The problem is that there are central points that any government can control because we communicate over wire and fiber-optics. By decentralizing the net and using mesh networking, we would regain and retain control. We need to develop the technology needed to have a world-wide mesh network.
Why even bother with mesh networking? We already have the technology needed to decentralize the Internet: amateur radio operators have been using digital modes for decades, over long and short distances, and packet switched amateur radio nets do exist. The problem is the ITU, which set up the regulatory structure that prevents amateur radio from ever being anything more than a hobby.
If we took some of the spectrum that was handed over to 4g cell providers and gave it to amateurs, and created a regulatory system that encouraged amateur stations to act as repeaters, routers, and gateways, we could have a decentralized wireless internet in short order. We should create a new class of amateur licensing, specifically for packet switched networks, that allows a station to repeat a commercial transmission (e.g. someone directing their web browser to Amazon or Google), allows the use of cryptography without requiring key disclosure, allows profanity, allows communication with unlicensed stations (e.g. someone's laptop), etc. There is no technical reason this cannot be done, and amateur radio operators are just as capable of setting up and maintaining a packet switched network as commercial services are (and perhaps even better; Comcast has pretty bad bufferbloat problems).
The ITU establishes standards and regulatory recommendations that are intended to protect the power of telecom monopolies. That is fundamentally incompatible with the Internet's design, which makes no distinction between nodes (compare to cell networks, cable TV networks, etc.) -- any connected node can be a service provider.
