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AndreiVoinigescuPaper1Internet20 10 - 19 Nov 2008 - Main.AndreiVoinigescu
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Factions in a Digital Age | | |
Introduction | |
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< | In The Federalist No. 10, James Madison warned of the threat posed by factions to civil rights and the public good. While Madison understood the need to keep factions from usurping the power of the state, the march of technology has made it evident that misuse of the state's coercive power is not the only threat to individual rights. Just as the American Constitution seeks to limit the power of factions within the political process by incorporating principles of federalism, separation of powers and bicameralism into the architecture of the state, so too must we now look to the architecture of the internet as a means of diffusing the power technology grants to factions. We can--and should--phase in a new network where ownership and control over the switches is maximally dispersed. | >
> | In The Federalist No. 10, James Madison warned of the threat posed by factions--groups of citizens with shared interests adverse to the rights of other citizens and the interest of the community as a whole. While Madison understood the need to keep factions from usurping the power of the state, the march of technology has made it evident that misuse of the state's coercive power is not the only threat to individual rights. Just as the American Constitution seeks to limit the power of factions within the political process by incorporating principles of federalism, separation of powers and bicameralism into the architecture of the state, so too must we now look to the architecture of the internet as a means of diffusing the power technology grants to factions. We can--and should--phase in a new network where ownership and control over the switches is maximally dispersed. | | | How Technological Change Threatens Civil Rights and Self Governance | |
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< | Lawrence Lessig has identified four mechanisms though which human behavior is controlled: laws, social norms, market forces, and physical architecture. Physical architecture is a far more powerful means of regulation than law: physical architecture creates self-enforcing ex-anti constraints, while law can only threaten ex-post punishment and requires a complex bureaucracy to enforce. Laws against drunk driving are less effective then breathalysers hooked to the ignition switch. | >
> | While laws passed and enforced by the state are the most obvious mechanism for regulating human behavior, Lawrence Lessig has identified three others: social norms, market forces, and physical architecture. Of the four, physical architecture often is the most potent tool, because it works by creating self-enforcing ex-anti constraints, while the rest rely on the threat of ex-post punishment imperfectly administered by the community or the state. Speed bumps and ignition interlock devices can outperform harsher legal penalties. | | | | |
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< | For activities conducted over networks, the code than controls the switches defines the physical architecture of the network. It prescribes what can and cannot be done on the network, which communications can get through, which are to be modified (and how), and which are simply not to be forwarded on. Modify the code on enough switches to block certain websites, and you get China's Golden Shield Project. Write code to identify subversive or unflattering text in transit, and Twitter posts by political dissidents and whistle-blowers become toothless endorsements of the regime. | >
> | For activities conducted over networks, the code than controls the switches defines the physical architecture of the network. It prescribes what network users can do, and how they are monitored. Modify the code on enough switches to block certain websites, and you get China's Golden Shield Project. Write code to identify subversive or unflattering text in transit, and Twitter posts by political dissidents and whistle-blowers become toothless endorsements of the regime. Add code to log a user's network traffic, and you can build a complete profile of his online activities, ready for sale to any interested third party. Is it any wonder that switch manufacturers are competing to create 'intelligent' switches with enhanced monitoring and security functionality? | | | Our ability to modify the physical architecture of the real world is still, fortunately, rather limited. But in a networked world, code is easy to modify. The owner of the switch has almost unlimited control over what is and isn't possible on the network. And, in the Internet as it exists now, ownership of the switches is concentrated among a relatively small number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), most of whom are commercial entities. This creates an environment where a single ISP (or a few acting in concert) can regulate human behavior much more completely than the most determined police states of the Cold War era ever could. Comcast's unilateral decision to throttle BitTorrent traffic across its network is a pale hint of what we can expect to see as switching hardware develops to allow real-time deep packet inspection of all network traffic and the owners of the switches become increasingly savvy about the power they control. |
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