Sam's Internet

In the history of the networks, change happens rapidly. From the ARPAnet, to the proliferation of international networks, to the network of networks—the Internet—growth, as well as the expansion of the user base, has been exponential. With this growth comes the issue of scaling that we discussed in class.

What I found particularly interesting was the truly democratic basis of Internet standards, especially TCP/IP, that formed the basis of scaling the interconnected networks. Despite the push by governments and some companies to switch to the more complex, bureaucratically developed OSI standard, it was ultimately the users that decided which standard was to be used. The government had birthed the ARPAnet and networking, but they no longer controlled it. A computer scientist who supported the TCP/IP standard stated, “Standards should be discovered, not decreed.” Lowly graduate students had created the Internet, geeks had used email mailing lists to discuss science fiction, and now these Internet warriors decided its fate.

If one looks at the issue of Net Neutrality, the idea that all data/bits must be charged at the same rate and treated equally, it is also a central component of our democratic Internet. If Net Neutrality were to be breached, beyond even the idea of the exploitation of the consumer with overcharging, it would take away the element of the Internet being a space for everyone to enjoy equally. It seems like it is again an attempt to put the Internet in the hands of companies or the government, when the Internet, at its heart, has always been the people’s.

There is also a beauty to the simplicity of the network described by the End-to-End Argument, and currently in place with the Internet. The very fact that the network is dumb and unreliable is what makes it so adaptable and easy to expand. It is a true case of function over form. The network is a big, expansive idiot, but it’s our idiot.