Politics 117

Politics 117

The regulation of the Internet

Did Al Gore invent the Internet?

What is the Internet anyway?

• Is it a corporation?• Is it an anarchist

collective? • Is it a non-profit?• Is it a government

agency?• Is it a bunch of

computers?• Is it a lot of wires?

• “The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide.”

• Section 230(e)(1) of the Communications Act:– “(1) INTERNET—The term ‘Internet’ means the

international computer network of both Federal and non-Federal interoperable packet switched data networks.”

Advanced Research Projects Agency, 1958

• Created within the Department of Defense (DoD) to establish US lead in science and technology applicable to the military, at least in theory

• In practice ARPA researchers did whatever they wanted, which sometimes had little to do with military goals

Sputnik, 1957

flopnik

The Manchester Mark I (above)

Big ugly computers and the geeks who loved them

Eniac

• Time sharing: Networks in which many people can use a computer system simultaneously

• Batch processing: One person takes a batch of programs and runs them through a computer

Larry Roberts’ ARPAnet plan

AT&T’s John DeButts

AT&T: the regulated monopoly, circa 1965

• Completely dominates telephony; few independents left

• Offers POTS (plain old telephone service)

• Discourages and blocks technological advances not controlled by AT&T

• Section 202 of the Communications Act:– It shall be unlawful for any common carrier to

make unjust or unreasonable discrimination in charges, practices, classifications, regulations, facilities, or services for or in connection with like communications service, directly or indirectly, by any means or device, or to make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person, class of persons, or locality . . . “

AT&T cases before FCC, 1948-1968

• Hush-A-Phone (1948-1956): Court rules customers can attach Hush-A-Phones to their phones

• Carterfone (1968): FCC rules that public can connect their own two way radio equipment, or other phone accessories, to their telephones

The Rand Corporation

• Founded in 1946• Think tank for the Air

Force• Most famous resident:

Herman Kahn, author of On Thermonuclear War

Paul Baran

Davies concept of “packet switching”

• Digital messages divided up into “packets”

• Move through a set of “nodes”

• Would be part of British government’s “modernization” plan

• But rejected by the British post office

Davies’ node model for Britain

Computers, circa 1966; LGP-30 (above); PDP-1 (right above); Honeywell DDP-516 (right below), which would be used as Interface Message Processors (IMPs)

Leonard Kleinrock with the first node of the ARPANET in 1970, an SDS-7 at the Stanford Research Institute (left) connected to a Sigma-7 (below) at UCLA

• The Internet is a set of protocols for moving digital data from one point to another

• A protocol is a set of rules for correct behavior

• Protocols of diplomacy:– Proper greeting– Establish recognition– Standard formats for

exchanging information– Standard formats for

agreements or agreeing on what has or has not been decided

– Standard procedures for concluding the meeting

– Proper exit

Internet protocols• Telnet: Rules for interacting

with a computer through a teletype machine or terminal

• SMTP: Rules for sending email• POP3: Rules for receiving email• FTP: File Transfer Protocol:

rules for sending and receiving files

• HTTP: Allows you to view Web pages

• TCP/IP: Super rules for sending “packets” through different networks

File Transfer Protocol and Telnet

1971, ARPANET demonstrated at Washington, DC

• Viewers could use the PARRY chatterbot program

THX-1138, 1971

• SENDMSG• READMAIL• NAME@MACHINE

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

• TCP: Transmission Control Protocol, is the de facto standard for sending information across the Internet

• Your data packets have to conform to TCP standards

• IP: assigns Internet Protocol numbers to hosts

AT&T consent decree, 1956

• To stop anti-trust suit, AT&T restricts its activities to those related to running the national telephone system, and special projects for the federal government.

AT&T opens first trans-Atlantic telephone cable

Unix operating system, 1969

• Leased to the public, cheap, to comply with 1956 Consent Decree

• No manual• No tech support• No upgrades• No returns• Lots of luck

Internic to Icann• Agencies in charge of

domain names and numbers

• Created the edu, gov, mil, com, org, and net conventions

• ICANN now run by the Department of Commerce

Internet privatized in 1995

• 1991: National Science Foundation issues “Project Development Plan”

• 1991: Al Gore’s High Performance Computing Act jump starts ISP technology

• 1995: NSF releases Internet to the public