Refusal of large email providers to properly federate is certainly frustrating, but I was actually referring to the network layer in the OSI model. So long as the raw IP traffic isn't subject to broad and pervasive restrictions by the authorities, new software stacks can be freely invented and used on a worldwide basis (IPFS, for example).

(Speaking of other software stacks, a few Gopher servers remain online today [1] and there's even a DECnet in operation! [2])

[1] http://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/gw?gopher/0/v2/vstat

[2] http://www.update.uu.se/~bqt/hecnet.html