Category: Cici Liu

Posted on

Week 2: Response to “Long Live the Web” by Tim Berners Lee and “The Strange Geopolitics of the International Cloud” by Ingrid Burrington- Kyra Bachman

“Long Live the Web” by Tim Berners Lee offers a fascinating insight into the global nature to the internet and the importance of it being universally accessible. His characterization of the internet in itself being a form of freedom of speech that follows principles within the US constitution and British Magna Carta is a concept that I had never thought of before. He also notes the numerous variables that make up the internet- and the importance of it being a free, interconnected space to properly enjoy and reap the full benefits of it. Interestingly, this 2010 article talks about the harmfulness of net neutrality, a concept that has become very pressing in American politics over the last year. Berners explains that net neutrality leads to a discrimination of service, where users fundamental rights to access their internet is dependent upon their degree of service that they paid for. He, lastly, emphasizes the importance of governments, globally, to not intervene of citizens freedom to use the internet. Whether it is China hacking dissidents’ emails, the US blacklisting websites, or France disconnecting the internet of people pirating videos- these are all infringements upon their respective citizens freedom to use the internet and comes at a cost to society. It is important that technological protocols respect the values of humanity and do not constrain the breadth of knowledge that the internet cultures and promotes.

The article “The Strange Geopolitics of the International Cloud” addresses the hidden politics behind the internet and offers some insights on aspects of the international cloud infrastructure that most people likely do not know about. Surprisingly, the article first notes that for an area is it dependent on an areas environmental, financial, and political scene to be rich with internet exchange. Most surprisingly, the density of internet exchange is all dependent upon whether that location is US-friendly. Additionally, the United State’s global dominance leads to innumerable geopolitical disputes. To name one, they are in the midst of a two year battle with the government in Ireland- where the U.S. argues that they have jurisdiction of information acquired by Microsoft, due to it being an American company. This article presents a new perspective in how The Cloud’s global shape and politics and the planet’s global shape and politics are one in the same.

Posted on

Week 1: Response to “Long Live the Web” and “A Network of Fragments” – Adam Chou

“Long Live The Web” Response:

In reaction to Tim Berners-Lee’s piece “Long Live the Web”, I feel conflicted as to his position. Although Tim is the one accredited with the invention of the web, I feel he does not understand the geopolitical implications of his invention to its fullest extent. As he highlights in the piece, his goals for the web was to levy a new medium of communications, where common rights were to be respected under this medium. The principle he speaks of, universalism, is one that I believe to be inherently flawed and a form of the decentralization that he has been seeking for his invention. This is seen in his commentary on monopoly restriction and open-sourced programs. His dream seems to mimic (to me) a similar socialist dream of shared resources.

The main components of his plan encourage creativity, while also simultaneously limiting the control of big companies. Essentially, because the web is ‘limitless’ in a sense, he believes that we will be able to expand and make room for all the appropriate users. By utilizing this environment, there will be ample space and time for everyone to create a semi-utopia. This means limited government involvement, self-regulation, Free Speech, Information.. etc. I would, however, argue that there are fundamental political issues stopping these goals from being achieved. First, we must consider current styles of business management in place, as well as the subjective sense of what might be ‘right’ in different areas. Although the web may be able to connect different areas of the world, it is not the web itself acting, but the user in the area that is connected. The web cannot fix many of the issues that we currently have. In an analogy, the web is not the one who brings over aid to a country. It is the people who communicate, who organize, and deliver aid supplies and volunteers to the country. Although the web presents itself as an almost instantaneous method, it works in tandem with many less efficient systems. Because of this, many of the methods of monopoly-style control can be utilized to pressure the dream that Tim Berner-Lee has. Therefore, although we can consider the benefits of such a system laid out, the rules that have been thus established in the trading and political economy will not allow for such a system to come about (at this moment). However, I will say that this world that he describes is an ideal that we can work towards.

“A Network of Fragments” Response:

Ingrid Burrington’s piece reminds me a lot about user interaction with the web. Although we interact with it, most of the actions we perform on the platform are very surface based – nonsubstantial. Many of those who use the web are unable to read or write code, unable to create – we are illiterate by today’s standards. And yet we are still able to perform basic functions like navigate sites, read directions, look up news, and all the other ways that we were able to before the internet – now in the palm of our hand. Most of us are oblivious to the functions of the internet, and therefore stand as passive users. In this case, we find the internet to be a cause of concern in some cases. Some parents take away cell phones in order to limit the ‘damage’ that it might cause children. They believe that being addicted to such an enormous databank of information is a detriment to their education. In some cases, they even believe that the information stored in a cell phone would replace the reality that we have in front of us.

To such an end, the internet seems to have qualities similar to that of a devil, or a succubus – a dangerous persona that would seek to take away our better qualities. However, it is interesting to take the time to understand it. When we think about it, it is simply many data – centers, microfiber cables, and people working to connect the world we live in. In that light, I can only see parents who shelter their kids from their phones as a makeshift boundary from entering the adult world unprepared.

Posted on

“Long Live The Web” and “The Internet Is Everywhere” – Bonnie Chan

“Long Live The Web”

I’ve spent some time thinking about open sourcing coding. The idea that everything coders do nowadays are shared worldwide and the idea that when I am creating code half of it comes from someone else. However, the reading reminded me that sharing on the Internet is more than just that. Individual privacy and freedom is often comprised as the Internet begins to grow larger and private companies take advantage. Its scary to think that the majority of the Web that is so vast and large is actually only managed by a few companies that control over everything. And to remind ourselves that everything that we do nowadays is online. Just thinking about my first week of China I’ve realized how much technology and the Internet has taken over our world. To think that we may have no control over all the information that we have shared with the world is terrifying. For individuals that are scared of where modern technology has taken us don’t even have a choice as to whether or not they would like to share their information. Our technology filled society has forced us to become immersed in the Web. Just think about the fact that some restaurants or stores only accept Alipay or WeChat Pay and have entirely eliminated the old fashioned use of cash. Not only that, but also how the Internet connects us to such a large network terrifies our society even more. Someone across the world could easily have access to your information with a click of a button. Something new and interesting to me was the thought that the Internet and the Web as separate entities. Since applications and web sites have required the use of the Internet for so long, all these factors have been mushed into one for me. However, to think that technology has evolved to the point where applications such as itunes is considered a separate entity has really surprised me. Separate private programs that are no possible means that the potential for technology has no limit – something that can be so powerful but also so malicious. 

“The Internet is Everywhere”

When I speak to my parents about web applications and the Internet, they simply scratch their head asking me if their photos were all backed up on the “Cloud” and how would it be possible to get them back. It was as if they saw technology as this god-like entity that had so much power over them. It made sense, something that was physically unseen, untouchable and yet could house all of the things they would ever need; they never would’ve imagined that was possible ten years ago and yet here we are. I’ve never took notice of the wires that line the roads or the large servers stored somewhere in the mystical world that powers everything that I use on a daily basis. But, for some reason technology didn’t seem as godly to me anymore. To think that a simple push of a button would be capable of turning off all the servers and websites online that I use every day is such a crazy thing to believe. Somehow, I suddenly feel like I still have power over the Internet (as Tim Berners-Lee has mentioned in his article the idea that the Internet is still very much under our control). As well as thinking back to when I would code and debug, I realized that technology is not as smart as we think. Instead, it is us – the creators – that make machines come to life. 

Posted on

Week 1: Response to “Long Live the Web” and “A Network of Fragments” – Hanna Rinderknecht-Mahaffy

Response to “Long Live the Web”: 

In his section, “Universality is the Foundation,” Berners-Lee states, “A related danger is that one social-networking site—or one search engine or one browser—gets so big that it becomes a monopoly, which tends to limit innovation” (Berners-Lee 82). While reading this, I was struck by the many web-based monopolies that exist today. In social media, Facebook has become a monopoly, not only in its status as a social media platform, but also in the fact that is one of the first/only places users get their news and information about the world around them. This can be problematic, since unlike more mainstream news sources, Facebook algorithms limit the information and news users see based on their preferences and personal views. This can sometimes lead to biased intake of information, which can have consequences, as shown by Facebook’s role in the U.S’s 2016 election. 

“Free speech should be protected, too. The Web should be like
a white sheet of paper: ready to be written on, with no control over what is written. Earlier this year Google accused the Chinese government of hacking into its databases to retrieve the e-mails of dissidents. The alleged break-ins occurred after Google resisted the government’s demand that the company censor certain documents on its Chinese-language search engine” (Berners-Lee 85). Not only is freedom of speech limited in the internet in China, but access to many web-sites/key-words is also highly censored. As a foreigner living in China, I run into this censorship any time I attempt to use Google, Facebook, or certain websites outside of NYU Shanghai’s VPN. I appreciate having unlimited access to the internet, but at the same time find it strange that some Chinese citizens around me without VPNs may not have access to the same information as I do. As Berners-Lee points out, “universality is the foundation” of the internet and in my opinion, such a limiting of freedom of information/speech in China violates this fundamental principle that all people have a basic human right to freedom of information and expression. 

Response to “A Network of Fragments”: 

Burrington ends her article by saying, “I have spent the last few years trying to glimpse the totality of the network in the fragments of network infrastructure, and while it is a far more coherent landscape today than it appeared to me a few years ago, at the end of the day these fragments remain the only forms I trust.” I found her reflections interesting that, in todays focus on data centers and wireless internet connection, we tend to forget the physic, tangible fragments of internet infrastructure.  Fragments such as cable lines and cell towers are often passed by unseen, and often seem less important/impressive than data centers. However, these components are still essential to a functioning internet. While we tend to rely and trust wifi and the more intangible aspects of the internet on a daily basis, these physical fragments perhaps are more trustworthy because they cannot be hacked or altered in the same ways.