Harvard University Extension School
Fall 2007
Dec 20, 2007
Internet Architecture and Governance
In this lecture we will discuss the history and growth of the Internet
from a research network to an international communications
infrastructure. If you don't know this story, do what you can to
learn the technical stuff, but remember---we're here to talk about
policy, not protocols. If you know the technical side of this story,
please dig-down and think about what policy decisions made today's
Internet possible.
- Early Internet History
- NSF NET --- The architecture of the network in the early 1990s
- ISPs --- why did they happen?
- DNS
- "Rough consensus and running code."
- Department of Commerce
- Architecture of today's network: how is it different?
- ICANN
[slides]
Read Before Class
Were going to continue reading Lessig's book. Version 2.0 of the book is available on the wiki.
Start with chapters 1 through 5. You will find these chapters linked off of the
Wiki's table of
contents. Remember, please read the entire chapter and not just
the introduction! (chapter 1 has parts 1, 2 and 3).
Specifically, please read:
Please also read:
- A Brief
History of the Internet, by Barry M. Leiner, Vinton G. Cerf,
David D. Clark, Robert E. Kahn, Leonard Kleinrock, Daniel C. Lynch,
Jon Postel, Larry G. Roberts and Stephen Wolff, published by the
Internet Society, version 3.32, 10 Dec 2003,
- A
Concise Guide to the Major Internet Bodies, Alex Simonelis,
Ubiquity, Volume 6, Issue 5, (February 15 - February 22, 2005)
Optional Readings
Further Readings
Assignment: 4-page paper
Please write a 4-page paper on one of the debate topics that you did not previously address.