Assume you can go back in time to the early days of networking (pre-TCP/IP, early ARPANET) with today's knowledge of cryptography, routing, and state-level censorship tools (DPI, IP/SNI blocking, middleboxes). How would you design the foundational network architecture so that any state or ISP choosing to route traffic must accept either 100% uncensored, unmonitored connectivity or a complete blackout, with no technical middle ground?
Specifically: Protocol-Level Constraints: How do you structure the transport/routing layer so that inspecting, filtering, or modifying a single packet breaks the connection for the entire link or network participant? Metadata & Routing: How do you eliminate or obscure traffic metadata (IP headers, SNI, packet sizes, timing signatures) at the lowest layer so middleboxes cannot perform selective deep packet inspection or domain-level blocking? Bootstrapping & Topology: How do you solve the entry-point discovery problem without relying on centralized, blockable infrastructure like traditional root DNS or static IP allocation?
… Is a true "all-or-nothing" censorship-resistant network protocol theoretically possible without state actors physically cutting transoceanic cables or severing border connections?
Source: r/AskNetsec · by /u/cest_la_vie12