by David S. Isenberg
By the time you read this, the race for U.S. president will be more defined than it is as I write this. But Internet policy issues will not change as quickly. Here are ten talking points on Internet policy for the next president, no matter who he or she is, no matter what party.
1. Critical Infrastructure: Today’s Internet is every bit as important as roads, electricity, and clean water for commerce and economic growth. If all sectors of the U.S. economy are to grow as they did in the 1990s, we must have a world-class Internet infrastructure, beginning with fiber to every home, supplemented with spectrum governed according to today’s technology–not the technology of 1927.
2. Direct Democracy: Today’s Internet is a platform for vigorous discussion of issues that once were available only via broadcast networks and newspapers. Because today’s Internet is key not only to an informed electorate, but also to unprecedented citizen participation, it holds the potential to revitalize U.S. democracy and in so doing, restore the moral regard the United States once commanded among nations.
3. Freedom: Today’s Internet holds a threat of surveillance, suppression, and “total information awareness.” We must be vigilant to ensure that the Internet supports the freedoms guaranteed by our Bill of Rights rather than undermines them.
4. Innovation: The Internet succeeds at nurturing new ideas because it carries information without regard for the origin, destination, form, content, or meaning. This keeps barriers to innovation low, so new ventures like Google, Amazon, and eBay can be discovered and grow. Companies that provide Internet access and transport must preserve this essential property;
they must not impede or privilege packets based on what is in those packets, where they came from, or where they’re going.
5. Leadership: The United States invented the Internet. But today the United States is somewhere between the 15th and 25th most wired nation, down from number three in 2000. President George W. Bush pledged to bring universal, affordable broadband to all Americans by 2007, yet today many Americans don’t have broadband or can’t afford it. Competition has shrunk to three giant companies–AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast–and a handful of smaller ones. This is not acceptable. We need real competition or policy that enforces public
duty when market power is great.
6. National Broadband Policy: The United States is the only developed nation today without a national broadband policy that ensures state-of-the-art Internet access for all citizens in their homes, places of business, schools, hospitals, libraries, and on the go. Other nations have shown the way; we must learn from them.
7. Patents and Copyrights: The Internet changes how intellectual property is used. The rights of information owners must be protected, but not at the expense of the public’s rights to know and the people’s rights to create culture. The United States needs intellectual property law reform to harmonize it with today’s
technological advances.
8. Malware: Spam, viruses, and spy-ware are growing problems, but they need not be! It should be a crime to install software on a computer without the informed consent of its owner. The polluters of the Internet must be tracked down and brought to justice. Technology exists to do this, but there have been only a few prosecutions. Existing laws should be enforced so the threat of jail is real.
9. Internet Crime: The Internet is a place where fraud, child abuse and exploitation, and other criminal activities occur. Criminals perpetrating these crimes should not get a free pass just because their crimes occur in cyberspace. They should be prosecuted. Our police and prosecutors should have sufficient technology expertise to track and prosecute criminals in cyberspace.
10. Rebuild Network Research: Bell Labs used to be a national treasure, spinning off such ideas as the laser, the transistor, and the digital signal processor, which are the heart of today’s Internet technology. Now that Bell Labs has shrunk to a mere development arm of Alcatel-Lucent, the United States must rebuild its network research capabilities. We should invest 10 billion dollars over 10 years in a National Institute of Network Research modeled on the National Institutes of Health, so the United States can reclaim its role as the leader in Internet technology. V
David S. Isenberg (isen at isen.com) wrote The Rise of the Stupid Network and founded isen.com LLC, a decidedly independent technology analysis firm. He spent 12 years at Bell Labs, where he was promoted to Distinguished Member of Technical Staff.
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