I was wondering what it would take to fork the internet. Or more seriously, what it would take to create an open source / hardware alternative. Maybe something true to it's routes of academia, ie no commercial activity permitted, especially adverts! Maybe even limited to some of the original simple protocols like HTTP, FTP and maybe RSS?

When I was in Holland many years ago there was a university initiative to connect the whole town with it's own hobby network. I bought some directed antennae to connect, and it worked, but I seem to recall it was line-of-sight WiFi stuff and thus very limited range.

I also worked for an airline that had line-of-sight laser communications, but again it was only short distances.

Are there any modern alternatives that would make such a people sponsored/focused hobby network possible?

The first thought I had was long-wave radio, but I cant imagine there is much bandwidth there, but might be okay for a text only protocols?