Policy, not tech, threatens the Internet's progress, Cerf warns

September 08, 2013

The main threat to the future of the Internet lies in attempts to control the Internet through governance policy, according to Google executive and "godfather" of the Internet, Vint Cerf. Speaking recently at the Campus Party event at the O2 in London, Cerf said that technical issues such as the the rollout of IPv6 across networks by ISPs and introduction of DNSSEC protection provide less of a threat to the continued development and freedom of the web than the "tension" around introducing rules for how the web is run. "I want to point out that, despite all the interesting and hard technical problems associated with the expanding Internet, the harder problems have to do with policy," he said. "There is a great deal of tension about who is in charge of the Internet, who should have control over how it evolves and how it is used." He added, "We are still struggling to understand what sorts of rules should be applicable for the use of the Internet, and what rules there should be for its implementation and deployment." To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048303/policy-not-tech-threatens-the-internets-progress-cerf-warns.html#tk.rss_all