toolkits?

[Stephen Whitaker <whitaker@sover.net>]

OK folks, nobody seems to have any ideas how to keep our little state of
Vermont from falling prey to mediocrity in the internet. I thought with so
many highly opinionated people I would at least get a few good or at least
entertaining suggestions.

How about a different angle. Can anyone aid in building capacity among a few
sincere watchdog types to really learn how to map, trace and test the net
here as it grows?
What constitutes a basic toolkit for trace route, sniff for promiscuous
mode, all the other tools to map whats happening to net traffic in a little
state of 1/2 million people? What are the sources of traffic information?
With there not even a single DS-3 in the state yet carrying IP it seems we
just might have a prayer of doing it right, whatever that is. What would it
look like if secure communications and anonomynity were designed in from the
start? Is this what Sameer is doing in Bezerkeley?

What machines are considered minimum requirements to use these tools? What
are the essential reference works?
-sw