Four Internets

The Internet has become a staple of modern civilized life, now as vital a utility as electricity. But despite its growing influence, the Internet isn't as stable as it might seem; rather, it can be best thought of as a network of networks reliant on developing technical and social measures to function, including hardware, software, standards, and protocols. As millions of new internet users sign on each year, governing bodies need to balance evolving social ideas surrounding internet use against shifting political pressures on internet governance--or risk disconnection.Four Internets offers a revelatory new approach for conceptualizing the Internet and understanding the sometimes rival values that drive its governance and stability. Four Internets contends that the apparently monolithic "Internet" is in fact maintained by four distinct value systems--the Silicon Valley Open Internet, the Brussels Bourgeois Internet, the DC Commercial Internet, and the Beijing Paternal Internet--competing to determine the future directions of internet affordances for freedom, innovation, security, and human rights. Starting with an analysis of the original vision of an "Open Internet," the book outlines challenges facing this vision and the subsequent rise of other internets popularized through political and monetary machinations. It then unravels how tensions between these internets play out across politics, economics, and technology, and offers perspectives on potential new internets that might arise from emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and smart cities. The book closes with an evaluation of whether all these models can continue to co-exist--and what might happen if any fall away.Visionary and accessible, Four Internets lends readers the confidence to believe in a diverse yet resilient Internet through a deeper understanding of this everyday commodity.

ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgementsChapter One: Preliminary concepts: Networks and dataPART I: THE FIRST INTERNET: THE SILICON VALLEY OPEN INTERNETChapter Two: How the Internet developedChapter Three: Governing the InternetChapter Four: The vision of the Open InternetChapter Five: Policy question: How can quality be ensured in an open system like Wikipedia?PART II: ALTERNATIVES TO OPENNESSChapter Six: Openness and its discontentsChapter Seven: The second Internet: The Brussels Bourgeois InternetChapter Eight: Policy question: When is surveillance justified?Chapter Nine: The third Internet: The DC Commercial InternetChapter Ten: Policy question: How can competition against the tech giants be fostered?Chapter Eleven: The fourth Internet: The Beijing Paternal InternetChapter Twelve: Policy question: Is Huawei infrastructure a threat to Western national security?Chapter Thirteen: The Moscow spoiler modelChapter Fourteen: Policy question: Is a sovereign Internet feasible?Chapter Fifteen: Peaceful co-existencePART III: FUTURESChapter Sixteen: India, the "swing state"Chapter Seventeen: Policy question: When should personal data cross borders?Chapter Eighteen: Artificial IntelligenceChapter Nineteen: Smart cities and the Internet of ThingsChapter Twenty: Social machinesChapter Twenty-One: The unity of freedomGlossary of abbreviationsReferencesEndnotes