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Putting Policy in Its Place: A Challenge for Research on Internet Policy, Regulation and
Governance
William H. DuttonQuello Professor of Media and Information Policy
Quello Center, Michigan State UniversityFollow @QuelloCenter
Presentation for TIPI Speaker Series and RTF Colloquium, University of Texas, Austin, 11 February 2016. Dutton, W. H. (2016), ‘Putting Policy in its Place: The Challenge for Research on Internet Policy and Regulation’, I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, forthcoming.
Fred Williams, Aimee Dorr, and Bill Dutton, 1981
The James and Mary Quello Center• Established in 1998 in honor of FCC
Commissioner James H. Quello• Seeks to seeks to stimulate and inform debate
on media, communication and information policy for our digital age
• Follow the Quello Center online at:• http://quello.msu.edu• Twitter @QuelloCenter
The Rise of the Internet Over the Past DecadeMany Economic, Social & Democratic Potentials of the Internet and Social Media, such as for a Fifth Estate
Apparently Unstoppable Progress of the Internet and related ICTs, such as Social Media
- Internet (85% in North America; 26% in Africa)*- Social Media (52% Facebook in North America; 10% in Africa)*- The New Internet World (East Asia & Global South)- Continuing Innovations: Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, WhatsApp,
WeChat, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Snapchat, Periscope, Beme, …- More innovations: Mobile Internet, iWatch, the first Selfie
Election in US, Mobile Payments, …
*Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/america.htm [24 July 2015]
The Place of Policy?
Irrelevant
• Technology Governs
• Policy Lags• Unregulated
info services enabled New Internet Age
Central
• Context of All Decisions, Analogous to Gravity!
• Enabled the New Internet Age
New Stage or Phase
• Policy Matters Greatly
• Need Appropriate Policy
• Impacts Hard to Anticipate
Argument about a New Phase:Over the next decade, the Internet narrative will shift from technical innovations, and the public and commercial opportunities they present, to policy and regulation.
What is this shift?
Why will it occur?
What risks and opportunities does It present?
What can be done?
Decades of Technical Innovations
Time lines of the History of the Internet
Rapid technical innovations
Information services as industrial policy
National support for not regulating (USA, UK)
Policy Themes of Early Internet Research
Access
Controlling Use (copyright, filtering)
Internet regulatory exceptions (protecting children)
Multistakeholder Internet governance (names and numbers)
Some Pivotal Events
Wikileaks Edward Snowden
European Right to be Forgotten
Social Media Internet of Things
Today’s Internet
Bubble 2.0
Global Trends Driving Regulation
Internet & Social Media
Regulation
Significance of the Net
Decline, Substitution of Old Media
Digital Divides
Trust Bubble + Snowden Moral
Panics? (Social Media)
‘Left Out’ of Policy
National Policy &
Regulation
Moral Panics: Social Media & the Internet
Global Trends Driving Regulation
Internet & Social Media
Regulation
Significance of the Net
Decline, Substitution of Old Media
Digital Divides
Trust Bubble + Snowden Moral
Panics? (Social Media)
‘Left Out’ of Policy
National Policy &
Regulation
Broader Implications?
Clarion Calls for Politicians to ‘Do Something’
Blind Regulators and the Internet (Indian Parable)
Lack of an Appropriate Regulatory Model
Image from: http://www.jainworld.com/literature/story25i1.gif
Appropriate Regulatory Models?(Proportionate to Offense)
Speech?
Press?
Post?
Data Custodian?
Telephony, Common Carrier?
Cable?
Broadcasting?
Manifestations of this TrendPrivacy Initiatives, such as Right to be Forgotten
Continuing Efforts to Enforce Copyright, Block Linking
Content Regulation Increasingly Global
Efforts to Legalize Mass Data Surveillance
Initiatives to Regulate Internet Services• Net Neutrality • OTT Services
Network Neutrality is:“Boring” John Oliver, but truly complex
Open Internet?
Battle for the ‘Last Mile’?
Public Utility, available to all?
Common Carrier?
Internet’s First Amendment?
John Oliver: ‘All data must be treated equal.’ 1 Jun 2014
John Oliver: proposing a better label for Net Neutrality, 1 Jun 2014
FCC’s Rules for Open Internet, Net Neutrality:
No blocking (of lawful content)
No throttling
No paid prioritization, access tiering, ‘fast lanes’
No unreasonable interference
Transparency
European Network Neutrality
US No Fast Lane EU Two Tiers
FCC on Access to Last-Mile
MarketRegulation
FCC on Access to Last-Mile
‘Inappropriate Utility-Style Regulation’
‘Bold Action to Protect Open
Internet’
Waters, R. ‘Internet Groups in Tricky Position over US Net Neutrality’, Financial Times, 12 February.
The Politics of Network Neutrality
The Redneck Review Blog
Telecom IndustryCable IndustryBig Network Operators
Internet IndustryContent ProvidersAdvocacy Groups
Digital Activists
Proponents and Opponents of Network Neutrality
RepublicanOpponents
DemocratProponents
Proponents and Opponents of Network Neutrality
Politics of Net
Neutrality
Neutral, Rational-
Legal Analysis?
Power of Grassroots (Internet Users)?
Partisan Politics
(“power grab”)?
Rising Power of Internet Industry, Silicon Valley?
Tech Populism?
20052006
20072008
20092010
2015
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Sear
ch F
requ
ency
Google Search Queries for “Net Neutrality” (2004 – May 2015)
06/1308/13
10/1312/13
02/1404/14
06/1408/14
10/1412/14
02/1504/15
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
01/14 05/14
09/14
11/14
02/15
04/15
Sear
ch F
requ
ency
Google Search Queries for “Net Neutrality” (June 2013 – May 2015)
20052006
20072008
20092010
2015
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100Net Neutral-ityDigitial Divide
Sear
ch F
requ
ency
Google Search Queries for “Net Neutrality” “Digital Divide” & “Open Internet” (2004 – May 2015)
Governing a Global Ecology of Choices
National Governmental
Policy & Regulation
Industry, ISP, SNS Policy &
Regulation
User Self-Regulation (Learning & Education)
Bilateral & Multilateral
Treaties, Inst.Tech Populism
Multistakeholder, Multilateral Global
Internet Governance
The Coming DecadeLast Decade’s Narrative: Technical Innovations
The Next Decade’s Narrative: Policy, Regulation & Governance
Risk: Undermining the Vitality of the Internet and Social Media, and their Democratic and Societal Potential – criminalizing sharing, arresting bloggers, delinking, undermining anonymity --
Policy Issues Rising Policy Research
Marginalized
Policy and Internet Studies
What Can We (Academic Researchers) Do?
Analytical SkepticismIndependent,
Empirical Research
Develop More Appropriate Regulatory
Model(s)
Make Policy Studies More Interdisciplinary
Bring Policy Research into the Fold of Media,
Communication & Information Studies