I'm still a bit of a #lightning network noob, so maybe someome with more knowledge can help steer this shower thought (or tell me it's nonsense):
Could the fundamental architecture of the lighting network be used as the foundation of a pay-per-packet #VPN / #tor -like routing network? The idea being something like: you have a network of peers with connections to each other + some set of "exit nodes"; when you request a URL, the request goes out to your peer network to "find a route" to the URL and sats are "locked up" in the routing channel until the final packet roundtrip occurs, at which point the relayers are paid for their service by the requester.
Something something handwave insure privacy and end-to-end encryption.
Is there something there? Is this highly doable **except for** one missing piece somewhere that we could build? Any other suggestions or comments?