This article was written on 21/03/2022 but I forgot to post it!!!!
By the title, you would have already assumed what would be inside. Just a heads up…
Programmers/Developers are only allowed here!!!
What is IPv6 according to me?
IPv6 is the next-generation network layer protocol that maybe 95% of current developers/programmers do not know about. It’s actually true! 50% of the so-called developers/programmers you’ll find on the internet are WordPress drag and drop idiots who call themselves programmers. Most of them don’t even know how PHP even works. The rest 45% can be considered developers/programmers in their own respective fields that do not know about IPv6 or haven’t even tried it. And the rest 5% which are the future of the Internet are the only ones taking the internet forward. That’s why I insist on being an open-source developer!!!
Definition of IPv6
Basically, when our Internet Gods were making the Internet, they didn’t think anything for future generations but when the idea became successful, there was immense pressure on them to give IP addresses to everyone. That’s when the task force made IPv6 in 1998. IPv4 had a 32-bit scheme that can store 2³² addresses which soon exhausted 4-5 before writing this blog. The brand new IPv6 has 2^128 addresses which are basically in trillions and maybe never end.
How will it impact our lives?
I can say this for sure, 99% of world is in the dark in terms of internet working. Just about 2 weeks ago, my brother told me that he forgot to use a VPN on a site(You can guess what site…) and a widget on the site appeared saying “Your IP address is XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX and can be tracked by the government”. He was absolutely frightened and asked me for help and I literally thought whats happening in this world. People are literally being fooled! The reality is when you surf on the (public) internet, you need a public IP address, and in order for the server to identify the connected device, it requires certain information first like IP address, HTTP headers. For preserving the privacy of the users, ISPs mostly use Dynamic IP addresses, i.e. change IP address of your connection every time your disconnect and reconnect from the internet.
It also gave them an advantage, they put the users behind a NAT firewall, i.e. your ports cannot be accessed outside, and to get a static IP address, you have to pay them extra(These capitalists!!). Your Public IP address can only be tracked to your city and can never pinpoint your location. and for that specific part ‘can be tracked by the government’, the answer is a simple NO. When you use an HTTPS website, i.e. a website that has an SSL certificate installed, all information is encrypted between the server and you and ISPs can just decrypt it. The providers can only see to which IP address you tried to connect and that’s just it and most of the ISPs do not share data with the government easily to protect privacy. Though, there were cases of the CIA tapping into the European internet backbone trying to trace data which was uncovered by Edward Snowden.
What’s the on-ground reality?
Most of the internet management people are uneducated. Even the people working in datacenters in India are total idiots. I’ve asked 7 broadband engineers about IPv6 and most of them don’t even know IPv4. They only knew IP addresses, no v4 or v6, and not even how they work. I mean literally, you guys assign the IP addresses to the general public and you don’t know what it is. Even my own broadband provider GTPL isn’t IPv6 enabled and I use IPv6 tunnels to connect to the sites that are IPv6 only. The staff of Indian datacenters firstly doesn’t understand the difference between bandwidth and traffic, so you know what to expect from them.
Is IPv6 the future?
Yes, it is. IPv4 addresses have already been exhausted and in a few years, there will be no IPv4 addresses to assign as it will be extremely costly and new providers like Hetzner are already promoting the use of IPv6 to educate the new IT industry.
What have I done for promoting it?
Firstly, I enabled IPv6 in my own company . I also educated many of my peers, friends about it and emphasized the need to use it and many of them have now implemented the dual-stack to support the growing internet.
Where’s the problem then?
1. There are no direct programs to educate the general public on the Internet
2. Dealing with legacy system issues and migration by untrained system admins
3. No good educational curriculum in schools based on the internet