Putting Policy in Its Place: A Challenge for Research on Internet Policy, Regulation and

Governance

William H. DuttonQuello Professor of Media and Information Policy

Quello Center, Michigan State UniversityFollow @QuelloCenter

Presentation for TIPI Speaker Series and RTF Colloquium, University of Texas, Austin, 11 February 2016. Dutton, W. H. (2016), ‘Putting Policy in its Place: The Challenge for Research on Internet Policy and Regulation’, I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, forthcoming.

Fred Williams, Aimee Dorr, and Bill Dutton, 1981

The James and Mary Quello Center• Established in 1998 in honor of FCC

Commissioner James H. Quello• Seeks to seeks to stimulate and inform debate

on media, communication and information policy for our digital age

• Follow the Quello Center online at:• http://quello.msu.edu• Twitter @QuelloCenter

The Rise of the Internet Over the Past DecadeMany Economic, Social & Democratic Potentials of the Internet and Social Media, such as for a Fifth Estate

Apparently Unstoppable Progress of the Internet and related ICTs, such as Social Media

- Internet (85% in North America; 26% in Africa)*- Social Media (52% Facebook in North America; 10% in Africa)*- The New Internet World (East Asia & Global South)- Continuing Innovations: Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, WhatsApp,

WeChat, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Snapchat, Periscope, Beme, …- More innovations: Mobile Internet, iWatch, the first Selfie

Election in US, Mobile Payments, …

*Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/america.htm [24 July 2015]

The Place of Policy?

Irrelevant

• Technology Governs

• Policy Lags• Unregulated

info services enabled New Internet Age

Central

• Context of All Decisions, Analogous to Gravity!

• Enabled the New Internet Age

New Stage or Phase

• Policy Matters Greatly

• Need Appropriate Policy

• Impacts Hard to Anticipate

Argument about a New Phase:Over the next decade, the Internet narrative will shift from technical innovations, and the public and commercial opportunities they present, to policy and regulation.

What is this shift?

Why will it occur?

What risks and opportunities does It present?

What can be done?

Decades of Technical Innovations

Time lines of the History of the Internet

Rapid technical innovations

Information services as industrial policy

National support for not regulating (USA, UK)

Policy Themes of Early Internet Research

Access

Controlling Use (copyright, filtering)

Internet regulatory exceptions (protecting children)

Multistakeholder Internet governance (names and numbers)

Some Pivotal Events

Wikileaks Edward Snowden

European Right to be Forgotten

Social Media Internet of Things

Today’s Internet

Bubble 2.0

Global Trends Driving Regulation

Internet & Social Media

Regulation

Significance of the Net

Decline, Substitution of Old Media

Digital Divides

Trust Bubble + Snowden Moral

Panics? (Social Media)

‘Left Out’ of Policy

National Policy &

Regulation

Moral Panics: Social Media & the Internet

Global Trends Driving Regulation

Internet & Social Media

Regulation

Significance of the Net

Decline, Substitution of Old Media

Digital Divides

Trust Bubble + Snowden Moral

Panics? (Social Media)

‘Left Out’ of Policy

National Policy &

Regulation

Broader Implications?

Clarion Calls for Politicians to ‘Do Something’

Blind Regulators and the Internet (Indian Parable)

Lack of an Appropriate Regulatory Model

Image from: http://www.jainworld.com/literature/story25i1.gif

Appropriate Regulatory Models?(Proportionate to Offense)

Speech?

Press?

Post?

Data Custodian?

Telephony, Common Carrier?

Cable?

Broadcasting?

Manifestations of this TrendPrivacy Initiatives, such as Right to be Forgotten

Continuing Efforts to Enforce Copyright, Block Linking

Content Regulation Increasingly Global

Efforts to Legalize Mass Data Surveillance

Initiatives to Regulate Internet Services• Net Neutrality • OTT Services

Network Neutrality is:“Boring” John Oliver, but truly complex

Open Internet?

Battle for the ‘Last Mile’?

Public Utility, available to all?

Common Carrier?

Internet’s First Amendment?

John Oliver: ‘All data must be treated equal.’ 1 Jun 2014

John Oliver: proposing a better label for Net Neutrality, 1 Jun 2014

FCC’s Rules for Open Internet, Net Neutrality:

No blocking (of lawful content)

No throttling

No paid prioritization, access tiering, ‘fast lanes’

No unreasonable interference

Transparency

European Network Neutrality

US No Fast Lane EU Two Tiers

FCC on Access to Last-Mile

MarketRegulation

FCC on Access to Last-Mile

‘Inappropriate Utility-Style Regulation’

‘Bold Action to Protect Open

Internet’

Waters, R. ‘Internet Groups in Tricky Position over US Net Neutrality’, Financial Times, 12 February.

The Politics of Network Neutrality

The Redneck Review Blog

Telecom IndustryCable IndustryBig Network Operators

Internet IndustryContent ProvidersAdvocacy Groups

Digital Activists

Proponents and Opponents of Network Neutrality

RepublicanOpponents

DemocratProponents

Proponents and Opponents of Network Neutrality

Politics of Net

Neutrality

Neutral, Rational-

Legal Analysis?

Power of Grassroots (Internet Users)?

Partisan Politics

(“power grab”)?

Rising Power of Internet Industry, Silicon Valley?

Tech Populism?

20052006

20072008

20092010

2015

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10

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100

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Google Search Queries for “Net Neutrality” (2004 – May 2015)

06/1308/13

10/1312/13

02/1404/14

06/1408/14

10/1412/14

02/1504/15

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

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80

90

100

01/14 05/14

09/14

11/14

02/15

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Google Search Queries for “Net Neutrality” (June 2013 – May 2015)

20052006

20072008

20092010

2015

0

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60

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100Net Neutral-ityDigitial Divide

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Google Search Queries for “Net Neutrality” “Digital Divide” & “Open Internet” (2004 – May 2015)

Governing a Global Ecology of Choices

National Governmental

Policy & Regulation

Industry, ISP, SNS Policy &

Regulation

User Self-Regulation (Learning & Education)

Bilateral & Multilateral

Treaties, Inst.Tech Populism

Multistakeholder, Multilateral Global

Internet Governance

The Coming DecadeLast Decade’s Narrative: Technical Innovations

The Next Decade’s Narrative: Policy, Regulation & Governance

Risk: Undermining the Vitality of the Internet and Social Media, and their Democratic and Societal Potential – criminalizing sharing, arresting bloggers, delinking, undermining anonymity --

Policy Issues Rising Policy Research

Marginalized

Policy and Internet Studies

What Can We (Academic Researchers) Do?

Analytical SkepticismIndependent,

Empirical Research

Develop More Appropriate Regulatory

Model(s)

Make Policy Studies More Interdisciplinary

Bring Policy Research into the Fold of Media,

Communication & Information Studies