FedNet
FedNet is the United Federation’s answer to the ARPANET and NFSNet of pre-Leveler times. It is a military-run system of computer networks that allow for near-instantaneous transfer of small electronic documents across vast distances. The computers are arranged in such a way that enables its continued usage even in the event of the destruction of any of its nodes.
Although far from lightning-fast, FedNet facilitated the quick transfer of military and later academic documents.
Usage Policy
Use of the FedNet is heavily restricted, with a user only ever authorized one access identity throughout their lifetimes. Should they lose this access, they would need to file for retrieval, a process which requires stringent proofs of identity and would on average take five business days to complete.
Typical FedNet users include military intelligence personnel, collegiate researchers, and academic facilitators. Corporate users are limited; only authorized personnel from military and academic affiliates are given any access to FedNet.
Nonmilitary personnel are rarely given permanent access, although their user access identities are recycled each time. Collegiate researchers and corporate representatives alike are given temporary access and must file for renewal every six months.
FedNet fora are notorious for their formality. Anonymity does not exist in this setting and the zero-tolerance policy (which leads to an extended ban on the first offense and a community service charge on the second, followed by another community service charge and a permanent ban on the third) is claimed by critics to be draconian and excessive. Users with a pending court case are suspended indefinitely.
A few rules merit an instantaneous lifetime ban; the biggest of them is the physical assault of a FedNet user.
Connections
FedNet is exclusive to the United Federation. Government offices and academic institutions from 21 cantons of the United Federation and the Principality of Barrie have access to the network.
All cantons and client states with FedNet access must remain compliant with its policies for it to retain access. FedNet is, as the name suggests, a Federal-level entity, and connections to it are administered through the Federation Military Communication Office.
Sub-cantonal-level government offices and academic bodies must apply for FedNet connectivity, a process that takes at least three months.
Sakoroan Internet
Sakoro is the lone canton not incorporated into the FedNet, having its own publicly available Internet, a commercial network using the same network architecture.
Sakoroans utilize the Internet as a primary communication tool, in contrast to the secondary nature of the FedNet, and they have created several specialist technologies to serve its userbase in splendid isolation. The Internet, much faster than FedNet, is accessible across several platforms made specifically for the Sakoroan market.
Although the Internet was once allowed some access to the larger FedNet, the connection between the two has been severed due to the current cantonal government’s consistent noncompliance with FedNet’s stringent rules on non-anonymity and social behavior protocol, as well as serious allegations of leaking sensitive political documents and doctoring public records.
The Sakoroan government has been alleged to use their Internet to promote partisan politics and fund disinformation campaigns, and due to anonymity, Internet users in Sakoro are often considered crass, irrational, impolite, and hateful. Moreover, the Internet’s frequently inaccurate information are thought to have contributed to fanatical populism and backlash against government opposition and criticism now common in Sakoroan politics.
This behavior, constantly reported across more traditional media channels across the Federation, has not only led to the suspension of all Sakoroan user access identities and any Sakoroan connections to the FedNet, but has put popular opinion against making the FedNet publicly available.
DiploNet
A smaller network, built on the same protocols, is DiploNet. DiploNet is used by embassies connected to the United Federation and facilitates the effective transfer of diplomatic communiques overseas. Federation embassies in other nations have both FedNet and DiploNet connections,wheras embassies within the Federation are connected to their foreign counterparts and the Federation embassies solely through DiploNet.