On the control of the Internet.

Sun Jun 13 22:39:30 UTC 2010

> For example--what happens when name-service information for a part
that
> is not shutdown comes from a part that is?
> 
> What if an exchange point for parts that are not shutdown is shutdown.
> 
> And spare me the tinfoil hat stuff--tinfoil hats have not worked for a
> year or more.
> --
> Somebody should have said:
> A democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for
dinner.

We can play "what if" all day long and wargame all sorts of scenarios
but what it all boils down to is that there is really no such thing as
"The Internet".  Just exactly how would the government implement any
policy that involved shutting things down and to what extent could they
accomplish anything without hurting themselves?  What if your NSP is a
foreign company?  Can our government tell a French company that they
cannot communicate with someone else?  Can our government tell any
American company that they cannot communicate with another American
company within the US? Do you "white list" certain communicators and
allow them access while denying others?  If so, how do you prevent your
white list from becoming obsolete the day after it is produced?

When you start disconnecting data communications you begin to impact
such things as voice communications, news media dissemination of
information, individuals in key positions losing a communications path,
etc. 

The notion of government being able to "shut down" portions of "the
internet" sounds easy to do in theory but I am not sure it has been
thought through at the practical level.

I would seem to me that the only effective way one could implement such
a policy is to initially shut down ALL communications and then gradually
certify various nodes for reinstatement into the net.  I have no
confidence that the government could ever pull such a thing off.

G