The question is too open-ended. There are many proposed alternatives to what we have now, and "internet" itself has several meanings. There are technical alternatives (like mesh topologies - http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/the-pr... - or simply requiring that all communications be encrypted), regulatory changes (eg, regulated essential utility, nationalization of all internet services), and organizational changes (decentralization of sites like Facebook and YouTube).
An alternative to the current internet could be that all people who connect to the internet are required to login to a government server, using biometrics and a password from a security token.
I feel a lot different about that than a decentralized mesh topology.
Comments
The question is too open-ended. There are many proposed alternatives to what we have now, and "internet" itself has several meanings. There are technical alternatives (like mesh topologies - http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/the-pr... - or simply requiring that all communications be encrypted), regulatory changes (eg, regulated essential utility, nationalization of all internet services), and organizational changes (decentralization of sites like Facebook and YouTube).
An alternative to the current internet could be that all people who connect to the internet are required to login to a government server, using biometrics and a password from a security token.
I feel a lot different about that than a decentralized mesh topology.