Came across something which might appeal to this forum. Technically interesting - and participating in this is a small contribution to a healthy global internet.
The “RIPE Atlas” project has established a network of “probes” on the internet worldwide in order to monitor its performance. Almost anyone can host a probe - which can either be a small dedicated device based on a Raspberry Pi, or a “software probe” which is process which can be running on (for example) a home server.
More info:
Getting a sw probe operational is not hard. Doing this wtih Docker you can clone a repository
which includes a docker-compose.yaml file
And start up the Docker container in the usual way.
Create an account on the RIPE Atlas website. Then register your probe by pasting a copy of the public key which the docker container process created.
Only problem I had was a port clash between RIPE Atlas and Unifi, both wanting port 8080 - fixed by reconfiguring Unifi to use port 8081.