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Internet Technologies Increasing Ability to Control: The Development of Disciplinary Capacity in the Past Two Decades

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Global Free Expression - Governing the Boundaries of Internet Content

Part of the book series: Law, Governance and Technology Series ((LGTS,volume 28))

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Abstract

This chapter looks at how the ability of the Internet to control communications has changed in the past two decades. The chapter is loosely modelled on the structure of the Internet itself, where information passes through a chain of control points. In doing so it looks at ‘the ability to control Internet content’ which is termed here ‘disciplinary capacity.’ It then looks at Internet accessibility devices, the domain name system, Internet service providers and more broadly Internet networks, online service providers and Internet hosts. In conclusion, it argues that the discussed shifts in the Internet ecosystem since the mid-1990s have brought with them a gradual increase in the disciplinary capacity of the Internet.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The statistics are based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AppleAppStoreStatistics.png which is believed to accurately represent the number of Apps in the Apple App Store.

  2. 2.

    Interview with DPI vendor in Paris, July 2011.

  3. 3.

    Further details about IDPF and Cleanfeed can be found in Chapter IV and Chapter V.

  4. 4.

    For further details see: https://cihr.eu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/TNV417Tunis-IXP.pdf.

  5. 5.

    See https://www.pch.net/home/index.php.

  6. 6.

    See https://www.pch.net/technology/operations.php.

  7. 7.

    See https://www.euro-ix.net/resources-list-of-ixps.

  8. 8.

    For further information on these statistics please see Chapter V on private regulation.

  9. 9.

    Figure 3.5 was developed by the author.

  10. 10.

    To ‘hash’ is a technical term that refers to the creation of a digital signature to identify a specific file more easily.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Internet & Human Rights, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt, Brandenburg, Germany

    Ben Wagner

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Wagner, B. (2016). Internet Technologies Increasing Ability to Control: The Development of Disciplinary Capacity in the Past Two Decades. In: Global Free Expression - Governing the Boundaries of Internet Content. Law, Governance and Technology Series, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33513-1_3

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