Preserving the Internet's neutral core

The Internet, it's often said, treats censorship as damage and routes around it. Even before ICANN weighed in on Site Finder, ISPs and network administrators had begun to route around it. Ironically, one major network that reportedly opted out was the tightly controlled Chinese Internet backbone, prompting some observers to foresee an escalating arms race of blockages. We doubt that will happen. But recent events remind us that although the Internet was built to survive a nuclear attack, it may need some help resisting political and economic assaults on its policy-neutral core. [InfoWorld: Preserving the Internet's policy-neutral core: November 21, 2003]

This brief commentary of mine is attached to a longer article by David Margulius, who interviewed a bunch of people including Vint Cert, Steve Crocker, Fred Baker, and Stratton Sclavos. Margulius gives Crocker the last word:

One thing's for sure: The Site Finder episode got a lot more people involved in these questions than had been.


Former URL: http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2003/11/24.html#a853