The September-October 2018 issue of “Foreign Affairs” has a
big red cover “World War Web”, “The Fight for the Internet’s Future”, which is
not the same as FTFF.
Adam Segal opens with “When China Rules the Web: Technology
in Service of the State”. Not only does
China want technical autarky (which Trump says he is trying to deal against with
tariffs) and data on its people stored within its borders, it wants to rightsize
all its citizens in one communal national whole. That culminates in the social
credit score to be implemented in 2020. China
believes that muzzling individual speech is a major tool in controlling inequality
once some controlled statist capitalism attracts the outside world. China is already
provoking anger by courting Google again if Google will follow China’s censorship
within its borders. The danger is that China could some day have so much sway
over global companies that China affects what Americans can say online within
our borders.
Chapter 2 is “Data to the People: India’s Inclusive Internet”,
by Nandan Nilekani, which talks about a government sponsored biometric id
utility but tries to give people some ownership of their data.
Chapter 3 is “Regulate
to Liberate: Can Europe Save the Internet”, by Helen Dixon, which talks about
the GDPR, but doesn’t address the controversial Copyright Directive, which
comes up again in September, with its controversial Articles 11 (link tax) and
13 (prescreening for copyright infringement). But the GDPR marked a shift away
from responsibility of the consumer to the platform for respecting privacy.
Chapter 4 is “The Internet’s Lost Promise: And How America
Can Restore It”, by Karen Kornbluh, with emphasis on the American Internet’s
libertarian origins with Section 230 and DMCA Safe Harbor (not presented); they are under attack, as the growth of
identity politics lessens the values of free speech, and as America comes to terms
with ills like sex trafficking (FOSTA), and most of all the manipulation of
user generated content opportunities by Russian bots to drive American readers
into their own echo chambers, given social media algorithms. Suddenly
gratuitous speech (not part of a business) is seen as meddling.
Chapter 5 is “Battlefield Internet: A Plan for Security
Cyberspace”. By Michele Fluornoy and Michael Sulmeyer, surveys cyber security,
even to the point of the dangers to the power grid, and mentions how “air
gapping” might be overcome by enemies with manual external software updates and
even by radio, microwave, or acoustic devices (which can also spy “offline”, as
the CIA and NSA know). The authors
recommend that college students have the opportunity to train for military service
in the ROTC program specifically in cyber security, bringing military security
to utilities.
Chapter 6 is “A Big Choice for Big Tech: Share Data or
Suffer the Consequences,” by Viktor
Mayer and Thomas Range.
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