on to change our world. There is no profit motive here. There is no graph showing how this form of project management created the most lucrative results. It is a call for ideas and collaboration. It’s human.
From what I've learned so far about engineers involved in networking is that they made suggestions and asked questions. They did not hand down commandments written in stone. In a lot of ways this makes sense. Those working on a medium that enabled the easiest long distance communication the world had ever seen should have by all rights be noteworthy communicators themselves.
There are several reason I want to explore these RFCs. The first is because I find it technically exciting. These are the original documents that went on to (and still do) help the Internet Engineering Task Force implement protocols that are more ubiquitous than any spoken language. They are the constitution of the internet’s mechanical bits and bobs. As someone trying to better my craft, this is exciting to explore.
The second reason is that RFCs to me are the engineering spirit at it's finest. Sometimes the web is used for things that make me sad (see above), but when I read discussion and ideas presented in RFCs I remember that at it's core, the internet is an amazing feat of human cooperation and even compassion. It wasn't designed to addict us. It was designed by curious people trying to making something together.
These documents have had a profound influence on how the internet has been designed and implemented. It is easy to write manuals and specs without soul - these documents show that as programmers, designers and creators we can do more. I would like to make them more accessible.
I've picked a few RFCs to dive into in future posts. I will try to make them as approachable as possible. I hope that you will follow me on this journey as I learn about and chronicle what I've come to recognize as a very rare exhibition of the power of human collaboration.