On December 30, 2013, John Markoff wrote an article in The New York Times, titled Viewing Where the Internet Goes. He takes a brief look back at what happened with the internet in 2013, primarily related to Edward Snowden and asks the two creators of the internet, Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn for their views of how the internet might change going forward.
The contrasts of the internet and related policies are stated clearly,
It was, for example, the Internet’s global reach that made classified documents available to Mr. Snowden — and made it so easy for him to distribute them to news organizations.
Yet the Internet also made possible widespread surveillance, a practice that alarmed Mr. Snowden and triggered his plan to steal and publicly release the information.
Markoff uses this contrast to delve deeper into the issues of governance of the internet with both Dr. Cerf and Dr. Kahn, through individual interviews. Both gentleman discuss their views on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), and the International Telecommunication Union (I.T.U.).
Only time will tell how things will change for the internet in 2014. Happy New Year!
