Internet regulation

International

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?

Ownership and the Internet Who owns the Internet?

Tough question, two answers:1. No one, because the Internet is not a “thing,” it is a collection of

things – it is a “network of networks”2. 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% - AT&T 6.5% - Sprint

Great Wall of China

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

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

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)

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)

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)

Who else regulates the Internet internationally? Each national government

Why?

Because they can!

Issues What is the Internet?

Broadcast medium? Print medium? Oral medium?

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

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

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

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?