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Cyberspace: Architecture
and modes of governance
Internet Governance, Topic 1
Professor Graham Greenleaf
‘IT law’, Internet and
cyberspace
‘IT law’ is broader than when computers
are networked, but the most interesting
issues arise because of the networking
Why start with the architecture of the
Internet? - Because it both limits and
enables what law can achieve in
regulating cyberspace
Internet Governance
What is the Internet?
 ‘Internet’ describes the ‘network of networks’
sharing these 4 key technologies:
packet switching to communicate data
Client-Server technology to share processing and
presenting data between a local computer (‘client’)
and a remote computer (‘server’)
 a set of protocols or rules for transmitting data called
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
A globally unique address space based on the IP
protocol
Internet Governance
A global network?
The Internet is global because these 4 key
technologies (and standards for them) are
global
Was not always so (ISO/OSI lost to TCP/IP)
Might not be so in future? - examples:
Attempts to establish alternative DNS structures
Some countries might try to impose different
standards
Internet Governance
What is 'cyberspace'?
‘Cyberspace’ describes the social networks that
inhabit the Internet
Networks of human interactions inhabiting this
technical space - global interactions
Physical geography and legal jurisdictions are not
easily reflected in cyberspace
‘Cyberspace’ coined by William Gibson in
Neuromancer (1984) and allegedly first applied
to the Internet by John Perry Barlow (1990)
‘Internet’ is technical, ‘cyberspace’ is social
Internet Governance
Visualising cyberspace
Martin Dodge An Atlas of Cyberspaces
Example shows Paul Baran’s very first
diagram of the ‘nuclear proof’ packet
switching network
“The net interprets censorship as damage
and routes around it” (attrib. John Gilmore)
Geographic maps give a feel for the
complexities of the Internet today
Internet Governance
Internet architecture and law
Look at 3 of the technical foundations:
packet switching
TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)
A globally unique address space
(IP addresses and domain names)
…and some of their legal implications
Recommend ‘Primer’ by Clarke et al
Internet Governance
Packet switching - technical
A stream of data being sent from A to B is first broken
up at A's end into small "packets”.
Each packet contains:
Identification of the place to which the packet is being sent;
Identification of where it fits in sequence in the data stream;
a fixed size batch of data from the data stream; and
codes allowing error checking by the receiving equipment.
Each packet is sent separately across the network to
B, possibly via different routes, and may arrive at
different times and out of sequence.
B’s end checks for errors in transmission and reassembles the packets into their correct sequence.
Internet Governance
Packet switching - law
Some legal implications of a
‘connectionless’ network:
Interception of communications, if not at the
point of sending or receiving, will intercept
many other communications as well
Censorship is more easily routed around
Publication may only take place at the point
of receipt
Internet Governance
Internet Protocol Suite
TCP/IP etc is a set of protocols
implementing a packet switching network next diagram (from Clarke et al) shows its
layers.
Communications channels are below the
link layer; software is above the
applications layer
Internet Governance
Layers of Internet Protocol Suite
Layer
Function
Application
Delivery of data Messages
to an application
HTTP, SMTP,
FTP
Transport
Delivery of data
to a node
TCP
Network
Data addressing Segments and
+ transmission
Packets
IP
Link
Network access
Ethernet, PPP
Internet Governance
Orientation
Messages and
Segments
Packets, Bits
and Signals
Examples of
protocols
Protocols - legal implications
These protocols are largely unavoidable,
and therefore determine what regulation is
possible.
Examples:
IP6 and privacy
‘referrer’ in HTTP and detecting © breaches
Governments can’t change protocols
Who controls them is very important
Internet Governance
Addresses - name space
The Internet uses two structures to allocate
unique addresses to every computer
Numerical addresses (‘IP addresses’)
 eg 138.64.13.1
 used primarily for computers (‘routers’ and others) to send
packets to their correct destinations
Addresses in words (Domain names)
eg ‘www.austlii.edu.au’ or ‘microsoft.com’
 used so that people can conveniently address messages
and find information on the internet
For each IP address there is usually a domain name
(and always vice-versa)
Internet Governance
Control of IP addresses
Allocation of IP addresses:
A global hierarchical set, allocated by ICANN in
blocks to 3 regional Network Information Centres,
then to ISPs and others
There is no close relationship between the IP
address and domain name hierarchies
Dynamic IP addresses mean there is no correlation
between an IP address and a person/computer
Legal implications
For privacy law, might not be ‘personal information’
For investigations, more information is needed
Internet Governance
Control of domain names
Allocation
In theory, a global hierarchical structure
Crucial control is of Top Level Domains (TLDs) - both
generic (gTLDs) and by country (ccTLDs)
ICANN controls .com and .org gTLDs, and creation
of new ones
For ccTLDs, the control structure differs by country
At every DNS level, someone has the right to
allocate new sub-domains
DNS servers located throughout the Internet, keep at
least the addresses of the root servers for each TLD
Internet Governance
Internet Governance
Legal implications of domain names
Uniqueness gives commercial value
How TLDs are managed is very political - it
controls who can be found on the net
Eg China’s attempt to control Chinese character
names
Eg attempts to create .sucks and .union TLDs
 Threats and attempts to create alternative DNS
systems result
Disputes within ICANN
Internet Governance
Summary: Architecture’s implications
To understand how it is possible for law
(or anything else) to regulate cyberspace,
you have to understand the basics of its
architecture
Next class: Prof. Lessig’s theory of
internet regulation is based around control
of architecture
Internet Governance
Cyberspace: Architecture
and modes of governance
Internet Governance, Topic 1 (Part 2)
Professor Graham Greenleaf
The user perspective
Read Clarke et al ‘Primer’ 6. The Process of
Using the Internet to understand how the
protocols work
Froomkin’s Internet Skills Page will help:
Basic Web Tricks
Privacy: Yours
Privacy: Other People's
Commerce
Advanced Web Tricks
Internet Governance
The Internet’s changing nature
Internet Mk I - The pre-commercial Internet (to 1996)
• The ideology of ‘digital libertarianism’; ‘information wants to be
free’; the net can self-regulate; ‘borderless’ means uncontrollable;
techologies are generally liberating
Internet Mk II - The commercial Internet (since 1996)
• Commercial interests and reputations impose conventional laws
on the net; increase in surveillance technologies for commercial
purposes
Internet Mk III - Freedom vs surveillance (Sept 2001 - )
• Technologies are increasingly reversing the early liberating
potential; businesses are more desperate for profit; governments
everywhere want more surveillance
There is no such thing as ‘the Internet’ - Lessig
calls this ‘is-ism’
Internet Governance
The global impact
Contrasting views:
Internet immersion by any country will bring political
and social liberalisation
eg Bill Clinton on China
Authoritarian governments are capable of using the
Internet as a tool of control
Kalathil and Boas (2001) argue China is succeeding
Clarke (2001) and Lessig (2001) argue that technological
changes facilitate state and commercial control
This is one of the big questions of the 21st C.
Internet Governance
Who governs cyberspace?
National and local laws, subject to
Constitutions - laws States can’t change
Treaties between States (increasingly so)
Self-governance mechanisms
Institutions of Internet self-governance
Non-institutonal means of self-governance
Controllers of Internet architecture
State control
Private control
Individuals
 as participants in markets
 as people observing and enforcing norms
Internet Governance
Modes of governance
All of these forms of Internet governance
must be considered
- as regulatory realities
- as regulatory options
Turn first to a more detailed look at ‘Selfregulation’ or ‘Self-governance’
Internet Governance
Institutions of self-governance
International Internet governing bodies
no single central body controlling Internet Protocols
Internet Society (ISOC) is umbrella for IAB, IETF etc
- a complex set of ‘volunteer’ standards organisations
Decision process of ‘orderly anarchy’ (Froomkin,
Reagle) and ‘rough consensus and running code’
World-Wide-Web Consortium (W3C) controls the
HTTP (web) protocol - less volunteer controlled
ICANN is a partly appointed, partly elected, US Co.
Origins as a US network still apparent in almost all
the international governance structures
Internet Governance
Institutions of self-governance
National Internet governance bodies
Mix of NGO and government bodies - ‘self governance’
may be a misnomer
Usually not so important, as Procols set by international
bodies
Domain name ccTLDs are important, and under varying
government influence
What if national / local bodies refuse to apply
international Internet protocols or conventions?
• Example - PRC treatment of Google DNS resolution?
Internet Governance
Non-institutional self-governance
Important aspects of Internet self
government arise without institutions
Open source code
Cooperative
vigilanteism
informal
sanctions
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)?
Internet Governance
-
Open source code
Open source
Software for which the source code is
provided, and others are free to modify
Software evolves rapidly through bug fixes,
improvements and distribution
Unfair or dangerous aspects of software can
be eliminated by the ‘1000 eyeballs’
See Opensource.org
Internet Governance
Open source - implications
Many key pieces of Internet software are already
Open source: Apache, Sendmail, BIND, and (most
famous) Linux
Implication for Internet regulation:
More difficult for governments or commerce to readily
control Internet architecture
Other governments can be more relaxed about
security issues than with US software
Eg China has just made Linux compulsory for key
communications installations
Internet Governance
Cooperative informal sanctions
Spontaneous cooperation - vigilanteism by those controlling some Internet architecture
to enforce an informal sanction
eg SPAM 'Black Holes’
cooperation by (some) ISPs to block (refuse to
accept and pass on) any email that comes from any
other ISP that is used to send or relay SPAM.
Registers (the 'black hole' lists)are kept of ISPs
considered to be in breach.
Users of ‘blackholed’ ISPs cannot send email to or
receive mail from many other users - pressure their
ISP.
Internet Governance
Alternative dispute resolution?
Can self-regulation resolve cyberspace
disputes?
Attempts to create cyberspace ADR do not seem to
have been very successful
Major exception: ICANN’s UDRP (Uniform
Dispute Resolution Policy)
has resolved thousands of disputes in 2 years
why?: because Registrars control the DNS
Why?: because registrants must agree to the UDRP
Internet Governance
ADR in cyberspace (cont)
HKIAC Electronic Transaction Arbitration Rules
(2002)
Applies the HK Domestic Arbitration Rules to set up a
method of online arbitration
HK online merchants subscribing to the WebTrust
Standards adopt the HKIAC Rules as the means of
dispute resolution required
Award enforceable under New York Convention on
Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards
Internet Governance
Summary: Self-regulation
Self-regulation is principally effective if it
involves organisations that control some
aspect of cyberspace architecture.
The rest of the course will examine how
more conventional forms of regulation legislatures and Courts - attempt to create
law in cyberspace.
Internet Governance