Internet Regulations

Drakkith

What exactly does it mean to "Regulate" the internet? Why is this important to achieve/avoid?

Evo

You'll have to be much more specific since the internet is not a "thing". It is tens of thousands of pieces of independently, privately, corporately and government owned portions of data networks around the world that tentatively *agree* to connect to each other. Pieces of the internet come and go and change constantly as people buy, sell, go bankrupt, etc...

Are you talking about *rules* that some governments are trying to impose on owners of the pieces, mostly the major backbone carriers (IXC's)?

Greg Bernhardt

China regulates their piece of the internet by censoring.

Evo

So wouldn't this belong in P&WA? It's not about computers, it's about law.

Drakkith

What does "regulation" mean first of all?

I've heard arguments for and against regulating the internet, and I have no idea what the issues are beyond the usual ramblings of morons in online places like facebook. Why would regulation be bad for the net? Obviously this isn't a black or white situation, or else it wouldn't be an issue.

Greg Bernhardt

Control

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

Evo

That's the regulation of copyright infringement on the internet. So, that is one aspect.

russ_watters

via law.

As opposed to the regulator on your gas line, which controls flow via pressure reduction...

Jimmy Snyder

I try to stay regular without any help from the govt thank you.

Astronuc

Regulation would not necessarily mean control as much as specifying and maintaining standards or rules of conduct or process, or establishing legal liabilities and sanctions.

From Wikipedia on regulation: "Regulation is the promulgation, monitoring and enforcement of rules. Regulation creates, limits, or constrains a right, creates or limits a duty, or allocates a responsibility."

One aspect of the internet is commerce. The federal government may regulate interstate commerce.

Another aspect of the internet is 'publication', and the federal government regulates copyrights.

The FCC regulates airwaves (radio & TV transmissions). Internet complicates that.

Regulations can be found in sets of documents such as the Code of Federal Regulations and US Code.

Drakkith

I see. Well, it appears to be quite a conundrum! What to regulate, how to regulate, if to regulate...I mean we can't go around stealing all this media forever without consequence.

Evo

Exactly, stealing is stealing. The fact that the internet makes stealing easier does not make it right.

Borek

If it ain't broken, fix it till it is.

I doubt it is possible to keep the current copyright regulations in place for much longer, but I am not going to open this can of worms writing what I think.

CAC1001

Regulation of the Internet, or attempts at it, must be undertaken very cautiously IMO. If you look at the history of new mediums for information and communication, they almost always start out very open and with lots of innovation, only to then become subject to monopoly or oligopoly and thus extremely restricted and tightly-controlled. This happened with radio, television, motion pictures, music, etc...the Internet is the newest form of such communication, and as of late is very open, but could fall prey to this same thing if we are not careful.

There have been some who have said for example that Google should be regulated as a utility since it essentially has a monopoly on search. Thing is, there is no way to know for sure that this dominance of search will remain into the future. When Apple was preparing to enter the mobile phone industry, many thought the company very foolish, and said that the industry was consolidating down to about two major players, only then for Apple to come and revolutionize the industry with the iPhone. MySpace was thought to be the dominant social network for awhile too, then came Facebook. Even Google itself came after Yahoo.

So while a company like Google may seem so dominant now, it could get displaced at some point in the future, but the thing is, if the government starts regulating it as a utility, that inadverdently will likely give Google a permanent monopoly on search.

SixNein

What constitutes stealing in the digital age?

Drakkith

Is this a serious question?

Galteeth

As compared to practically every other sector of life, the internet is extremely unregulated. This is largely because of the way it was designed, as a decentralized form of informatiom sharing. There are those who believe that everything should be regulated, and the internet suffers from a dangerous lack of government supervision. While governments can target individuals based on their internet activity, it is extremely difficult to target a particular activity as a whole on the internet. The internet is also a medium in which information can be shared and organization can be done outside of centralized outlets, and this fundamentally threatens existing power structures. It is similar as to how the printing press threatened the authority of the church, as previously church scribes were the primary source of publishing.