IP-12

The IP-12 spec is a new, more streamlined address management protocol, loosely based on the IPv6 standard. Its primary advantage is adequate namespace for several layers of subnets, allowing a practically limitless amount of device connectivity without resorting to port re-directs and guarded networks (unless desired). Because of the sheer length of the IP-12 address structure and the routing time required to perform a lookup, it is used for university networks, large corporate networks, and Monitor City.

The designers of IP-12, greatly disheartened by the speed at which the Internet 2 project was overwhelmed by the "gunk" of the old 'net, set about making a new network that was specifically incompatible with existing infrastructure, in the hopes that it would become so unpopular that it could be isolated from the Old World internet. Tracts of fibre were re-allocated to IP-12 networks, and soon a light wiring of major IT schools and businesses was taking shape, completely isolated independent of the rest of the world.

The drivers that allowed computers to use IP-12 were written for Linux exclusively, and the creators fought a hard-won battle with the kernel maintenance crew in 2013 to keep it out of the basic Linux package, for fear that it would become too mainstream. The project was kicked off SourceForge twice for barely adhering to an open source license, because its project leaders were adamant that only "qualified" people should use it. When asked in the fall of 2014 how they say IP-12 fitting into the "Free beer/free speech" concept, project contributor Hylif wrote: "It's free as in "feel free to f**k off" (+ 1 Insightful; + 1 Funny; -3 Troll).

IP-12 was adopted for use in Monitor City because its depth and breadth of address allocation made it suited for a very wired city, because its basic structure could be moulded to match the geographical outline of the city (block.layer.building.apartment.x.y.z), and because it had a built-in tendency to keep the outside world out. Most traffic leaving MC goes through a series of converions to let it connect with regular IP traffic, and incoming data is effectively firewalled because the two systems don't talk smoothly otherwise.