The stuff below is just a dream. I need help to make it happen. Check out gounplugged.co/hack and GitHub - gounplugged/UnpluggedDroid for some deets on the technical progress.
Current estimates predict that there will be six times more (50 billion) smart devices in the world by the year 2020 than there currently are U.S. dollar bills in circulation. At the same time, customers, companies, and governments are panicking over the privacy implications of such rapid growth. These concerns are especially troubling given recent news revealing how worldwide internet traffic is often being illegally monitored and manipulated.
Furthermore, most of whatever positive benefit that results from the rise of IoT will be disproportionately allocated to those already most well off. This can already be seen in the current state of the internet, which has left over 4 billion people disconnected and has crippled the average middle class consumer with a monthly phone bill of over USD 100.
Unplugged provides the IoT with an alternative way to share information by leveraging a wireless communications network built off the connectivity (eg Bluetooth, wifi) in modern smartphones and soon to be integrated into all smart devices. With Unplugged, information travels encrypted, device-to-device, until reaches its final destination. By completely eliminating the need for centralized communication, people can communicate freely.
In order to achieve this goal, not only does Unplugged optimize the v4.1 Bluetooth Mesh Specifications for scale, but it also creates financial incentives that help encourage the network to grow. This is accomplished by sharing the connection fee that users pay to access the network amongst the intermediaries that helped pass along the information. In total, over 50% of all revenues are recycled back into the community through these intermediaries. Not only do these cash transfers help offset the cost of traditional data plans, but they also serve to help re-democratize the way we communicate in a way that is not possible through the traditional internet.
Resistant to natural disasters and spikes in network usage, Unplugged provides a solution with benefits for people from all socioeconomic backgrounds.