**From:** \"McPhail, Thomas L.\" \<stlmcph@umsl.edu\>

**To:** \<DNSTransition@NTIA.doc.gov\>

**Date:** Fri, Jun 30, 2006 11:32 AM

**Subject:** chap 12 internet .doc

Pages 22‑23 contain comments on ICANN. This is Chapter 12 in the book
GLOBAL COMMUNICATION. It is the largest selling text book in the world
dealing with international communicatiom.

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CHAPTER TWELVE

THE INTERNET: THE NEW FRONTIER

Introduction

The Internet is to the information age what the automobile was to the
indus\*trial age. The Internet is now a mass medium that has created a
new dimen\*sion for global communication. It had its origins in the
1950s as a response to a crucial military question: namely, how could
the United States send strate\*gic information across long distances
electronically with a maximum guar\*antee of accuracy and the likelihood
of reaching its ultimate destination? A team of leading scientists was
assembled from leading universities across America. They set in motion
research that established the foundation for the electronic transfer of
information over vast distances. It was to become a marriage of computer
technology and the Internet.

Before describing in detail the series of activities and decisions that
col\*lectively formed the foundation for the modem\*day Internet, one
needs to note that only a few major innovations have affected
international communi\*cations. The inventions started slowly. The
printing press, the telegraph and telephone in the nineteenth century,
but follow\*ing World War Il the infrastructure of global communications
finally had been put in place.

In the nineteenth century there were newspapers, which traveled by rail
or private mail, and writing, which traveled as letters via the
international postal services. Electronic message systems primarily
con\*sisted of the telegraph, which tended to expand in tandem with
railway sys\*tems. Following the telegraph came the telephone, which saw
a rapid expansion along with a telecommunications infrastructure during
the twen\*tieth century. Wireless signals started as ship to shore
devices and morphed into radio. Radio broadcasting and the creation of
networks emerged in the early part of the last century. At the same
time, the movie industry was taking shape in both Europe and the United
States. The laying of submarine telephone cable under the Atlantic and
then the Pacific Oceans fur\*ther expanded international communications
capacity. Shortly thereafter, satellite and cable broadcasting were
introduced to further expand the tele\*phone, radio, television, data,
and other forms of telephony. Now, the intro\*duction of digital
technologies, bringing convergence, and the Internet represent the next
new wave of global mass communication. The Internet relies extensively
on the inter\*connection of widely dispersed, global, and interconnected
personal com\*puter systems.1

BACKGROUND

The Internet system began in the cold war era of the 1950s. With a high
level of anxiety over issues such as national security, the spread of
communism, the Russians\' successful launch on October 4, 1957, of
Sputnik,2 and the po\*tential for nuclear destruction created the public
will to undertake research on a massive scale. When one combines these
fears with the mil\*itary background of President Eisenhower, in
retrospect it is easy to understand how funding and the intellectual
critical mass needed for the creation of a system that would eventually
become the Internet were estab\*lished during the 1950s. For example,
during this era it was widely discussed that the United States was
vulnerable to a potential nuclear attack and that such an attack could
disrupt nationwide communication systems. Both com\*mercial and military
systems were vulnerable. The other concern was the high cost of
computing, along with the physical size and awkwardness of mainframe
systems, which used punch cards and bulky tapes As a result, in 1958 the
US government established the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
to promote advanced research in computing and investigate related
telecommunication matters. ARPA had the task of determining how computer
technology could be successfully applied to military activities. About
the same time, the Rand Corporation produced a national security report
that documented the extreme vulnerability of the US national
com\*munication infrastructure in the event of a catastrophic event.
Basically, Rand proved that national communication systems between the
East Coast and the West Coast could be interrupted or severed by a
nuclear attack. This, of course, had tremendous ramifications for a
coordinated military and civil\*ian response. The collective outcome of
these concerns was to build what is described as a distributed network,
Internet\'s precursor, called ARPANET.

ARPANET was constructed in 1969 as a distributed national network
basically consisting of a number of stand\*alone, remote systems. Each
system controlled all necessary data, like a number of backup systems.
These systems collectively moved data from one system to another. This
distribu\*tive network allowed for different possible routes, so if one
system was down, the message or data would be relayed through an
alternative telecom\*munication route that was part of ARPANET. For
example, if the network in Chicago was down, the system would reroute
the data through St. Louis or Houston until it reached its final
destination, say Los Angeles. Eventually the entire message would be
reconstructed as the data communication, ar\*riving via several
different networks, reached its final destination. The mili\*tary
thinking was that given a catastrophic nuclear attack in one part of the
country, there would be enough ARPANET systems to bypass affected
re\*gions so that the Pentagon could communicate with military bases
located strategically in the Midwest or on the West Coast, for example.
Today the AR\*PANET system might appear archaic, but it did generate a
large number of high\*end host computers that had clear commercial
applications for the tech\*nology and software being developed and
supported by extensive federal re\*search funds available through
military and national security initiatives.

A second major outcome of the early computer activities that
even\*tually led to the Internet was the extensive utilization of
university talent. ARPANET was a project to interconnect the technical
workings of four aca\*demic research groups based at the University of
California Los Angeles, the University of California Santa Barbara, the
University of Utah, and Stanford University. These groups were selected
because they were working on tech\*nical design issues and signal
protocols for computers in different locations in an effort to
communicate with each other and share resources. These aca\*demics were
the first generation of computer scientists. At the same time, the US
Department of Defense was supporting networking and engineering projects
at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technol\*ogy
that would serve as the nucleus for East Coast high\*technology research
initiatives. Similarly, ARPANET provided the intellectual critical mass
on the West Coast that was necessary for the application of
communication technol\*ogies to various military initiatives. Over time,
universities and technical think tanks such as the Rand Corporation
began to promote other nonde\*fense uses of the networks. In the early
days, newsgroups expanded based on academic disciplines. For example,
physicists began to communicate with other physicists electronically,
mathematicians with other mathematicians, economists with other
economists, and so on. This produced an expanding universe of electronic
mail users who were using personal computers or lab\*oratory computers
to communicate across a publicly switched network, which initially was
under the control of the Department of Defense. ARPA\*NET had become a
packet (data) switching network that allowed research\*ers, via
different computers in different regions, to communicate using computer
machines. By 1972 the initial four sites had grown to twenty\*three, all
networked together and pushing the frontiers of new hardware and
soft\*ware design. By 1987 the Department of Defense had transferred
responsi\*bility to the National Science Foundation (NSF), in part
recognizing the substantial expansion of the Internet system that had
replaced ARPANET by this time. The NSF was a logical choice because a
large number of nonmili\*tary applications and protocols were being
pursued, and NSF wanted to create a university\*based network for a wide
variety of academics. Also, a number of commercial computer
manufacturers were supporting research to create compatibility and open
architectural features to assist an expanding market.

By 1990 the Internet was seeing substantial use by people who had
sig\*nificant computer programming experience. It was completely text
based, and people had to learn computer operating systems in order to
send or re\*ceive e\*mail or participate in discussion groups. During
the 1990s, the cre\*ation of the World Wide Web, the mouse, icons,
browsers, and search engines that were user\*friendly enabled the
Internet to expand globally and rapidly During the same period, the
rapid decline in the cost of personal computers also enabled widespread
applications in homes, schools, and businesses, which had not been
foreseen by the developers of the ARPANET system. In order to encourage
the widest possible use of the Internet, in 1995 the NSF turned over
control of the Internet to a number of commercial organizations and
networks. Thus, today no one organization, government, or corporation
owns the Internet. Rather, it is a global interconnection of
telecommunica\*tions systems controlled by protocols and rule making on
a voluntary basis.

Although the Internet system was initially a technical medium for
sci\*entists and engineers, it has evolved into a mass medium. It has
now become a network of networks. The Internet consists of four major
elements or elec\*tronic services: e\*mail, FTP (File Transfer
Protocol), newsgroups, and two chat areas\*IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and
collaboration. Each of these ele\*ments has international communication
potential.

The Department of Defense provided the initial funding, but since that
time the Internet has become a global network with major commercial
appli\*cations. The Internet economy now is growing faster than other
sectors of the economy. For example, according to a 2000 University of
Texas study, e\*‑commerce now employs more workers than insurance,
public utilities, or the airlines. The same study forecasts an
additional 62 percent annual growth rate for e\*commerce companies.3 The
Internet did not become a global net\*work overnight, but certain events
have focused its ability to bring together millions of geographically
separated individuals. For example, when Prin\*cess Diana died,
cyberspace became a popular meeting place for mourners. Other examples
include the publication of NASA\'s Path Finder pictures from Mars, or
the popularity of stock market information. On certain days, thou\*sands
of investors switch to Internet financial web pages provided by Internet
sites, broadcasting networks, cable systems, or investment houses.

Initially, the Web was viewed as an alternative news source, but now it
is a mainstream news source. The Web is a mixture of special interest
information providers, ranging from governments, to commercial
sys\*tems, to global broadcasters such as CNN, the BBC, or Time Warner.

THE WORLD WIDE WEB

The World Wide Web (WWW) is an Internet\*based process that came about
through the convergence of advancing technologies and increased
sophisti\*cation in programming languages. The rapid development of the
WWW is a result of distributed processing, which includes storing,
displaying, search\*ing, and formatting computer\*based information; the
global interconnection of PCs; the development of hypertext and a coding
standard, HTML; and browsers. Browsers are a key component and basically
represent client ap\*plication software that knows how to communicate
through the Internet and capture appropriate documents. Browsers also
include built\*in tools for searches, e\*mail, organizing information,
and so on.

During the 1990s, there were two major browsers in competition with each
other: Netscape Navigator, which was acquired by AOL, and Mi\*crosoft\'s
Internet Explorer. Netscape dominated the browser market during the
early years, but Microsoft overtook the browser market in the late
1990s. This domination of the browser market came to the attention of
the U.S. De\*partment of Justice. In 1999 the Department of Justice
found that Microsoft engaged in monopolistic tactics through its
marketing and by embedding its browser within Microsoft\'s operating
systems, Windows, to the detriment of competition. Microsoft appealed
the decision in the US successfully, but the EU continues to seek some
remedies from the firm.

History of the WWW

As a physicist at CERN Laboratories in Geneva, Switzerland, Tim
Berners\*Lee wrote a seminal paper in 1980 entitled
\"Enquire\*Within\*Upon\*Everything.\" It contained a program that
linked arbitrary computers but had the addi\*tional capacity to sort
information by certain categories. The computers could be located
anywhere and search for select information, perhaps on particle physics.
By 1990 Berners\*Lee and others had progressed to the stage of writing
papers and software using hypertext for the purpose of allowing European
physicists to communicate with each other by computer. Berners‑\*Lee
proposed using a single simple interface to search various information
sites spread about the Internet system without regard to location. He
cap\*tured the concept of using Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to
select certain words and then search a vast range of documents to
discover similar words, listing them as a result of a computer search.
The list also contained the remote computer\'s address (a URL) to obtain
the referenced document. This became the basis of the modern World Wide
Web. Initially the WWW was limited to professional and academic
organization users, but in 1993 the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois developed
user\*friendly client browsers they called Mosaic. Prior to this
development there were about fifty web servers worldwide. By 1994, with
the introduction of Mosaic, there were over 1,500. By 1995 the Web
became the dominant mode for accessing information from remote personal
computers over the Internet.

In 1994 Mosaic guru Marc Andreessen left NCSA to form the Mosaic
Communication Corporation which in turn changed its name to Netscape
Communications Corporation. Netscape produced the first version of
Netscape Navigator, the early dominant browser for web users. In 1996
Mi\*crosoft released the Internet Explorer 3.0 version, which was to
provide over\*whelming browser competition for Netscape. The Microsoft
browser was able to retrieve remote documents and provide greater speed
and display ca\*pacity than its competitors. Each generation of browsers
added several unique features, which further expanded the utilization of
the Web for home, business, school, and a plethora of other users.

With the advent of the fifth generation of browsers, the differences
be\*tween Microsoft and Netscape are now so pronounced that each system
in\*terfaces with external pages that are dependent on the programming
language of a specific browser. Thus, users who want the complete
universe of pages or sites for any particular subject area have to load
both browser programs in order to retrieve web pages that are
systematically linked with one or the other of the browser architectural
protocols. In part, it was this phenomenon that attracted the Department
of Justice\'s attention, because the dominance of Microsoft\'s Internet
Explorer browser was inclining new web site developers to develop
software that could interface with Mi\*crosoft\'s Windows but not
necessarily with the Netscape browser, or others. Because Microsoft has
popular Windows products preloaded on almost every new PC, this permits
Internet Explorer to be embedded within Microsoft\'s prod\*uct lines.
PCs arrive with preinstalled Explorer browsers for users who then either
have little need or the sophistication to seek out the competing
Netscape browser. Microsoft\'s browser, claiming to be faster, smaller,
and of\*fering more features, has thus become the gateway to the WWW
almost to the exclusion of other competing browsers.

Video Games

Any history of the Internet would not be complete without acknowledging
the role of video games. Whether Atari, Nintendo, Sega, or PlayStation
these video games have created a generation of computer users who
appreciated high speed, enhanced graphics, and interactivity. Successful
video games have served as a backdrop against which computer
manufacturers must judge each new generation of PC. As a result, video
games continue to set new and higher standards for graphics, speed, and
sophistication that each generation of PC has to at least match, if not
exceed. The other related phe\*nomenon is that video games are a global
enthusiasm. Early on, much of the software originated from Japan, but
North American, European, and other affluent cultures quickly became
willing markets for and manufacturers of these increasingly
sophisticated video games. Games became common prop\*erty of teenagers
in core nations.

Currently, video games are either preprogrammed within a cafeteria of
software that is preloaded on PCs, or else they are available externally
through the Internet to be downloaded for personal use. A major point is
that video games, although a separate technology using either a modem
and a standard TV monitor or a hand\*held device, had an impact not only
on the technology of the Internet, but also on software development,
particularly graphics capa\*bilities. Games set the visual benchmark for
PC graphics. It turns out that moving from a controller to a mouse is a
small step for game users.

Internet Timeline

The following timeline represents the major historical events that
cumula\*tively aided the global system called the Internet.

1955 US President Eisenhower approves funding for US satellite
development.

1957 USSR launches first satellite program, Sputnik, which consisted of
four satellites.

1958 US Department of Defense establishes the Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA).

1960s A series of isolated academic papers in Europe and North Amer\*ica
appear detailing packet switching, batch processing, spooling systems,
time sharing computers, and network alternatives.

1961 April\*‑Soviets put first man in space.

May‑\*United States puts man in space.

President Kennedy calls for massive funding for research and space
exploration.

1965 Ted Nelson describes hypertext, a concept using word associa\*tion
to find similar words electronically

1969 ARPANET created with four university host sites.

CompuServe established for home and business customers.

United States succeeds with moon landing and walk on lunar surface.

1970s Several new ARPANET host sites established, including Euro\*pean
sites.

1971 USSR establishes first orbital space station.

1972 First e\*mail program written.

1973 United States establishes first US space station, Skylab.

1975 Microcomputers introduced.

Paul Allen and Bill Gates found Microsoft to develop program\*ming
languages.

1976 Apple Computers reach market.

1977 Owners of Apple, Radio Shack, Atari, Commodore 64, Texas
In\*struments, and others begin marketing personal computers de\*signed
for schools and home.

University of Wisconsin supports research to interconnect over one
hundred computer scientists via e\*mail

1980 Apple issues public stock to raise capital for extensive research
and development infrastructure. Leads to 1984 introduction of Apple
Macintosh desktop computers

Physicist Tim Berners\*Lee of CERN Laboratories (Switzerland) writes
program to link colleagues\' PCs.

1981 IBM enters personal computer market with two key partners, Intel
and Microsoft. Because of size and market penetration, IBM sets new PC
architect standards. Smaller, lighter, and cheaper clones begin to
appear as well, using Intel and Microsoft products and protocols

Bitnet for e\*mail and file transfers established between Yale and City
University of New York; IBM adopts Bitnet protocol to link IBM
university computers.

Several Big 10 universities begin to establish protocols for
network\*ing services, e\*mail, and list server activities among
campuses.

1983 Desktop workstations established by scientists through grants from
NSF.

1984 Newsgroups are organized by researchers at universities, re\*search
institutes, and computer manufacturers

1985 America Online (AOL) founded.

1986 Microsoft issues public stock and introduces Windows. Screen icons
become the industry model.

1989 Steve Jobs creates new computer company, NeXT. This system
introduces many innovations for desktop systems. Berners\*Lee and others
create web browser for NeXT workstations.

Commercial e\*mail offered in limited markets by MCI and CompuServe.

Berners\*Lee writes a paper detailing a system using hypertext (HTML)
that would become the programming basis for the www.

1990 ARPANET is disbanded.

McGill University (Montreal) supports Archie, a primitive search
protocol.

1991 University of Minnesota supports Gopher, an early search engine.

1992 University of Nevada supports Veronica, a somewhat advanced search
engine.

1994 Netscape developed as Internet browser and establishes early lead.

Amazon.com launched

1995 Real Audio is developed for PCs audio use.

Netscape issues shares as public company.

Microsoft introduces browser, Internet Explorer 4.0, to challenge
Netscape.

Yahoo! and eBay founded. Beginning of online auctions

1998 More PCs sold than televisions.

CompuServe and Netscape acquired by AOL.

Hacker creates viruses infecting Internet programs.

Google search engine launched

1999 Microsoft is charged by US Department of Justice with engag\*ing in
antitrust activities.

AOL customer base exceeds 20 million.

Melissa virus swamps e\*mail systems.

2000 AOL and Time Warner announce merger to create the largest global
communications conglomerate.

Love Letter virus originating in Philippines attaches to e\*mail
addresses and infects hard drives around the globe.

Globally, old media companies begin to look for potential new media
(Internet) companies for mergers, acquisitions, or partnership.

2001 Microsoft enters the video game market with Xbox.

White House web site infected with virus

2002 Verizon introduces high‑speed 3G cell networks

2003 digital cameras outsell film units.

Blaster worm spread worldwide.

Lawyers for recording artists and studios go after file sharing and
music downloading

2004 Google goes public with share offering.

Sasser worm and MyDoom virus create Internet difficulties.

800 million Internet users word‑wide.

Online advertising exceeds \$10 billion; most coming from newspaper
advertising

2005 Spyware and adware are growing problems as junk e‑mail

Microsoft settles with European authorities

MPAA lawyers sue movie down loaders

Apples iPod sales set record

IMPACT OF THE INTERNET

The Internet has had a major impact on many areas of life, from
e\*commerce to distance education. The following paragraphs highlight a
single narrow yet important area: government reports. This example
illustrates some of the many unexpected influences of the Internet.

The availability of government documents on the Internet has changed not
only the access issue, but also the way information is now provided in
an unfiltered fashion. Political pundits no longer have free rein to put
their own personal spin, whether of the Left or the Right, on issues in
order to direct viewers, listeners, or readers to an \"appropriate\"
point of view. Because of the Internet, individuals can apply their own
thoughts, ideas, and back\*ground to the interpretation of new
information.

The Internet phenomenon began to expand rapidly in the 1990s. The system
has grown enormously, much of the fuel for growth generated by the
creation of widely advertised commercial services. The original Internet
system was designed as a narrow\*casting system in which selected users
would access select and unique data, or share specialized information.
Now it has become a twenty\*four\*hour system, a mass medium in effect,
ranging from full\*service web information, to portals,4 to news web
sites such as MSNBC or CNN, in addition to services aimed at the more
limited high\*tech users. Many utilize the Internets search engine
feature.

(Figure 12.1 Top 5 Search Engines in the US about here)

One of the Internets largest users to date was Friday, September 11,
1998. Another was 9/11. In 1998 millions around the globe flocked to the
Internet when independent counsel Ken\*neth Starr released his report
about President Clinton. It contained graphic details about the
president\'s relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky. Many web sites,
in fact, crashed or were delayed because of the record volume of web
traffic Internet tracking groups collectively reported that about six
million Americans read the text of the report over a three\*day period.
In addition, about ten times more people downloaded the 445\*page Starr
report than the White House\'s 73\*page response. The Starr report also
increased the number of viewers of cable and network news on Friday, the
day of the report\'s re\*lease. CNN reported its viewer‑ship average in
excess of one million house\*holds, which is three times its daily norm.
MSNBC averaged about double its normal audience, and FOX News Channel
also reported double the number of households for an average day. The
Starr report made communi\*cation history, not just in the United States
but around the world. Globally, over twenty million people accessed the
report within forty\*eight hours of its electronic release. Not only was
the volume record setting, but also the availabil\*ity to the average
citizen was also astonishing. Average people around the world were
reading the report at the same time as Congress, White House staff, news
media executives, and reporters. For example, America Online, the
world\'s largest web\*based provider, recorded in excess of ten million
hours online on the day the report was released. Other online web ramps
also reported either a staggering volume or technical slow\*downs due to
un\*precedented traffic that day. A similar phenomenon occurred with the
9/11 Commission in 2004. Televised hearings, numerous press appearances
and finally a best selling government report all watched by Internet
users led to significant pressure on the US Federal Government to act.
Demand for copies of The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States swamped
Amazon.com and other sales sites.

The important communication point to be made in all of this is that no
longer were news editors, pundits, politicians, the US president, or
others able to act as gatekeepers to restrict, alter, spin, or limit the
information in the report. Rather, millions of average people around the
world now have access to the full, unedited government reports at the
same time they are presented to the national legislatures.

The Starr report and summaries of the 9/11 Report on the Internet
changed in a fundamental way the po\*tential for mass dissemination of
information to a global audience. The reports represented unprecedented
and unique examples of the pervasive\*ness of the Internet as a mass
communication system. It represented the de\*mocratization of the mass
media in that politicians or media elites were no longer able to
control, filter, or interject their editorial viewpoints about a
sig\*nificant government document.5 Average individuals in the United
States and elsewhere with access to the Internet were able to download
the entire report, consume it themselves, and draw their own
conclusions. They did not have to rely on the door\*to\*door newspaper
the next day, or condensed sound bits on na\*tional newscasts to inform
them about a major government document. Even the President of the United
States, along with his substantial staff of spin doctors and press
spokespersons, were left to consume these and other reports from their
computers at the same time that millions of people around the globe were
doing exactly the same thing.

As a result of the Internet, the global public is better informed. They
can act as a more informed public jury concerning major political
events, such as the invasion of Iraq. But the changes are not by any
means limited to politics. The Internet is changing the nature and
perception of the human environment. Users are creating a third culture,
like Featherstone referred to in an earlier work on the origins and
growth of a global culture.6 There is a difference between users and
non‑users of the Internet. And this phenomenon is more pronounced among
heavy users. To some extent Marshall McLuhan foresaw this as early as
the 1960s when he was theorizing about the mass media being so pervasive
as to totally consume all aspects of a persons beingand leaving no
aspect of ones being untouched.7 Finally, along similar lines,
electronic colonialism is about the mind being shaped more and more by
external media, of which the Internet is simply the latest player. The
Internet does alter, affect, and influence people in psychological ways
yet to be foretold or completely understood. The Internet is also
primarily in English and has a US centric bias. These two realities have
clear cultural consequences for Internet users around the globe. From
rural villages in India with computer access to Starbuck Internet cafes
in almost ever major capital of the world, electronic colonialism is on
a steady march 24/7.

The Internet has an obvious downside. It is capable of relaying,
inter\*nationally, sordid details about what historically tended to be
personal mat\*ters. It also can spark erroneous claims that could end a
politicians or CEOs career. When an Internet site runs a story, the
story goes glo\*bal. It is not restricted to a city, state, or even
nation. Rather, it becomes in\*stantaneously available worldwide.

A final note is that the Internet\'s global and instantaneous
communica\*tion ability, for good or ill, changed public life forever.
In the age of the Internet there is no privacy. (Just ask the bloggers.
They are covered in more detail later in this chapter.) The release of
government reports have made Internet history, but they also opened the
door for a two\*way information superhighway. Various constituents in
record numbers e\*mailed their elected representatives with their
thoughts and ideas about how to vote. Rather than sending a letter by
mail, they now quickly‑\*and for free‑\*mail a message to even obscure
members of local and national governments. Many repre\*sentatives are
reporting that they have to reassign staff to deal with the flood of
e\*mail as the public uses the same computers to reply to the contents
of government reports as well as to influence the position of their
elected representatives. The messages tend to be short and full of
typos, but in the final analysis, the sheer volume of e\*mail likely has
a collective impact. Politicians, or government agencies such as the FCC
or the British Oftel, do not have to wait for weeks for the regular mail
to arrive to de\*termine where their constituents stand on vital issues.

Internet and Global Television Issues

The story of video on the Internet has yet to be written. The video
materials available, whether they are television programming or feature
movies, have tremendous implications for current producers. With the
ability of the Inter\*net to broadcast video live, along with worldwide
dissemination, current copyright holders could potentially see their
materials appear anywhere in the world without their authorization or
compensation. The following two examples illustrate the potential
problems.

In June 2000 in California, a group of movie studios filed a suit in Los
Angeles to close down a web site that was allowing viewers to record
televi\*sion shows online. The site was attracting a large number of
users and there\*fore caught the attention of television executives.
Applying traditional copyright laws, the movie studios\' legal team
sought to close down the site immediately for unauthorized taping and
redistribution of the video con\*tent, which originated from a series of
entertainment companies and was available via cable in the Los Angles
area for a cable subscription fee.8

A second situation reflecting the convergence of television and the
In\*ternet is represented by a company based in Toronto, Canada,
iCraveTV Be\*ginning in December 1999, with nearly one million customers
during its first month of operation, iCraveTV offered seventeen online
television stations. It provided free Internet access for its
advertising\*supported rebroadcast of Canadian and U.S. television
channels.9 The twenty\*four\*hour, live streaming service included NBC,
CBS, ABC, FOX, and PBS Within Canada, Internet broadcasting services are
not regulated under the Canadian Broadcasting Act. What iCraveTV had
done was to create ten Canadian Internet super sta\*tions for a
potential global audience. Providing the integration of television with
the Internet has not been without its critics. Some claim that the
Inter\*net site violated copyright laws and constituted trademark
infringement. For example, the US‑based National Football League was
part of a group that took legal action because US Internet users are
able to access NFL games through stations rebroadcast live on the
iCraveTV Internet site. Other plain\*tiffs in the suit were ABC, CBS,
FOX, Disney, and Time Warner. Using Internet video streaming or other
Internet services could place firms in legal difficulties if prosecuted
under US law. U.S. law is aimed at protecting the copyright provisions
of not only the major broadcasting networks but also major sporting
events, which are contracted on an exclusive basis with US \*based
networks. The Internet\'s role was clearly not anticipated even a few
years ago in terms of providing a competing global alternative for the
rights holders.

These examples will likely be replicated when some entrepreneurial web
provider makes European soccer globally available on the Internet. Also,
American baseball, which has a substantial following in Japan and
else\*where, may see its signals being broadcast on the Internet. The
National Hockey League, which has a large following in Europe and other
nations, is also likely to see its product on some Internet portal in
countries where it has never been broadcast before. The International
Olympic Committee is also a group that aggressively protects its trade
marked products and symbols. To some, this is innovative and a new
applica\*tion for the Internet; for others, these users are mere content
pirates and rights thieves.

Internet and Hollywood Films

Industries that have been surprisingly slow to change, such as Hollywood
and the feature film studios, have been forced to reexamine their global
distribution policies because of the Internet. Traditionally,
Hollywood\'s major studios would release their films within North
America first, and then later, sometimes many months later, would
distribute them around the world, primarily to other core nations and
then semiperipheral nations. In a few instances, it could take a year
for a major feature film to open in theaters in smaller nations or
eastern Europe. Now Hollywood is confronting the emergence of the global
entertainment market. This market is increasingly sophisticated, with
potential moviegoers using web sites to obtain informa\*tion about newly
released Hollywood films; others are purchasing films through
e\*commerce businesses that specialize in film distribution, primarily
DVD disk technology. A new Hollywood policy of rolling out global
dis\*tribution of major movies within weeks is a direct response to the
changing environment created by the Internet. All the major studios are
reexamining their global marketing of new films, and the major reason is
that Holly\*wood\'s hype machine has finally met a force it cannot
control\*‑the Internet.

Gone are the days when Hollywood could sell its movies in domestic
isola\*tion, with little fear that the U.S marketing message would
spread quickly to countries where the films wouldn\'t be seen for
months.10 An example of this phenomenon was the co production of
Columbia and Universal Pictures, which arranged a global release for
Julia Roberts\'s feature film Erin Brockovich. During the opening week,
the film became the number one attraction in seven major markets,
including the United States, Canada, and five European nations. The
global market for films is being approached more as a single market than
as a series of isolated markets. Sony is also marketing new releases on
an international rather than a na\*tional basis.

There are three other interesting facets of this new policy shift, which
recognizes the globalization of the Hollywood feature film industry. The
first is that the new releases come out only in English; dubbed or
translated ver\*sions are not available on the initial release date. The
second by\*product of the change is that the marketing strategy and
advertising copy, including photos, for these releases are now all
standardized. Identical promotional materials are used across the globe
in other core nations. The promos seen in the United States are now the
same promos being seen in Europe and other nations promoting
Hollywood\'s latest blockbuster. Hollywood\'s approach to the global
market had to change or face a growth in the pirating of films or
alternative purchasing, which would have adversely affected the
profitabil\*ity of the studios\' investments in what are in most cases
pricey feature films. This is what has led to the third policy shift. In
2005, following the lead of the music industry going after illegal
online file sharing through the courts, the Motion Picture Association
of America (MPAA) began a series of law suits to stop illegal online
copying of movies. MPAA is seeking to reduce file swapping or peer to
peer (p2p) activities involving Hollywood productions. Although the
copyright violation and movie sharing is only about 2% of online illegal
activity (music represents more than 60%) the movie industry is really
worried about the future. Today the enormous size of digital movie files
makes downloading a long process, plus it occupies a great deal of disc
space. But with each new generation of computers both speed and space
will be less of a problem or deterrent. Complicating matters for MPAA is
that each new version of file sharing software is becoming more user
friendly and more difficult to track. Facing these technical realities
Hollywood studios are seeking to make some online pirates pay and use
these cases to stop others. Even if successful in US courts, the studios
still have little hope of legal standing for the enormous threat to
their property rights outside the US.

Internet Users

Yet another example of how the Internet has caused a reexamination of
tradi\*tional ways of doing business concerns Internet users. According
to Com\*puter Industry Almanac Inc.\'s Internet Industry Almanac, the
top ten countries with the highest Internet usage in 2004 were

1\. United States 202.5 million users

2\. China 87.0 million users

3\. Japan 66.5 million users

4\. Germany 47.2 million users

5\. United Kingdom 34.9 million users

6\. South Korea 30.7 million users

7\. Italy 28.6 million users

8\. France 23.2 million users

9\. Canada 20.5 million users

10\. Brazil 19.3 million users

The United States alone accounts for over 50 percent of the global
Inter\*net usage.11 Europe accounts for 25 percent of global usage. It
is obvious that core nations were the early inventors and adopters of
the Internet and now continue to expand and dominate global usage. The
core nations have all three requirements for Internet access: technical
expertise, the financial resources to buy the re\*quired computers and
hookups, and communication infrastructures to de\*liver interactive
Internet services. In many cases, peripheral nations lack at least one
of these requirements, and in some cases they lack all three.

Not surprisingly, the US is the Internet superpower. According to
SUNY‑Buffalo communication professor George Barnett, the United States
isthe nucleus of Internet traffic, and it is the most central nation on
the international networks of both hyperlinks (bandwidth) and
infrastructure. In cyberspace, peripheral and semi‑peripheral nations
rarely communicate directly; almost all Internet traffic flows through
the US. The nature of the Internet today can be partially explained
using world system theory, with language, technological, and cultural
advantages that help the US remain the most powerful and influential
nation. According to Barnett, the US has the structural capacity to act
as an information broker or gatekeeper for the international
Internet.\[12\]

Another factor that seems to encourage greater Internet use is
geography. Six nations have geographically isolated populations yet have
substan\*tial per capita users. These are the Scandinavian countries of
Finland, Sweden, and Norway, as well as Australia, Canada, and New
Zealand.

It is projected that by 2010 over 1 billion people worldwide will have
access to the Internet for their work and homes. This will allow core\*
based broadcasters and advertisers, particularly those with a global
brand or strategic plan, to market their services via the Internet on an
unprecedented scale. Semiperipheral nations in central and eastern
Europe will likely see the largest per capita gains in new Internet
users. E\*commerce on the Inter\*net is now generating significant
revenue in all core nations. This will fuel additional demand for
Internet access as well as growing commercial com\*petition as the
market share for electronic purchases of goods and services around the
globe expands at a rapid pace.

Finally AOL represents an interesting application of both electronic
co\*lonialism and world\*system theories. Currently, AOL has about 30
million subscribers around the world. It is by far the number one
provider in the

United States. Internationally, primarily through a series of joint
ventures, AOL is attempting to strategically focus future growth in
international mar\*kets. It is the number two Internet provider in
Germany, France, and Canada; in Brazil it is fourth, and in Japan it is
tenth. Globally AOL and its subsidiary,

CompuServe are available in sixteen countries Offshore, however, AOL
fre\*quently does not use the name America Online for fear of anti\*U S.
reaction among the computer literate. Globally, it simply goes by AOL.
The expansion of AOL is targeted in the short run to semiperipheral
nations, and it is antic\*ipated that by the year 2010, a majority of
AOL subscribers globally will be from outside the United States.

Computer Viruses

With the advent of the Internet came the birth of computer viruses. Some
are merely nuisances, while others, such as the Melissa, Love Letter,
Trojan horse, Mydoom, and Resume viruses, have affected electronic mail
and other files with extremely damaging results. Major corporations have
had to shut down their systems due to some of the more pernicious
viruses. These have the potential to erase data, release secure data,
change data, or totally freeze or take over com\*puter systems. It is
estimated that there are now over 100 new viruses per week. With
e\*commerce expanding on a daily basis, the impact of vi\*ruses can be
catastrophic and within a matter of minutes run into the millions of
dollars in lost rime and business. Although computer viruses first
appeared in the early 1980s, macro viruses that spread worldwide with
the extensive use of the Internet system are a more recent phenomenon.
There are also many reports of hoaxes, which are more than major
annoyances. Given the recent impact of viruses that embedded themselves
in complex and mas\*sive ways, even hoaxes have to be taken seriously.

Cyber crime is another new by\*product, as well as a legal challenge, of
the Internet. For example, the I Love You worm code that originated in
the Philippines in May 2000 moved via e\*mail across Asia to Europe and
from there to North and South America. Thousands of individual users
were in\*fected, as well as major organizations such as the British
House of Com\*mons, Yahoo!, the US Central Intelligence Agency, CNN, and
the Ford Motor Company. Although the overall cost of damage from this
e\*mail worm is difficult to assess, it was well into the millions of
dollars.

Basically, computer viruses are uninvited guests that run on your PC.
They can attach themselves to other files\*‑mainly e\*mail addresses. As
com\*puter‑programming languages become user\*friendlier, and because
they are transferable, virus programmers have realized that viruses can
now switch from one platform to another without any difficulty. The
virus prob\*lem is huge because viruses can be initiated by novice
programmers, but the consequences can be truly catastrophic as the
viruses worm their way glo\*bally and in seconds from system to system.
Malicious hackers or simply nerdy computer groupies can unleash viruses
at any time. Today there is anti‑virus software that has helped to
reduce the problem. Yet new categories like adware, pop‑ups, spyware,
and malware continue to infect computers. Removal software is available
from several vendors.

Finally, in 2004 in the first felony prosecution of spammers in the US,
a jury convicted two spammers of sending vast bulk e‑mail messages. They
face up to 10 years in prison. Anti spam laws with tougher sanctions are
being enacted in several jurisdictions.

Blogging

A new Internet driven phenomena called web logs or web diaries, and
popularly cited as bloggers, arrived in the mainstream media by 2004.
Historically, some early bloggers, such as engineers or technicians,
were adding personal or political comments to their discussion web sites
as early as the mid 1990s, but a few seminal events occurred in the
early 2000s, which moved blogging to a new level.

The first substantial blogger driven event was a rather focused Internet
attack in 2002 on the then powerful Republican Senator Trent Lott. Lott
had made some inappropriate and racist comments at a party and the
mainstream media as usual covered the matter, but only for a few days.
But some tenacious bloggers kept the heat on Lott for weeks and called
for his resignation. This web‑based chorus forced the national media to
take another look at the entire episode. Lott did resign. He did so
because bloggers were able to build pressure via the Internet that put
Lott back on the evening newscasts and talk shows in a negative light. A
decade earlier he would have avoided such scrutiny and shame.

In 2003 other creative blog users were able to mount a substantial fund
raising drive via the Internet for Howard Dean, a candidate for the
Democratic presidential nomination. His star rose rapidly as the
Internet favorite but he and the others lost out to Senator John Kerry.
Dean also set the gold standard of fund raising by using the Internet in
creative ways. Then in 2004 bloggers became mini celebrities by being
accredited as media representatives at both the Democratic and
Republican national conventions.12 Blogging became a household word much
as Google did in record time. Finally, in late 2004 Dan Rather and CBS
carried a piece on documents alleging that President Bush was not as
solid a National Guard soldier as Bush had claimed. The documents turned
out to be false. Again it was the bloggers who that kept the profile and
bias of the CBS network alive and forced the mainstream media to again
pursue the entire issue. Eventually both Rather and CBS both issued
apologies for their major ethical lapse. CBS was forced to set up an
investigation and as a result other senior CBS personnel were fired. In
addition, some web sites were calling for Rather to be fired as well.
Rather announced his retirement.

A related newer stage of this phenomenon is video blogging. This
combines the text based blog with some appropriate video. The Asian
tsunami and amateur video enthusiasts on vacation in the region provided
a windfall for vbloggers on several continents in 2005. There are no
protocols, permissions obtained, or copyright concerns by the vbloggers.
Future dramatic footage, be it a televised confrontation or a natural
disaster, will find its way around the world thanks to the growing cadre
of vbloggers.

So the debate about the role and eventual fate of bloggers is still to
be written. Some claim that they are pretend journalists in t‑shirts
with a laptop, while others see the new phenomena being the next
significant trend in journalism. Bloggers can be rude, crass, and seem
to spent a great deal of their time discussing sex, yet they have made
the political process more open and clearly have a voice and opinion on
high profile issues, whether people or political parties like it or not.

ICANN

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has
become both powerful and controversial. It is the outcome of years of
recognizing the significance of the Internet for the global economy.
Domain names and various Internet protocols, which carry a unique
numerical address, are at the center of the Internets orderly expansion.
All computers need an address in order to participate in the Internets
growing role in all aspects of modern life. The global Internet
community created a need for a new kind of social contract.13 Milton
Meuller refers to the various functions that ultimately provide for
unique Internet names and addresses as the root.14 It is clear that
ICANN has become powerful because it controls the rights to add
top‑level domain names, such as .com, .edu, .net, or .org. ICANN is a
private company which controls the technical standards of cyberspace. To
some extent it controls global information sharing in the online
environment. It raises the bar on the construct of power.

Internet names and related protocols emerged out of and along with the
growth of the American Research Projects Agency (ARPANET). Since the
funding for ARPANET came from the US military at this early stage, some
controversy of who was getting the preferred names was bound to emerge.
ARPANET was disbanded in 1990. The US funded National Science Foundation
took over part of the naming function for a period, and then in 1993 the
US Federal government gave governance control to Network Solutions, Inc.
A rash of cyber squatting took place where people would register domain
names with the hope of selling them later.15 By 1998 this and other
problems led to the US Department of Commerce to create a private
entity, ICANN, based in California. ICANN was given substantial
gatekeeper control over new access to the Internets registries.
Challenges to what appeared as a powerful monopoly role emerged.16 In
the US much of the challenge to the functioning ICANN came under the
umbrella of antitrust laws, specifically the tough Sherman Anti‑trust
Act.17 Even though ICANN is governed by an international Board of
Directors, who attempt to insure that technical elements of the
Internets infrastructure serve global needs, this over‑sight has not
kept the global community of users included or content. Currently there
are calls for a shift from the US centric coordinating role of ICANN to
a mutli‑lateral organization and environment.18 This controversial
matter has unexpectedly been taken up with some peripheral nations zeal
within the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS). It will see a
politicized tone for what ICANN and others see as technical rule making
in nature.19 It also means that the future of Internet governance may
lead to benefit the ITU or the OECDas possible new ICANN oversight and
structuresor the WSIS could end in turmoilsince Tunisia, the host
country for the second phase of WSIS, has a fondness for arresting
Internet users as well as free press advocates.

In closing, the above is not a trivial matter. The future of the
Internet and how and who governs it internationally is central to the
emerging electronic information environment. If fair and equitable
access is not spelled out, then it is the peripheral regions that will
fall further behind in the digital divide chasm. The core nations to
date have controlled the global village with its Internet connectivity
through ICANN and its predecessors. Some opening up of rule making and
greater access is now being challenged in several fora.

CONCLUSIONS

Any description of the Internet, as well as projecting the future of
global communications, deals with history on the run. Given the major
technologi\*cal and software advances being promoted by major
corporations and re\*search institutions, there are going to be several
additional generations of Internet hardware and software. Likewise, the
merger phenomenon of old media stakeholders and new Internet players,
such as Time Warner, is in its infancy. In the future, there are likely
to be more mergers of transna\*tional corporations, whether they are
based in Europe, North America, or Japan. The Internet personifies a
dynamic, rather than static, state of affairs. The Internet economy is
growing at a

much faster pace than the Industrial Revolution that began in the 18th
century. Perhaps more importantly, the potential scope, size and overall
economic impact of this economic system is much larger than what we can
comprehend today. The key characteristics that distinguish the new
economy are informa\*tion, knowledge, and speed.20

Before drawing some general conclusions, a significant point relates to
indigenous Internet sites. It is true that various linguistic or ethnic
groups have created sites that focus on and promote smaller cultural
sectors. Many of these are aimed at keeping expatriates informed or
aiding children with their ancestral roots. Yet for every page on the
Internet which is non‑English, there are at least 100 pages of English
text. The Internet is both US centric and English dominated. That is a
major reason why the Internet is a leading purveyor of electronic
colonialism around the globe.

Even so, we can draw four general conclusions. First, although the
origins of the Internet may be traced back to the 1950s with the strong
leadership of the US Defense Department, it is still safe to say that
the origin, description, and role of the Internet as it has evolved to
date occurred within core nations. Innovations and expertise in North
America, Europe, and to some extent Japan permitted the develop\*ment
and rise of the hardware technology and software necessary to
estab\*lish a global Internet system. Semiperipheral nations played only
a catch\*up role as they attempted to mimic innovations first
established and demon\*strated within core\*nation markets.
Semiperipheral nations also tend to face the dual problem of the lack of
investment capital to underwrite new Inter\*net ventures, and a lack of
the high\*tech entrepreneurs needed to develop and promote more
indigenous Internet sites and services. For peripheral re\*gions, the
situation is exacerbated.

The Internet revolution is in progress. Some nations with progressive
public policies that encourage foreign capital and reward entrepreneurs
will benefit, but other nations may stall or regress over time to
weakened global economic and social positions. Semiperipheral and
peripheral nations are distant users of the Internet. In those regimes
where the Internet exists, it is available only to elites, whether they
are government officials, academics, business leaders, or religious and
tribal leaders. In far too many cases, the average person in peripheral
regions is waiting for a first telephone, not pre\*occupied with browser
technologies, e\*commerce, iPods, or MP3.

Second, the Internet represents change. Its impact among information
gatherers and providers, whether they are in the media, business, or
universi\*ties, has been profound. The situation will continue to
escalate as e\*com\*merce activities begin to displace traditional
mechanisms and modes within the marketplace Just as Amazon.com
revolutionized the bookselling indus\*try, so virtually every industry
will experience similar Internet intrusiveness and some global
opportunities in the near future.

Third, e\*commerce and e\*multimedia will take on greater global
trap\*pings. The ability to advertise and market on the Internet is a
global electronic phenomenon. It has transformed commerce beyond the
traditional bounds of the nation\*state The BBC, MTV, CNN, and other
media enterprises have long recognized this, but particularly with the
merger of AOL and Time Warner, there is a clear demarcation between the
old media firms and the new. A firm with\*out an Internet presence is
destined to a strategic reality of declining market share and influence.
The Internet represents the globalization of the market\*place in a
fashion unprecedented in human history. It brings with it values and
economic rituals such as credit cards and advertising that reflect the
elec\*tronic colonizing of both the mind and the marketplace. Internet
global ad\*vertising exceeds \$10 billion and increases annually. Much
of the online ad revenues appears to be coming primarily from newspapers
and to a lesser extent from network television. Strategically over time,
since the amount of online advertising is going to increase, some
newspapers will likely close.

Fourth, capturing the consumer behavior and consumer purchasing power
for products and services offered over the Internet will become a
greater economic force and reality over time. The global success of the
Big Four, which are Amazon.com, eBay, Google, and Yahoo! as both viable
commercial and electronic leaders bodes well for not only them but many
others as well.

It is not so much an issue of cul\*tural imperialism, as some critics
have maintained, as the economic common sense of following the success
of various individuals, corporations, and systems that have migrated
successfully and quickly to the world of the In\*ternet. This phenomenon
might more reasonably be called electronic imperi\*alism. The Internet
is to our future what automobiles and transportation were to our past.
Now we are looking at digital nations, virtual spaces, e‑\*commerce, and
global systems that link individuals and the Internet without regard for
time or space. Whereas time and space were the defining
charac\*teristics of the industrial era, so now the Internet, where time
and space no longer pertain, is the defining medium of the information
age

Finally, Internet technologies are not neutral. They impact a broad
range of behaviors from information processing, to research strategies,
to e‑\*commerce, and e\*living. Just as the invention of the printing
press had wide\*spread consequences for the Industrial Revolution over
the course of the last two centuries, so too, the Internet will impact
his and future centuries in pro\*found ways Marshall McLuhan
(1911\*1980) detailed the printing press\'s impact on society and
individuals in his seminal work, The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962). A similar
classic has yet to be written about the impact of the Internet, but
there are early indications that this impact will be substantial. For
exam\*ple, with reference to the Internet and information technologies,
Alan Hedley states \"what is at stake are the very thought processes of
those domi\*nated. Only powerful nations currently have the ability to
choose the type of information society most compatible with their
cultural institutions.21 This viewpoint is fully consistent with the
theory of electronic colonialism. Basi\*cally, the Internet, whether it
is in China, the United States, or some remote part of India, will have
parallel consequences for social systems (e.g., educa\*tion, commerce,
and discussion groups) and the mind\*sets of individual users. Internet
users, regardless of time or space, will mentally converge over time
with other widely dispersed users. They will come to have more in common
with individuals scattered around the planet than with nonusers in their
neighborhoods, schools, or work.

NOTES

1\. This chapter seeks to highlight salient aspects of the history and
current role of the Inter\*net. There is a vast literature on the
subject; a few sample pieces include: J Levine, C. Barondi, and M.
Young, The Internet for Dummies (Foster City, CA: IDG Hooks Worldwide,
1999); K, Hafner and M. Lyon, Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of
the Internet (New York: Touch\*stone Books, 1998); and Paul Ceruzzi, A
History of Modern Computing (Boston: MIT Press, 1998),

2\. The symbolic role of the Russian series of four Sputnik satellites
cannot be underesti\*mated. These relatively unsophisticated satellites
successfully launched by the Soviet Union demonstrated to US military,
political, and industrial leaders that Soviet technology was more
advanced than many had believed, The same rocketry that could fire a
satellite into orbit could also be easily modified to launch a nuclear
payload aimed at North America. In response, in 1961 US President John
Kennedy committed the nation to putting a man on the moon by the end of
the decade. Thus began the space race, along with the necessary rocketry
to propel not only satellites into space but also manned orbital
missions. In July 1969, the Apollo 11 module landed on the moon with
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

Although Sputnik\'s signal lasted only eighteen days, it was sufficient
to galvanize the United States to engage in a space race with the Soviet
Union. The space race would provide substantial funding for the
development of satellites for broadcasting as well as military uses, and
the development of manned space vehicles led to the miniaturization and
in\*creased sophistication of computer systems. Although it is highly
possible that US academ\*ics and scientists would have eventually
developed much of the communication technology of today even without
Sputnik, Sputnik provided the impetus, focus, and substantial federal
funding required to propel the US into the global leadership role it
currently holds in computers, satellites, and telecommunications.

3\. USA Today, 2000 June 6, p, lA.

4\. Portals are essential navigating tools for searching the Internet.
They fall into two cat\*egories. The first type of portal, available
through AOL, Yahoo, MSN Worldwide, Excite, Lycos, and others, helps
users search for general interest and broad categories of content. The
audience for these major portals has given rise to a second category
called niche portals, which specialize m more narrow areas and condensed
searches. Good examples are portal sites for graphic artists, gardening,
golf, sports, gambling, or health, or sites in Spanish such as
quepasa.com for the global Latino market. These specialty portals have
unique features that appeal to specific segments or niches of the
broader Internet audience. Over time, as new niche segments are
identified, these types of portals will expand significantly and
ultimately draw users from the general portal sites,

5\. The Internet has changed the nature and role of the mass media. Just
how much is a story yet to be told. At this point, some may argue, with
good reason, that the traditional media still set the agenda of public
discourse and that the Internet traffic is a function of the old media,
which still retain elite power. But we are rapidly reaching the point in
core nations where the Internet will set the agenda and traditional
media will be forced to follow.

6\. Michael Featherstone, ed. Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalization
and Modernity. (London: Sage, 1990).

7\. Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore, The Medium is the Message (New
York: Bantam Books, 1967).

8\. Wall Street Journal, 16 June 2000, p. B8.

9\. In the early 1990s, Mark Cuban, now a Yahoo! Inc. executive, married
a PC with a high\*speed telephone line to get a distant college
basketball game. He subsequently created an Internet site using similar
connections for distant events that became so popular that he sold it to
Yahoo! in 1999. Yahoo! now offers its users close to five hundred radio
stations and nearly seventy television stations and cable networks.
Yahoo! pays all necessary fees up front for audio and video programming
that appears on the Internet by way of Yahoo!\'s portal

10\. Wall Street Journal, 12 June 2000, p. Al.

11\. Ken Cukier of Communications Week International (France), in a 1999
paper titled \"Bandwidth Colonialism? The Implications of Internet on
International E\*Commerce,\" makes the case that the Internet is
US\*centric. The global topology of the Internet is US dominated because
bandwidth, cost, and technology favor the United States. Cukier cites as
an example the fact that Paris\*based FranceNet\'s most powerful server
was based in California.

12\. George A. Barnett, The Role of the Internet in Cultural Identity.
University of Buffalo (SUNY) Department of Communication, August 2004.
Barnett, The Structure of International Internet Hyperlinks and
Bilateral Bandwidth. University of Buffalo (SUNY) Department of
Communication, June 2004.

13\. Matthew Klam, Fear and Laptops on the Campaign Trail, The New York
Times Magazine, September 26, 2004.

14\. Milton Mueller, Ruling the Root: Internet governance and the taming
of cyberspace (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2002).

15\. Mueller Ruling the Root p. 6.

16\. Lily Blue, Internet and Domain Name Governance: Antitrust
Litigation and ICANN, Berkeley Technology Law Journal, vol. 19, 2004,
pp. 387‑403.

17\. Susan Schiavetta and Konstantinos Komaitis, ICANNs Role in
Controlling Information on the Internet International Review of Law,
Computers and Technology, vol.17, no.3, pp.267‑284.

18\. Blue, p. 393.

19\. Wolfgang Kleinwachter, Beyond ICANN VS ITU? Gazette vol. 66, 2004,
pp. 233‑51.

20\. Milton Mueller and Lee McKnight, The post‑.com internet: toward
regular and objective procedures for internet governance,
Telecommunications Policy, vol. 28, 2004, pp.487‑502.

21\. Anitesh Barua and Andrew Whinston, The Internet Economy Indicators
(Austin: Univer\*sity of Texas, 2000), June 8, p 2.

22\. Alan Hedley \"Technological diffusion or cultural imperialism?
Measuring the infor\*mation revolution.\" International Journal of
Comparative Sociology 39.2 (June, 1998) 210.

Figure12.1 Top 5 Search Engines in the US

1\. Google

2\. Yahoo!

3\. MSN

4\. AOL

5\. Ask Jeeves

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