Internet Restrictions to Increase, IOP Speaker Says

Increased regulation of the Internet may soon become the norm, according to Harvard Law School's Jonathan L. Zittrain, who spoke about the changing world of Internet policy at the Institute of Politics (IOP) Tuesday night.

"Whoever controls the boring parameters of the Internet controls a lot," said Zittrain, who serves as executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Zittrain said that increased restrictions are starting to take place, moving the Internet away from today's mostly unregulated system.

"[The Internet} will be a lot easier to zone in the future," he said.

According to Zittrain, the creation of services like Napster that allow the free trading of MP3 music files on the Internet have led to calls for tighter restrictions.

"It was the advent of Napster that has caused people, in Oliver Stone fashion, to do something," he added.

Zittrain made several off-the-cuff remarks about Jack Valenti, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America who has worked to protect his industry from copyright infringement.

"He's the one who makes sure that Mickey Mouse gets his due," Zittrain said.

But along with increased regulation have come new ways to share information.

Zittrain spoke of the recently released novel Riding the Bullet by Stephen King, which was made available on the Internet with one stipulation--users could read the book online but could not print out copies.

"They have managed to bottle it up so that you can only have it on your screen," Zittrain said.

He joked about hackers who were able to break into the system and download the book.

"The thing was free already but they hacked it just to show they could," Zittrain said.

But he said that most normal users do not go to the lengths of hackers.

"It works for these guys with a soldering gun and a lot of free time, but for a lot of us, it won't be worth the time or the effort," Zittrain said.

And Zitttrain said that tracking and identification efforts will be easier with the advent of new protective measures by groups such as the Internet Engineering Task Force, which works to develop new standards and protocols for the Internet.

Engraining identification numbers into newly manufactured computers will make regulation even easier.

"It is branded like a young calf with a unique number," Zittrain said of a new computer.

This number can then be used to identify which computers have visited certain websites, putting a clear mark on the actions of users.

"This allows the network to get smarter," Zittrain said.

Internet consultant Paul Vixie is already working to regulate the sending of junk mail--known as spam--to user inboxes, creating lists of senders who should be blocked.

E-mail providers such as Hotmail and AOL use Vixie's blacklists to protect users of their networks from unwanted mail.

"Paul is the sheriff, judge, jury and executioner of the Internet," Zittrain said.

But new regulations also raise questions about how much the Internet can be regulated without infringing on freedom of speech and privacy rights.

But Zittrain said that most people "don't actually care about privacy," citing increased use of items such as Star Market advantage cards, which give reduced grocery prices while providing information on the buyer to the store.

And he says this acceptance of giving out information makes privacy take a back seat.

"Technology makes it really easy to search the crowd," Zittrain said.

Zittrain recounted how once when he was looking for a news column on the Internet, he was able to find complete background information about the author, going all the way back to his childhood.

"I felt like I knew the guy," Zittrain said.

And he said that the rapidly changing Internet is still developing.

"The network is getting smarter," Zittrain said. "It is worth watching to see what will happen next."

The speech was the first in the IOP's "Summer in Boston" speaker series, which is geared towards summer school students and Harvard students staying in the area.

Rebecca C. Hardiman '01 is the program's coordinator.