Internet regulation

1
Internet regulation

• International

2
An issue of ownership

• Who owns your phone company?
• What does your phone company own?
• Who regulates your phone company?
• Why does it regulate it the way it does?

3
Ownership and the Internet

• Who owns the Internet?
• Tough question, two answers
• No one, because the Internet is not a thing, it
  is a collection of things it is a network of
  networks
• Vital parts of them are owned by key American and
  multinational entities, but parts are owned by
  international organizations or governments
• Root servers run by several organizations,
  supervised by ICANN
• Backbone
• 27.9 - UUNET/WorldCom/MCI 10.0 - ATT 6.5 -
  Sprint
• Great Wall of China

4
The Internet is at its core

• A collection of networks united by
• Protocols (TCP, HTTP, etc)
• A system of addressing
• IP address system
• Domain Name System
• Root Domain Name Servers (master phone books)
• The core technologies (IP addresses, protocols)
  are not owned by anyone, are in the public domain

5
Who runs the Internet

• ICANN
• Responsible with maintaining the Domain Name
  system
• Responsible with maintaining the system by which
  the addresses are found (IP addresses)
• Settles domain names disputes
• Monitors the registrars
• Does not own the Internet
• Other organizations
• IETF and W3 consortium
• Maintain the Internet protocols
• IP
• Http
• CSS

6
ICANN

• A non-profit organization
• Incorporated in the US
• Has no power of law
• Makes sure technologies are kept neutral
• Only means of recourse in case of non-compliance,
  civil lawsuit (Registerfly example)

7
Important concepts

• IP address allocated by ICANN to Regional
  organizations, who distribute them to ISPs
• Domain Name allocated by ICANN to Registrars,
  who rent them to consumers
• IPv6 a system of addressing that can include 2
  to the power of 168 combinations, as opposed to
  our current system, that only has 4 billion
  possible addresses (2 to the power of 32)

8
Key organizations

• Registrars rental agencies for your Domain Names
• Go Daddy
• Network Solutions
• RegisterFly examples
• Internet Service Providers Allocate Internet
  Protocol numbers (IP addresses)
• Backbone organizations (Tier 1 providers, Global
  Crossing)

9
Who else regulates the Internet internationally?

• Each national government
• Why?
• Because they can!
• Issues
• What is the Internet?
• Broadcast medium?
• Print medium?
• Oral medium?

10
Who should regulate the Internet internationally?

• ICANN the current governing organization
• Is a technical body
• Is a non-profit organization incorporated in
  California
• Does not reflect the will of the nations, but of
  various activists and policy makers, from all
  over the world
• Should it be upgraded?
• Should it become something like ITU
  (International Telecommunications Union)?
• The US says NO
• If given too much power such organization could
  demand institutionalized censorship

11
How should it be regulated at the International
level

• Market forces (Epstein and Hazlett)
• International Constitution/Organization based on
  a constitutional first amendment like provision
  (Noam)
• How much should be left to the national
  governments

12
Yahoo vs. France

• Yahoo sued in France for violating the French law
  against Nazi propaganda
• Sale of Nazi memorabilia on Yahoo Auctions using
  both .fr and .com domains
• Yahoo loses lawsuit 15 mil and counting
• Yahoo sues back in an American court
• France should not regulate content on American
  servers, even if content is accessible to people
  in other countries

13
Yahoo vs. France

• American courts reluctant to take up the case
• Can impact Americans abroad
• Can impact local legislation
• Ultimately, the 9 Circuit Court of Appeals took
  up the case and told Yahoo to pay up
• Yahoo happy, since the American court accepted
  jurisdiction
• Fallout what happens if China decides to forbid
  Google from serving pages about democracy?