Transcript Regulation of the Internet in the US

The Internet and its regulation
大綱
互聯網的特性
Characteristics of the Internet
是否規管的考慮因素
Regulatory considerations
推廣互聯網
初期：管還是不管？
Regulate or not to regulate?
Policies to promote access?
內容規管
Attempts to regulate content
近期爭議
In response to Web 2.0
嚴管內容？
保證平台開放？
The Internet
As a business tool
As a communication tool/
As a mass medium
Focus and theme of
this course
The Internet as a communication
tool
兩大議題
2 main issues
如何令大眾能使用互聯網
Access to the
Internet
應否和如何規管內容
Content regulation
of the Internet
How the US and some other countries treat
and tackle these 2 issues
Topic 1
The Internet – development and special features
What is the Internet?
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a vast global interconnection of computer
networks around the world
all of which use a common set of technical
protocols (Internet Protocols/IP) in routing
data across those networks
How does the Internet operate?
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The Internet is the combined result of
several technological development:
 digitalisation
 packet-switching
 Internet
address protocols
How does the Internet operate?
(continued)
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Packet-switching vs. circuit-switching
Packet-switching
 enables
digital data... transmitted as discrete
packets … over any available route in the
network...reassembled at ...IP address
 cheap, efficient and fast method of
transmission
How does the Internet operate?
(continued)
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circuit-switching
 any
call between two points on the network
requires a complete, dedicated connection
Origin of the Internet
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1969: The US Department of Defense’s Advanced
Research Project Agency created ARPAnet, first
national packet-switched computer network
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The original purpose of the Internet was
 to
provide a wholly secure means ...secret
information circulated.. internal electronic postal
system
 enable computers operated…. by redundant
channels even if some portions of the network
damaged in a war
Origin of the Internet (continued)
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1983: the Internet was born officially when ARPAnet
divided into military and civilian components, with the
civilian component giving rise to the Internet （開始在
大學供非軍事用）
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the National Science Foundation (NSF) established
the NSFnet - an academic research network serving the
US universities
1994: NSF began converting its network to private
hands （容許私人使用）
Who runs the Internet?
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The Internet is not owned or managed by any one
person, or government, or company
Some groups are responsible for coordinating the
Internet and setting specifications to make it work
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the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers (ICANN) -assignment of address and domain
names
the Internet Society (ISOC) - promotes the orderly use and
development of the Internet
But these organisations are based in the US (dominated by
the US?)
Special features of the Internet
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...a fluid, complex entity
… a dynamic routed, packet-switched
network
…has a decentralised nature
…international in scope (global in scale)
...a many-to-many mass medium
…allows interactivity
...substitutable for all existing media?
...offers limitless possibilities?
The Internet - what kind of medium?
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a many-to-many mass medium
users …also generate much of the content
regulatory issues:
 more
akin to print or broadcast media?
 serves as publisher, distributor, broadcaster or
common carrier?
The Internet - a democratic
medium?
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Giving people a greater degree of personal
autonomy:
a vast, cheap but valuable source for
knowledge and information
 an efficient and powerful communication
means
 can become a publisher...around the globe
…with very limited money and resources
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The Internet - a democratic medium?
(continued)
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no one institution or individual owns the
Internet, and no one specifically controls
it
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the first truly democratic medium of
communication in human history?
The Internet - a democratic medium?
(continued)
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Regulatory issues
government regulation lead to censorship
and other undesirable effects?
Development left to big corporations...
undermine the democratic nature...simply an
e-commerce tool?
The role of the Internet in promoting
democracy and civic participation
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Should governments take steps
to establish a public service presence on
the Internet,
to underpin ‘democracy online’ with
infrastructural support, and
 create a Civic Commons in Cyberspace.
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Benefits of online civic engagement
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Transcending time
Transcending place
Language of the people
Making connections
Recruitment of experience and expertise
Learning to deliberate
Community building
Downsides of online civic engagement
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Risk of political control (direct contact
without public scrutiny)
Vague objectives
Bogus democracy (online voting)
Lack of informed input
The risk of fragmentary marginalisation
互聯網 – 導致無政府狀況？
The Internet - leading to anarchy?
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Internationalism of the Internet
use and exploration...wholly indifferent to
international boundaries （無視國界）
largely unregulated and uncontrolled by the State
a potential to diminish the authority of
government and even becomes a power tool for
political subversion? （會影響政府管治？）
The Internet - leading to anarchy? (continued)
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Populism of the Internet 各種偏向平民的情況
Access unconstrained ...
No credentials required
No real system of censorship
Reproducibility
perfect fomenting ground for criminal
conspiracies? 成為罪惡溫床？
The Internet - leading to anarchy? (continued)
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Users under little or no social pressures to
conform 網民可不顧社會規範
 surf
the web in the privacy
 many not use real name (anonymity)
 subverts social control and induces moral
anarchy?
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Regulatory issues: pornography, harmful
materials and gambling on the net, should
they be regulated and how?
The Internet
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A summary of its characteristics
Decentralization
Anonymity
counter-cultural character
Speed
low entry barriers
long shelf life
wide reach
Topic 2
The Internet - regulatory considerations
Media regulation – 4 basic criteria
formulated by US courts
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Media: regulate or not, and how, depending on
The capacity of the medium to carry message
The persuasiveness or invasiveness of the
medium
The accessibility of the medium
The traditional relationship between the
government and the medium
Different media subject to different degree of
regulation
Print
(least regulated)
Cable
Telephone
Broadcast
(strictly regulated)
Regulatory options
State regulation
No regulation
Self-regulation
by the industry
Regulating the Internet - further
considerations
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The Internet is still developing
 difficult
to come up with comprehensive regulation
 regulation hinders development?
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Regulation always lags behind
western countries
 not
devising comprehensive rules
 only catering urgent matters
applying existing laws
 making new laws
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Regulation of the Internet – different
attitudes among countries
To regulate or not to regulate?
US and W. Europe
Classic libertarian view
-hands off
-- what is illegal offline
is illegal online
Many Asian countries
Fear and Unease
-subverting
- cultural imperialism
- regulate access and content
書目
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唐守廉：”互聯網及其治理“（2008）
唐子才，梁雄健編著：“互聯網規制理論
與實踐 （2008）（閱讀時，略去不懂的方
式程）