Transcript Regulating and Governing the Internet

Ch. 2:
Regulating and Governing the Internet
• Should we impose limits
on the flow of
information in
cyberspace?
• Implementing
restrictions:
– Challenge:
Origins of the Network
pp. 29-31
• Original aim:
– “Survivable communications”
• Packets, packet switching
– Labeled w/ origin, destination, sequence info for
reassembling at destination
– Donald Davies (beginning thru 2:09):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT4AaelwvV4
– Why is the data broken up into packets?
• for Queuing (@ 1:53 in video)
Origins of the Network cont’d
• First large-scale packet switching network was
ARPANET.
– Initial goal: resource sharing.
– Usage discovery: electronic mail
• The idea of using a network to bring people together
• ARPANET and Milnet: interconnected
• “A network of networks” was born – the
Internet
– The “death of distance”
The Internet’s Architecture
• TCP/IP
– Protocol: set of rules for communications
• IP
– IP address: nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn (0-255)
• TCP
– Packeting
– Routers: packet switches
• NSPs
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyosOGHOBHA
Distinctive features:
• Trait of openness
• Asynchronous
• Many-to-many communications
• Distributed
• Scalable
•
Pp. 32-33
Facets of the Modern Internet
• WWW
–
–
–
–
Multimedia
Hypertext linking
Accessible html and http
A move to the semantic
web for coding, xml
• E-commerce
– Trade
– More products available
to the consumer
– Customization
– Models
•
•
•
•
• Pp. 33-38
B2C
C2B
B2B
C2C
Facets cont’d
• Social Networking
–
–
–
–
Communication tools, sharing of info
See pp. 38-39 for an overview if unfamiliar
Challenges: monetizing web traffic & privacy
Ease of sharing info leads to problems
• Child porn, predators, bullying, stalking, sexting
– Should these sites be liable for the illegal activities of
their users?
• For the US, the Communications Decency Act §230c applies
• Other countries often do not have laws to protect service
providers.
– See case studies: L’Affair Yahoo and A Case of Libel pp. 50-54
Social problems of the Internet
• Erosion of privacy
• Perverted forms of
speech
• Illegitimate copying of
music and video files
• Transaction fraud
• Hackers
Regulating the Problems
• Lessig’s 4 Constraints on Behavior
1.
2.
3.
4.
Laws
Social Norms
Market
Code / Architecture
• Other considerations:
– Social costs: borne involuntarily by others
• Ex. Privacy
Approaches:
• Invisible hand: let it self-correct. Often best in
situations where all the variables are not
known/understood
– Avoids the problem of capture
• “a process whereby those being regulated influence
regulators so hat they no longer act in the public
interest”
– Funny aside: http://motherjones.com/media/2010/06/markfiore-voluntary-regulation
Approaches: cont’d
• Visible hand: regulate it
• Difficulties inherent in Internet regulation:
– Open architecture designed for sharing
• John Gilmore: “Information can take so many alt routes
when one node is removed that the Net is almost immortally
flexible … the Net interprets censorship as damage and
routes around it.” p. 42
– Digital content difficult to contain
– Jurisdiction is based on geography, Internet has no
boundaries.
– Do we net Net/tech specific laws?
Internet Regulation and Ethics
• A mix of approaches is likely
• The effectiveness of code to control behavior.
• The need for regulation to consider autonomy,
privacy and security
– Embracing values for human flourishing p. 50