The Technical is Political

1. The Technical is Political __________________________________________________________________________________________ Access to an open Information environment

2. Overview __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Models of communication • The stakes of architecture • Political and economic • Pressures on end-to-end • State of play at the physical layer • Outline of issues at the logical and content layers

3. Network Architecture __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Models of Communications • Broadcast: one-way, controlled infrastructure, intelligent network, simple endpoints. Information flow controlled primarily at the center • Telephone: switched, intelligent core, simple endpoints. Information flow end-to-end, but only within parameters tightly controlled by core • Internet: Intelligent endpoints, simple network. Content and logic end-to-end

4. Communicative Functions in a Communications Channel Noise/Signal Conversion Intelligence Production Message Production Conceptual mapping Medium choice (form) Collection Stimuli Relevance filtration Processing meaning Channel choice Coding for medium and channel Articulation Accreditaton Reception Transmission Perceived by sender as stimulus (serial monologues) Transmission medium (form) Recipient’s noise/ signal conversion Accreditation Comprehension / assimilation Filtration Transmission channel (physical layer) Intelligence reproduction / decoding Reply (if any) Reception medium Perceived by sender as reply through the channel (dialogue)

5. Funding providers Communicative Functions in a Broadcast Model Broadcasters Intelligence Production Conceptual mapping Noise/Signal Conversion Message Production Collection Relevance filtration Processing meaning Medium choice Accreditaton Articulation Channel choice Transmission Reply (if any) Transmission medium (form) Reception Coding for medium and channel Accreditation Transmission channel (physical layer) Recipient’s noise/ signal conversion Filtration Reception medium Comprehension / assimilation Distribution ChannelOwners Intelligence reproduction / decoding End users Regulators

6. End-Users (senders) Communicative Functions in a Telephony Model Noise/Signal Conversion Intelligence Production Conceptual mapping Collection Processing meaning Relevance filtration Accreditaton Articulation Message Production Medium choice Transmission Reception Transmission medium (form) Channel choice Recipient’s noise/ signal conversion Accreditation Coding for medium and channel Transmission channel (physical layer) Comprehension / assimilation Filtration Intelligence reproduction / decoding Reception medium Carriers Reply End users (recipients)

7. End-Users (senders) Communicative Functions in an Internet Model Noise/Signal Conversion Message Production Collection Intelligence Production Medium choice Relevance filtration Conceptual mapping Processing meaning Reply Coding for medium and channel Accreditaton Articulation Transmission medium (form) Reply Channel choice Transmission Carriers & ISPs Transmission channel (physical layer; open logical layer) Reception medium Reply Reply Accreditation Filtration End users (recipients) Reception Recipient’s noise/ signal conversion Intelligence reproduction / decoding Comprehension / assimilation

8. Broadcast vs. Internet Models: Aggregated Effects Program Producers Broadcasters Network Service Providers End Users End Users

9. The Stakes __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Democracy • Jonas of IDT: “Sure I want to be the biggest telecom company in the world, but it's just a commodity. I want to be able to form opinion. By controlling the pipe, you can eventually get control of the content” • Everyone a pamphleteer or printing press • Power of media & advertisers • Diversity of views and voices

10. The Stakes __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Democracy • Autonomy • Cisco’s QoS control policy routers • “you could restrict the incoming push broadcasts as well as subscribers’ outgoing access to the push site to discourage its use. At the same time, you could promote your own or partner’s services with full speed features to encourage adoption of your services” • Who defines the window through which one trains one’s eyes on the prize; whose prize?

11. The Stakes __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Democracy • Autonomy • Innovation • Lessig, Baldwin, Reed • E.g., voice/video over IP implemented through desktop software

12. The Stakes __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Democracy • Autonomy • Innovation • Efficiency • Where pipeline-type conditions prevail, standard market power issues arise • Deferring consumption optimization decisions to the point of consumption • Flexibility of using a car, not a train

13. End-to-End __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Technical argument: Saltzer, Clark & Reed • Lessig: core design characteristic of innovation on the Net • Telephone infrastructure—common carriage and business-user treatment of ISPs allowed grafting end-to-end architecture over physical infrastructure • How central is end-to-end to the political values?

14. Pressures on End to End __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Lack of trustworthiness in peers • Spam, viruses • Advantages in moving security and filtering into the network (e.g. firewalls)

15. Pressures on End to End __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Lack of trustworthiness in peers • Quality of service • Video streaming • Real time voice • Solutions can present themselves as ways for the network to differentiate and separate out different content • Policy routers; mirroring

16. Pressures on End to End __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Lack of trustworthiness in peers • Quality of service • ISP service differentiation • Caching

17. Pressures on End to End __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Lack of trustworthiness in peers • Quality of service • ISP service differentiation • Third party interests • Employers • ISPs who see themselves as having independent interests • Government officials

18. Pressures on End to End __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Lack of trustworthiness in peers • Quality of service • ISP service differentiation • Third party interests • Less sophisticated users • Intelligent end points require knowledgeable users • Poorly trained users may need network-implemented functionality

19. Tradeoffs __________________________________________________________________________________________ FREEDOM V.          CONTROL    Played out in two domains           POLITICAL ECONOMIC first party v. third party Innovation v. manageability voluntary v. involuntary Innovation/growth v. allocation universality v. balkanization Network externalities/social noncommercial v. commercial value v. private returns autonomy v. order to investment popular/pluralist/discourse- centered democracy v. elitist democracy or republicanism

20. Who will choose? __________________________________________________________________________________________ • ISPs? • Physical infrastructure owners? • Government? • Markets? • Technologists in standard setting bodies?

21. State of Play __________________________________________________________________________________________ Content Layer Logical Layer Physical Layer

22. Physical Layer Sat. Cable DSL Lic. wrls

23. “High Speed”—asymmetric 200 kbps downstream Source: FCC Third 706 Report February 2002

24. “Advanced Services”at least 200 kbps both ways Source: FCC Third 706 Report February 2002

25. “High Speed” to Homes & Small Business Source: FCC Third 706 Report February 2002

26. “Advanced Services” to Homes & Small Business Source: FCC Third 706 Report February 2002

27. “Advanced Services” (to bigger institutions?) Source: FCC Third 706 Report February 2002

28. High Speed Lines to Homes & SOHO by Type of Provider

29. State of Play __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Historically: Natural Monopoly • Monopoly more efficient • License/franchise plus price & service regulation to prevent abuse

30. State of Play __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Historically: Natural Monopoly • 1990s: Multiple wires to the home • Contingency • Convergence requires upgrade of previous monopoly legacy infrastructures already in most homes • Second-best • as regulation fails to alleviate monopoly problems, competition becomes preferred second-best

31. State of Play __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Historically: Natural Monopoly • 1990s: Multiple wires to the home • 1996 Act and early implementation • Aggressive regulation to required sharing of bottleneck inputs to create intra-modal competition in telcos • But forbearance from cable • Early local efforts re: cable overturned by courts • AOL-Time Warner Merger conditions

32. State of Play __________________________________________________________________________________________ • Historically: Natural Monopoly • 1990s: Multiple wires to the home • 1996 Act and early implementation • Last year • General drift towards reliance solely on intermodal competition, with substantial retreat from access/unbundling for intramodal competition

33. Open Wireless Networks Physical Layer Do two pipelines a competitive market make? Sat. Cable DSL Declaratory Ruling US Telecom Assn (DC Cir.) Appropriate Framework NPRM Lic. wrls Incumbent LEC NPRM & UNE Review

34. State of Play __________________________________________________________________________________________ Content Layer Logical Layer Physical Layer

35. Logical Layer Applications Apache, Perl Operating systems: MS Linux Higher level protocols: e.g. naming & addressing TCP/IP

36. Logical Layer Applications Apache, Perl Trusted systems required? Operating systems: MS Linux Higher level protocols: e.g. naming & addressing TCP/IP Trusted systems required?

37. Content Layer Micky bound: Intellectual property Property-resistant systems: Kazaa etc. Free sharing: peer production creative commons Censorship: filtering, Monitoring, blocking Censorship resistant systems: Freenet etc.

38. Wrap up __________________________________________________________________________________________ • The stakes of adhering to an Internet model of communications are both political and economic • Sustaining that architecture requires openness at all layers of the communications environment • Government censors and property-based incumbents seek to close the the communications environment • Will they succeed?