Splinternet

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Splinternet , also known as cyber balkanization or internet balkanization , is the name given to the division of the internet according to national, commercial or technological aspects. "Powerful forces are threatening to balkanize it [the Internet]," writes the weekly The Economist , and it could soon be fragmented along geographic and commercial boundaries. Countries like China have set up what is known as a " Great Firewall " for political reasons , while other nations like the United States and Australia are discussing plans to create a similar firewall to block child pornography or instructions on how to make weapons.

Clyde Wayne Crews, a researcher at the Cato Institute , first used the term in 2001 to describe his concept of “parallel internet operating as separate, private and autonomous universes”. Crews used the term in a positive sense, but recent writers such as Scott Malcomson, a partner in New America's International Security Program , use the term pejoratively to describe a growing threat to the Internet's status as a global network of networks. The Independent Internet Law has been in force in Russia since November 1, 2019 and the legal Balkanization of the Internet has probably begun.

technology

Some writers who describe the fragmentation of Internet technology see the problem in new devices that use different standards. Users no longer need web browsers to access the Internet, as new hardware tools often come with their own "unique set of standards" for displaying information.

Journalist and author Doc Searls uses the term splinternet to describe the "growing distance between the ideals of the Internet and the realities of dysfunctional nationalisms [...]" that contribute to the diverse and sometimes incompatible standards that often make it difficult for search engines to use the data. He notes that “everything works because the web is standardized. Google works because the web is standardized ”. However, as new devices incorporate their own ad networks, formats and technologies, many are able to "hide content from search engines".

Others, including Information Manager Stephen Lewis, describe the causes primarily in terms of technological "infrastructure", leading to a "puzzle" where the Internet could eventually be broken up into numerous geopolitical units and boundaries, much like the physical one World today.

Commercial switch-off lock

The Atlantic magazine speculated that many of the new "gadgets a hidden agenda have 'to keep you in their ecosystem." Writer Derek Thomson explains that “in the age of pinball, advertising is more controlled by platforms. My old BlackBerry is set to Bing Search by default because [the operator] Verizon has a contract with Microsoft . But on my new phone, which is running Google Android software, Google ads are showing under apps for programs like Pandora, ”explains Thomson. They are streamlining the new standards, possibly because companies want to increase their revenue by targeting their own proprietary user base. They add, “This is a new age where gadgets have a 'hidden agenda' to keep you in their content display and advertising ecosystem. Walls are being raised just as the walls are falling to mobile Internet access ”.

Forrester Research vice president and author Josh Bernoff also writes that “the unified web is turning into a spinning internet” as users of new devices risk abandoning an internet standard. He uses the term splinternet to refer to "a web where content on devices other than PCs or hidden behind passwords makes it more difficult for website developers and marketers to create a consistent experience". He points out, for example, that websites "do not look the same because of the screen size and do not work the same because the iPhone does not support Flash ". He adds that now, with the explosion of other phone platforms such as Android, "we will have another incompatible set of devices". However, both Android and iOS are Unix-like platforms and both offer WebKit-based browsers as standard, as does the mobile phone manufacturer Nokia .

politics

A survey conducted in 2007 by a number of major universities such as Harvard University found that Iran , China, and Saudi Arabia filter a wide range of topics, and also block a large amount of content related to those topics. South Korea filters and censors news agencies belonging to North Korea .

The survey found that numerous countries operate “substantial politically motivated filtering”, including Myanmar , Syria , Tunisia and Vietnam in addition to the countries listed above . Saudi Arabia, Iran, Tunisia and Yemen filter social media content on a significant scale, while Myanmar, China, Iran, Pakistan and South Korea have the most extensive national security filtering targeting sites dealing with border disputes, separatists and extremists deal with.

Foreign policy writer Evgeny Morozov wonders whether "the Internet will bring us closer together" and, despite his early ideals of "increasing understanding, promoting tolerance and ultimately supporting world peace", the opposite could be the case. There are more attempts to keep foreign nationals away from certain web properties; For example, digital content that is available to British citizens via the BBC's iPlayer is "increasingly no longer available to Germans". Norwegians can access 50,000 copyrighted books online for free, but you have to be in Norway to do so. As a result, many governments are actively blocking internet access for their own nationals and creating more of what Morozov calls splin internet:

“Google, Twitter , Facebook - are US companies that other governments increasingly fear as political agents. Chinese, Cuban, Iranian, and even Turkish politicians are already talking up “information sovereignty” a euphemism for replacing services provided by Western Internet companies with their own more limited but somewhat easier to control products, further splintering the World Wide Web into numerous national internets . The age of the Splinternet beckons. "

“Google, Twitter, Facebook - these are US companies that increasingly fear other governments as political agents. Chinese, Cuban, Iranian and even Turkish politicians are already talking about "information sovereignty" - a euphemism for replacing the services of Western Internet companies with their own more limited, but somewhat easier to control, products, further splitting the World Wide Web into numerous national Internet. The age of the Splinternet beckons. "

Organizations like the OpenNet Initiative were founded because they recognized that "Internet censorship and surveillance are a growing global phenomenon". Her book on the subject was reportedly " censored by the United Nations " with a poster removed by UN security officials for mentioning China's "Great Firewall". In March 2010, Google decided to pull its search engines and other services out of China to protest its censorship and the hacking of Gmail accounts by Chinese activists.

In addition to China, other countries also censor Internet services: Reporters Without Borders, for example, rates the press situation in Iran as “very serious”, the worst rating on its five-point scale. Iran's internet censorship policy is described by the OpenNet Initiative's global internet filter map as “omnipresent” and is the worst in the ranking. In March 2010, they added Turkey and Russia to their list of Internet censorship “under surveillance” and warned other countries such as the United Arab Emirates , Belarus and Thailand , which also have “under surveillance” status, to move on to the next "List of Internet Enemies" to be included.

religion

Internet access was also blocked for religious reasons. In 2007 and again in May 2010, Pakistan reportedly blocked Facebook, YouTube , Google and Wikipedia for posting “blasphemous” and “un-Islamic” material.

The Church of Scientology recommended Internet censorship as a method of defending itself against what it described as an ongoing campaign of abuse by the Anonymous group , along with "misinformation" and "misrepresentations" in the media. In September 2009, it called on the Australian Freedom of Religion and Belief Commission on Human Rights to restrict access to websites that it believed incited "religious vilification".

Interests

Fragmentation of the internet community can occur when members of certain interest groups use the internet to exclude or avoid views that contradict their own valued beliefs and theories. It is called cyberbalkanization and refers to the division of the Internet or the World Wide Web into subgroups with specific interests ( digital tribes ), with members of the subgroup almost always using the Internet or the web to communicate or read material, the is of interest only to the rest of the subgroup. Possibly the term was first used in an MIT paper by Marshall Van Alstyne and Erik Brynjolfsson published in late 1996 . The concept was also discussed in a related article in Science that same year. The term is a mix of cyber, referring to the internet, and Balkanization, a phenomenon that takes its name from the Balkans , a part of Europe that has historically been divided into languages, religions and cultures.

In his 2001 book Republic.com , Cass Sunstein argued that cyberbalkanization could harm democracy because it allows different groups to stop exposing each other when they come together in increasingly separate communities, thereby increasing the recognition of other viewpoints or Similarities are becoming increasingly unlikely. Commentator Aleks Krotoski believes that jihadist groups often use the Internet in this way.

Despite concerns about cyberbalkanization, there are mixed signs that it is actually increasing. A Wharton study found that internet filters create common ground, not fragmentation. However, this study focused primarily on music recommendation algorithms and openly notes that more research is needed in other areas (e.g. news, books, fashion). Another study found that the ideological segregation of online news consumption is small in absolute terms, higher than the segregation of most offline news consumption, and significantly less than the segregation of personal interactions with neighbors, work colleagues, or family members. However, the study suggests that a key caveat is that none of their evidence speaks to the way people translate the content they encounter into beliefs, which is possibly a bigger contributing factor to the problem, which this type of study seeks to counter.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A virtual counter revolution . In: The Economist . ISSN  0013-0613 ( economist.com [accessed August 29, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Aparna Kumar: Libertarian, or Just Bizarro? In: WIRED. April 25, 2001, archived from the original on September 1, 2012 ; accessed on August 29, 2020 (English).
  3. ^ Scott Malcomson: Welcome to the Splinternet. December 22, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2020 (American English).
  4. ↑ Torsten Riecke: Director of the McKinsey Global Institute: Interview with Jacques Bughin: “We are experiencing a Balkanization of the Internet”. In: Handelsblatt. August 7, 2019, accessed August 29, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Internet in Russia comes under state control. ZEIT Online, November 1, 2019, accessed on August 29, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Splinternet? Growing Variety of Devices Presents Content Challenge. January 27, 2010, accessed August 29, 2020 (American English).
  7. ^ The Splinternet. In: Doc Searls weblog. December 16, 2008. Retrieved August 29, 2020 (American English).
  8. ↑ Apple's iTunes, NPR, Barriers to Giving, and the “Appliancing” of National Boundaries. In: Hak Pak Sak. December 10, 2008, accessed August 29, 2020 .
  9. ^ Derek Thompson: The Fall of the Internet and the Rise of the 'Splinternet'. March 8, 2010, Retrieved August 29, 2020 (American English).
  10. ↑ Digital. August 8, 2019, accessed on August 29, 2020 .
  11. ↑ The Web Is Turning Into The 'Splinternet'. In: Forbes. March 29, 2010, accessed August 29, 2020 .
  12. ^ Nokia Open Source. In: Nokia Developer. Nokia, accessed August 29, 2020 .
  13. ↑ a b Survey of Government Internet Filtering Practices Indicates Increasing Internet Censorship | Berkman Klein Center. June 12, 2018, accessed August 29, 2020 .
  14. ^ Evgeny Morozov: Think Again: The Internet. In: Foreign Policy. Retrieved August 29, 2020 (American English).
  15. ↑ FAQ: What Happened at the Internet Governance Forum? | OpenNet Initiative. Retrieved on August 29, 2020 .
  16. ↑ The Editors: Don't Be Evil . In: The New Republic . April 21, 2010, ISSN  0028-6583 ( newrepublic.com [accessed August 29, 2020]).
  17. ↑ Internet Enemies. Reporters Without Borders, archived from the original on July 6, 2009 ; accessed on August 29, 2020 (English).
  18. ^ ONI Internet Filtering Map. Retrieved on August 29, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Bianet: Internet Censorship: Turkey “Under Surveillance” of RSF - CyberLaw Blog. March 16, 2010, Retrieved August 29, 2020 (American English).
  20. ↑ Marcus Michaelsen: We are the media. (PDF) transcript, 2013, accessed on August 29, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Internet censorship : Anonymous declares war on Australia. In: BASIC thinking. September 10, 2009, accessed on August 29, 2020 (German).
  22. ^ Marshall Van Alstyne, Erik Brynjolfsson: Electronic Communities: Global Village or Cyberbalkans? (PDF) Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996, accessed August 30, 2020 .
  23. ^ Marshall Van Alstyne, Erik Brynjolfsson: Could the Internet Balkanize Science? In: Science . tape 274 , no. 5292 , November 29, 1996, ISSN  0036-8075 , p. 1479–1480 , doi : 10.1126 / science.274.5292.1479 ( sciencemag.org [accessed August 29, 2020]).
  24. ^ Enemy of the State? The Virtual Revolution: Episode 2 of 4. In: BBC. Retrieved on August 29, 2020 .
  25. ↑ Kartik Hosanagar, Daniel Fleder, Dokyun Lee, Andreas Buja: Will the Global Village Fracture into Tribes: Recommender Systems and their Effects on Consumers . Management Science, Forthcoming, December 2013.
  26. ^ Matthew Gentzkow, Jesse M. Shapiro: Ideological Segregation Online and Offline . Rochester, New York April 13, 2010.