Oversight will happen on the net. It happened with other major networks, rail, highways, radio, air, and so the info highway will eventually have some widely agreed upon rules of the road.
arthur Driver's licenses for the Internet? Suggests Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and technology officer Posted by Barbara Kiviat <http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/author/bkiviat/> Saturday, January 30, 2010 at 5:16 a Read more: http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2010/01/30/drivers-licenses-for-the- internet/#ixzz0eIRXdeaR Davos round-up: Day 3 I just went to a panel discussion about Internet security and let me tell you, it was scar-y. Between individual fraud, organized crime, corporate espionage and government spying, it's an incredibly dangerous world out there, which, according to one panelist, is growing exponentially worse. These are incredibly complex problems that even the smartest of the smart admit they don't have a great handle on, although Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and technology officer, offered up a surprisingly simple solution that might start us down a path to dealing with them: driver's licenses for the Internet. The thing about the Internet is that it was never intended to be a worldwide system of mass communication. A handful of guys, all of whom knew each other, set up the Web. The anonymity that has come to be a core and cherished characteristic of the Internet didn't exist in the beginning: it was obvious who was who. As the Internet picked up steam and gathered more users, that stopped being the case, but at no point did anyone change the ways things worked. The Web started out being a no-authentication space and it continues to be that way to this day. Anyone can get online and no one has to say who they are. That's what enables a massive amount of cyber crime: if you're attacked from a computer, you might be able to figure out where that particular machine is located, but there's really no way to go back one step further and track the identity of the computer that hacked into the one that hacked into you. What Mundie is proposing is to impose authentication. He draws an analogy to automobile use. If you want to drive a car, you have to have a license (not to mention an inspection, insurance, etc). If you do something bad with that car, like break a law, there is the chance that you will lose your license and be prevented from driving in the future. In other words, there is a legal and social process for imposing discipline. Mundie imagines three tiers of Internet ID: one for people, one for machines and one for programs (which often act as proxies for the other two). Now, there are, of course, a number of obstacles to making such a scheme be reality. Even here in the mountains of Switzerland I can hear the worldwide scream go up: "But we're entitled to anonymity on the Internet!" Really? Are you? Why do you think that? Mundie pointed out that in the physical world we are implicitly comfortable with the notion that there are certain places we're not allowed to go without identifying ourselves. Are you allowed to walk down the street with no one knowing who you are? Absolutely. Are you allowed to walk into a bank vault and still not give your name? Hardly. It's easy to envision the same sort of differentiated structure for the Internet, Mundie said. He didn't get into examples, so here's one of mine. If you want to go to Time.com and read all about what's going on in the world, that's fine. No one needs to know who you are. But if you want to set up a site to accept credit-card donations for earthquake victims in Haiti? Well, you're going to have to show your ID for that. The truth of the matter is, the Internet is still in its Wild West phase. To a large extent, the law hasn't yet shown up. Yet as more and more people move to town, that lawlessness is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. As human societies grow over time they develop more rigid standards for themselves in order to handle their increased size. There is no reason to think the Internet shouldn't follow the same pattern. Though that's not to say it'll happen anytime soon. Governments certainly have been talking to each other about this (almost by definition, any effective efforts will have to be international in nature), but even in Europe, where there is a cyber security convention in effect, only half of the Continent's nations have signed up. One stumbling block that was mentioned at today's panel discussion: governments' own intelligence agencies are huge beneficiaries of the Internet's anonymity. We managed to spy on each other before the Web, but how much easier it is now that we can cruise around cyberspace without anyone even knowing we're there. So don't expect any changes in the short term. But do know that the people in charge-as much as anyone can be in charge when it comes to the Internet-are thinking about it. Read more: http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2010/01/30/drivers-licenses-for-the- internet/#ixzz0eIRAzVNl From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of michael gurstein Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 8:55 AM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: [p2p-research] Santa FeInstitute economist:one in four Americansis employed to guard the... I'm not sure that a practical distinction can be drawn here... M -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arthur Cordell Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 9:43 AM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION' Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: [p2p-research] Santa FeInstitute economist:one in four Americansis employed to guard the... Not about safe for children, but safe to do traverse, transact and explore. See abstract below to a forthcoming paper. ----------------------------- Every economy requires a physical, institutional and legal infrastructure, as well as understandable and enforceable marketplace rules, in order to function smoothly. The building of such an infrastructure, which provides trust and confidence for all those who operate in or are affected by it, is a necessary condition for the development and efficient functioning of a global, digital economy. While the Internet is often said to be different; in one important respect it is like all previous infrastructures: a system of governance, oversight and sanctions are needed if the Internet is to live up to its full potential. The presentation also indicates one possible enormous cost which could result if the global Internet economy has to deal with growing distrust: A move away from open online networks to closed networks or back to some amalgam of the bricks and mortar world. The Internet is an open network where there is no outside body that can administer sanctions. It appears to be unique in commercial history. One characteristic of the public Internet is that, since it consists of many thousands of autonomous networks spanning a large number of jurisdictions, it has no well defined "they". There is no global oversight body (a "they") that can intervene when wrongdoing occurs. Drawing upon the lessons of history and historical analogies, the presentation outlines the uniqueness and fragility of our current situation and emphasizes the need for international action to provide remedies. For the Internet to achieve its maximum social and political potential, there will have to be agreed upon and effective rules of the road. There is a need for effective governance, both nationally and globally. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of michael gurstein Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 2:24 PM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: [p2p-research] Santa Fe Institute economist:one in four Americansis employed to guard the... As well of course, there are those who rather dislike the somewhat anarchistic nature of online discourse and who (in the currently fashionable jargon) look to create a "moral panic" sufficient to justify making the net safe for "the children" or to control "piracy on the electronic high seas"... through various kinds of over-reaching draconian moves (think airport security... MBG -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arthur Cordell Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 12:02 AM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION' Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: [p2p-research] Santa Fe Institute economist:one in four Americansis employed to guard the... With increasing distrust on the net (arising from concern with identity theft, cybercrime, etc.etc.) we will see increasing amounts of energy and labour devoted trying to make the net a safe place to do business. This is one of the costs of distrust. arthur From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of michael gurstein Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 4:17 AM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Subject: [Futurework] FW: [p2p-research] Santa Fe Institute economist: one in four Americansis employed to guard the... -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Kevin Carson Sent: Saturday, February 06, 2010 3:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [p2p-research] Santa Fe Institute economist: one in four Americansis employed to guard the... Sent to you by Kevin Carson via Google Reader: Santa <http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/UTD9Jx3Y874/santa-fe-inst itute-e.html> Fe Institute economist: one in four Americans is employed to guard the wealth of the rich via Boing Boing <http://www.boingboing.net/> by Cory Doctorow on 2/5/10 Here's a fascinating profile on radical Santa Fe Institute economist Samuel Bowles, an empiricist who says his research doesn't support the Chicago School efficient marketplace hypothesis. Instead, Bowles argues that the wealth inequality created by strict market economics creates inefficiencies because society has to devote so much effort to stopping the poor from expropriating the rich. He calls this "guard labor" and says that one in four Americans is employed to in the sector -- labor that could otherwise be used to increase the nation's wealth and progress. <http://craphound.com/images/Newchartguardlabor.jpg> The greater the inequalities in a society, the more guard labor it requires, Bowles finds. This holds true among US states, with relatively unequal states like New Mexico employing a greater share of guard labor than relatively egalitarian states like Wisconsin. The problem, Bowles argues, is that too much guard labor sustains "illegitimate inequalities," creating a drag on the economy. All of the people in guard labor jobs could be doing something more productive with their time--perhaps starting their own businesses or helping to reduce the US trade deficit with China. Guard labor supports what one might call the beat-down economy. Community Action's Porter sees it all the time. "We have based almost everything we have done on the idea that we always need a part of our workforce that is marginalized--that we can call this group into action at any time, pay them nothing and they will do anything that needs to be done," she says. More discouraging, perhaps, is the statistical fact that a person born into this workforce has little chance of rising beyond it. Born Poor? <http://sfreporter.com/stories/born_poor/5339/all/> (via MeFi <http://metafilter.com> ) Previously: * China's <http://www.boingboing.net/2009/02/02/chinas-labor-unrest.html#previouspost> labor unrest worse than suspected - Boing Boing * Which <http://www.boingboing.net/2009/03/13/which-side-are-you-o.html#previouspost > Side Are You On? Explaining what happened to labor in ... * Questions <http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/07/questions-from-econo.html#previouspost > from economics honors exam at Oberlin College Boing Boing * EVE <http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/02/eve-onlines-economis.html#previouspost > Online's economist speaks -- economics as an experimental ... * Max <http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/09/max-keisers-curmudge.html#previouspost > Keiser's curmudgeonly TV economics show: the Oracle - Boing Boing * Mackerel <http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/03/mackerel-economics-i.html#previouspost > economics in prison - Boing Boing * Economics <http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/07/economics-of-malware.html#previouspost > of Malware - Boing Boing * MP3s <http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/31/mp3s-from-economics-.html#previouspost > from "Economics of Open Content" conference - Boing Boing * Boing <http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/20/psychology_design_an.html#previouspost > Boing: Psychology, design and economics of slot-machines <http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?s=2bbbfb2f471bdfa1382c7f0a2b2770fc&p=1> <http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226> <http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~4/UTD9Jx3Y874> Things you can do from here: * Subscribe <http://www.google.com/reader/view/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.boingboing.net% 2Fboingboing%2FiBag?source=email> to Boing Boing using Google Reader * Get started using Google <http://www.google.com/reader/?source=email> Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
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