Galloway

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*Deleuze’s Postscript on the Societies of Control: https://files.nyu.edu/dnm232/public/deleuze_postcript.pdf *Deleuze’s Postscript on the Societies of Control: https://files.nyu.edu/dnm232/public/deleuze_postcript.pdf
*Cloud Computing: The Layperson’s Guide to Distributed Networks: http://mashable.com/2011/08/25/cloud-computing-guide *Cloud Computing: The Layperson’s Guide to Distributed Networks: http://mashable.com/2011/08/25/cloud-computing-guide
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#Vannevar Bush, "As We May Think", in "Reading Digital Culture", ed. David Trend (USA: Blackwell, 2001), p.9. #Vannevar Bush, "As We May Think", in "Reading Digital Culture", ed. David Trend (USA: Blackwell, 2001), p.9.
#Donna Haraway, "A Manifesto for Cyborgs", in "Reading Digital Culture", ed. David Trend (USA: Blackwell, 2001), p.28. #Donna Haraway, "A Manifesto for Cyborgs", in "Reading Digital Culture", ed. David Trend (USA: Blackwell, 2001), p.28.
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Revision as of 12:52, 7 November 2011

Contents

Abstract

Chapter 1: Physical Media

Chapter Summary

The focus of this chapter is on distributed networks in the control society. Galloway takes his theories from Foucault's Sovereign vs. Disciplinary Power and Deleuze's Postscript on the Societies of Control and builds on them. Galloway first explains the concept of centralization and decentralization in sovereign and disciplinary societies respectively. Whereas centralization and decentralization facilitate control through hubs and nodes, each node in the distributed network is an autonomous agent. Galloway explores Internet protocols (TCP, IP, DNS) and demonstrates how they are used to regulate the content and operations of the Internet.

Historical Periods

The Sovereign Society
  • The Sovereign Society is from the classical era, the medieval era where society is, “characterized by centralized power and sovereign fiat, control existed as an extension of the word and deed of the master, assisted by violence and other coercive factors.” [1]
The Disciplinary Society
  • A result of the emergence of industrialization and the secular legal system
  • Decentralized method to manage the population growth by "replacing violence with more bureaucratic forms of command and control."[2]
  • Regulated society through disciplinary institutions such as prisons, schools, hospitals, etc.
  • Less individualistic and hierarchal
The Control Society

History of the Internet

Networks

Centralized Networks
  • is the simplest network to understand.
  • There is a central, singular point (a hub) that nodes or connections that travel off of to connect to points at the end. Each Node is individual and is connected to the central hub, the area where information starts from and then disperses down. Each node is singular and is only connected to the host. The host is what gives off the rules and ideas to each node. Everything comes back to the central point, which is the central hub. The messages from the hub to the nodes go back and forth. Messages cannot be transferred from node to node. The hub is above the nodes. The hub is the power that gets pushed down to each node. The information that is given is from one source which is then dispersed. A centralized network is more direct root to give a message than any other network. That being said, “communication networks characterized by a high degree of centralization made fewer errors and sent fewer messages.” [3]


Example of Centralized Networks

  • Panopticon: Jeremy Bentham in 1787 designed the Panopticon. He created a differently designed prison that had never been seen before this time. A panopticon means “all-seeing place that functioned as a round-the-clock surveillance machine. The design ensured that no prisoner could ever see the 'inspector' who conducted surveillance from the privileged location of a tower in the centre of the circular prison. The prisoner could never know when he was under surveillance and therefore creating the illusion of constant surveillance” [4] Where the guard stands is the hub of the information, and the nodes are the prisoners.
  • Foucault theorized Bentham's idea of the Panopticon. Foucault talked about how, “a guard is situated at the center of many radial cells. Each cell contains a prisoner. This special relationship between guard and prisoner “links the centre and periphery. Power is exercised without division, according to a continuous hierarchical figure occupying the central hub.” [5] The prison guard is in the middle (the central hub) of the room which surrounds where the prisoners are incarcerated. Which acts as the hierarchal point that looks down on the nodes in the placement. The system runs from top to bottom network, as the top are the prison guards looking down at the bottom which are the prisoners. Each prison cell is not connected, they run directly from the tower to each incarcerated inmate.
Decentralized Networks
  • Like a multiplication of the centralized network
  • There are many hubs; each with its own dependent nodes (branches)
  • "Communication generally travels unidirectionally...from the central trunks to the radial leaves."[6]
  • Most popular network of the modern era
Distributed Networks
Protocol Layers

1. Application Layer

  • Responsible for the content in the transaction

2. Transport Layer

  • Responsible for making sure that information is received correctly

3. Internet Layer

  • Responsible for the actual movement of data

4. Link Layer

  • Technology-specific protocol that must enclose any data transfer
Transmission Control Protocol
  • In the transport layer, there is a protocol called the transmission control protocol that creates a virtual circuit between the sender and receiver to regulate the flow of information
  • This 3-Step Circuit is like the Shannon-Weaver Model of Communication (commonly referred to as the sender/receiver model) whereby a sender sends a message, the recipient receives it and sends a message back to the sender who subsequently receives the new message[7]
Internet Protocol
  • IP works in conjunction with TCP and transfers small packets of data (called "datagrams") from the sender to the receiver. However, it does not wait to make sure the receiver gets the message or that the message goes through properly. IP simply just shoots datagrams to rely information to a receiver.
  • IP is responsible for:

1. Routing

  • Choosing paths so it can move data across a network and passing datagrams from computer to computer (“hopping”) to get to the receiver

2. Fragmentation

  • Fragmenting the datagram into smaller pieces to send to the receiver to be re-assembled (different networks in different countries have size limits as to how large datagrams can be)
  • A header is attached to each packet of information that includes information on where the information came from and who it is supposed to go to
Domain Name System
  • First universal addressing system which translates Internet addresses from names to numbers (called “resolutions”). It is like an index where anything must register and be somewhere in the system in order for it to exist.
  • In order to find out the resolution for a domain name address, one must start with the root server which can break it down another name server which breaks it down to another name server and so on and so forth until the response is a numerical address for the domain name. This is a decentralized, hierarchal system where each name server can only provide information about the level below it.


  • Protocol needs both TCP/IP and DNS to function although they are complete binary opposites. TCP/IP is more of a distributed network whereby it distributes control into autonomous agents, whereas DNS is more hierarchal and decentralized.
Discussion Questions

1. Could the example of Cloud Computing be an example of a centralized network? 2. In what ways can you see centralized, decentralized and distributed networks in our society?

Further Readings

Chapter 2: Form

Chapter Summary

  • Galloway moves from the technical ideologies of protocol in Chapter 1, to focus more on the social implications of the form of the internet. He goes on to analyze protocol as an entire formal apparatus, and not simply “rules governing the exchange or transmission of data electronically between devices” [8], in other words, evaluating the internet as more than just its technical make-up, and rather as an interactive apparatus of communication.
  • Galloway first compares the idealized emancipatory characteristics of modern media to the repressive nature of traditional media through a Marxist perspective. Galloway discusses the importance of web continuity, which creates a sense of fluidity to the users online experience, which correlates to Donna Haraway’s theory of the “cyborg”. The chapter concludes with an overview of the immaterial components that are essential to the protocol's formal relations.

Social Implications of the Internet

  • Chapter two moves away from the technical aspects of the Internet and protocol, and focuses more on how the Internet affects society. Form is the term that Galloway uses to describe how the internet works not on a technical level, but as an abstract ideal that real things participate in, it is the essential nature of a thing. Put simply, how the Internet functions as a medium.
  • Previous communication mediums, such as the radio, were decidedly one way devices. Communication theorist, Bertolt Brecht, was critical of the radio for failing to form a true communication network. In his critique of the radio, he writes "The radio is one sided when it should be two, it is purely an apparatus for distribution… Change it from distribution to communication, and the radio would be the finest possible communication apparatus in public life, a vast network of pipes… to receive as well as transmit"[9] In pointing out the flaws of the radio, Brecht has unknowingly described the basic form of the Internet, as a vast network capable of receiving and transmitting information. This debate between one-way and two-way communication devices leads to what Galloway calls "a Marxist theory of media based on form" [10]
Social Implications: a Marxist Perspective
  • A Marxist theory on media applies to the radio because the ruling class ideas are transmitted through radio waves to the labour class, also known as the proletariat. The labour class lacks the ability to produce, and therefore can only consume what the ruling class provides for them. In terms of media, specifically the radio, the ruling class ideologies become accepted by the labour class, forming hegemony. This conforms with Marx’s idea of a superstructure and base [1], which describes the division of labour in a society, with the base as the working class, and the superstructure as the ruling class.
  • A Marxist theory on the Internet must be looked at differently because it is a two-way communication medium, and is suggested in Marx’s theory of mediation[2]. Mediation “refers to the reconciliation of two opposing forces within a society, by a mediating object… Within media studies, the central mediating factor of a given culture is the medium of communication itself”[11] Ex. The Internet. So, from a Marxist perspective, the Internet can be seen as a mediating factor, because it allows the ruling class and the labour class to receive and transmit information to one another, where before only the ruling class had the ability to transmit.
Social Implications: The Internet as Emancipatory Media
  • Emancipation, or the act of being freed, is limited to the medium of internet because its form allows for everyone to participate in the production of media, as long as they have access. Older communication mediums, such as, television, radio and film, can be seen as repressive media because they are limited to one-way communication. Influenced by Brecht’s desire for a two-way radio, theorist Hans Magnus Enzensberger, describes how radio can be seen as “political prohibition”[12]. The radio is a repressive media, and thus prohibits any political interaction, because it can only be used to receive information, not transmit. The Internet can be viewed as emancipatory media because it grants the user the ability to receive and transmit, allowing for the opinions of the previously repressed to be voiced in a public forum, also known as a public sphere. No longer is media production in the hands of main stream media, because the Internet allows every user to become a producer/consumer, also known as a "prosumer".
  • Enzensberger shows how emancipatory media, an idealized form of the internet, is different from the oppressive media using this chart:
Enzensberger's chart
Repressive use of media Emancipatory use of media
- Centrally controlled program - Decentralized program
- One transmitter, many receivers - Each receiver a potential transmitter
- Immobilization of isolated individuals - Mobilization of the masses
- Passive consumer behavior - Interaction of those involved, feedback
- Depoliticization - A political learning process
- Production by specialists - Collective production
- Control by property owners or bureaucracy - Social control by self-organization

Cybernetics and Associative Indexing

  • Galloway makes the point of paying respect to who he calls two of the most important thinkers in the history of computers and electronic media; Norbert Wiener and Vannevar Bush. Wiener is responsible for the theory of dynamic systems (cybernetics) and Bush advocated the transparency of technology and the idea of associative indexing.
  • Cybernetics is defined as “the study of information processing, feedback, and control in communication systems” [13]. The theory began with the simple idea of feedback. Feedback exists when a process has both a beginning and ending point wherein the system can receive new input with the potential to impact the outcome of the process. Cybernetics can be used in any system for quality assurance and is used in communication “as the link connecting the separate parts of any system”[14]. It virtues “balance, self-regulation, circularity, and control”[15] and therefore is an important component regarding the emancipatory use of media. (see Enzensberger's comparison chart)
  • Galloway relates cybernetics to Donna Haraway's idea of the "cyborg". Haraway defines a cyborg as "a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism, a creature of social reality as well as a creature of fiction". [16] Essentially, Haraway's essay is advocating for the loss of binary oppositions and the incorporation of the idea of the cyborg in order to reduce social inequalities. A link to her essay, "A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s" can be found here.
  • Bush's 1945 essay "As We May Think" analyzes the flaws of traditional indexing methods. He notes that when data is placed in storage it is filed alphabetically, numerically or traced down from subclass to subclass. He argues that the human mind does not operate in this manner, instead "it operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain".[17] Bush is responsible for the idea of "Memex", a proposed desk-like-device with the capability of storing all of one's books, records and communications with the ability to quickly access anything stored with ease. He explains that the device would use a keyboard and a set of buttons and levers to access the data that would be imprinted on microfilm and stored in the memex. The memex "is an enlarged intimate supplement"[18] to a human's memory and works as "a relational database of records operating on the principle of associative, rather than hierarchical indexing" [19]. Again, Haraway's idea of the cyborg can be applied.

Here is one interpretation of Bush's Memex idea:

  • Galloway's reference to Wiener and Bush is an attempt to illustrate their contribution to the tradition of Marxist media theory introduced by Brecht. Bush's idea of meshworks offers a "profound alternative to the centralized, hierarchical power in place under capital relations"[20] and Wiener's cybernetics proves to be more than relevant regarding the potential emancipatory use of the media.

Form and Continuity

  • Galloway contrasts the ideas of the Web as a free, structureless network and as a rhizomatic system. He shows the contradicting nature of both statements yet the validity of them as well. He writes: "The project of this book is to show that protocol is in fact both poles of this machinic movement, territorializing structure and anarchical distribution"[21]. Therefore, one cannot simply view the Internet as structureless because it possesses key characteristics of the rhizome: "the ability of any node to be connected to any other node, the rule of multiplicity, the ability to splinter off or graft on at any point"[22] and so forth.
  • The Internet is not narrative-based or time-based yet it "enthralls users, dragging them in, as television and cinema did before it"[23]. Here, Galloway takes the idea of continuity from film theory and applies it to the Internet. Continuity is employed to ensure a seemingly natural flow on the Internet. It is a means by which webmasters create a fluid and pleasurable experience for users in a hidden fashion. "The goal of continuity is to make the Internet as intuitive as possible"[24] and as Berners-Lee writes, "the job of computers and networks is to get out of the way, to not be seen....The technology should be transparent, so we interact with it intuitively"[25]. The following is a list of some techniques of continuity outlined in this chapter:
    • Conceal the source: "Protocol is simply a wrapper. It must conceal its own innards"[26]. Webmasters use programming languages that follow the rules of continuity that are made invisible at the moment the code is compiled. Much like Marx's idea of commodity fetishism, where "beliefs about the material products of labour - things - are a substitute for an understanding of the (unequal and alienating) social relations which made their production possible"[27], the concept of concealing the source is simply hiding the effort put in place to create the product. The two examples used by Galloway to conceal the source are HTML (see below) and IP addresses. IP addresses are simply numerical addresses given for each location on the Internet.
    • Eliminate dead links: Any dead link (or "404 error") should be avoided and eliminated at all costs. If something is pointed to, it should exist to ensure the continuous and smooth flow of the Internet. Otherwise, users are often faced with this sort or error message.
    • Eliminate no links: "There can be no dead ends on the Internet"[28]. Each page must go somewhere else and continue the notion of infinite movement, even if it simply means the incorporation of a "Back" button.
    • Green means go: "When creating links on a Web page, representation should convey meaning"[29]. In other words, the language used should not reinforce to the user that they are browsing the Internet. Instead, the simple representation of something should in itself encourage the user to interact with it if need be. "One must never use the phrase "click here to visit..." Instead, for optimal continuity, one should inject the meaning of the link directly into its form".[30]
    • True identity: "A link's name and its address must correspond"[31]. Much like a link must point to somewhere, the description of said link must correspond with its target.
    • Remove barriers: Reduce the number of "clicks" a user must make to get to their destination. More time spent on distractions (splash pages, tables of contents, introductory pages) prevents the fluidity of the user experience.
    • Continuity between media types: All differentiation between different types of media must be eliminated. The page must seem like a complete package; "the user must not be able to tell where one image begins and another ends, or where text ends and an image begins"[32].
    • Prohibition against low resolution: All graphics should be at the highest resolution possible because using low resolution images reveals the "code" of the image (in this sense, the pixels of an image can be seen as the code).
    • Highest speed possible: "Speed means continuity...it helps perpetuate the illusion that personal movement on the Net is unmediated, that the computer is a natural extension of the user's own body"[33]. Speed, therefore, is essential in creating the cyborg-like relationship between an Internet user and the hardware involved.
    • Prohibition on crashes: "Computers must never crash...during a crash, the computer changes from being passive to being active"[34].
    • Prohibition on dead media: All media that is no longer relevant has no place on the Internet. Outdated technology, whether it be hardware, a form of computer language or a media format, means discontinuity.
    • Eliminate mediation: The role of continuity is to ensure the most natural cyborg experience possible. In this sense, "all traces of the medium should be hidden"[35]. New technologies focused on voice recognition and touch screen interfaces are becoming more and more popular.
    • Feedback loops: The Internet is a network that enables many-to-many communication which should be promoted. Web pages should offer a feedback system, whether it be through input forums, chat rooms or email responses to ensure effective continuity.
    • Anonymous but descriptive: Foucault's idea of "biopower" is employed to interpret material objects as information. Each movement on the Internet is recorded yet the information gathered is demographic information rather than names and identities. "On the Internet there is no reason to know the name of a particular user...the clustering of descriptive information around a specific user becomes sufficient to explain the identity of that user".[36]

Immaterial Software

  • The protocol and form of the internet are made possible because of the physical part of computers and internet networks that make up its hardware. Hardware, such as keyboards, monitors, mice, modems and so on, are important pieces of hardware that allow the internet a space to function, but are less important to the make-up of the internet and computer that we cannot see, known as immaterial software. According to Galloway, immaterial software consists of Record, Objects, Protocol, Browser, HTML, and Fonts.

1.Record:

  • The record has its roots in the ability of physical objects to store information, which, in the case of hardware would be the hard drive. However, a record is not concerned with the device that stores it, but rather the information that makes up the record. A record is concerned with the symbolic, for instance, the alphabet and language have meaning, and when written, it is a record of that meaning [37].

2.Object:

  • A record is one form of an object, which can be a digital picture, digital film, computer games, and web sites. Objects are loaded using record devices, such as a hard drive or thumb drive, and are displayed on virtuation devices, such as monitors and displays. Objects help make information readable to net users.

3.Protocol:

  • "Protocol is the reason that Internet works and performs work, which can be defined as a set of instructions for the compilation and interaction of objects" [38]. Objects require protocol to govern their assemblage, and protocol is a description language for objects. Protocol is essential to internet form because they govern the objects that make reading information possible through stored object records. Protocol explained:

4.Browser:

  • Internet browsers are “windows style” programs, such as Internet explorer and Safari, that take protocol, objects, and records, and make them visual and understandable to the user. It is, as Galloway says, an “apparatus to hide an apparatus”[39]. Just as Hollywood uses continuity editing to create a concealed, fluid flow of visuals, browsers hide protocols, objects and records to make the internet experience one of fluidity and coherence for the user.

5. HTML:

  • HTML stands for “Hypertext Markup Language”[40] and is the language that the computer understands, and then visualizes it in a way that the operator can understand. HTML is text only, yet when visualized it can create different fonts, tables, paragraphs, headings, and so on. . HTML is essential for internet form for two reasons, 1, plain text is the quickest type of data to be downloaded, and 2, a standard computer language is essential for data interchange between computers [41]

6.Fonts:

  • Just like HTML, different fonts we perceive as a user are not how they would appear to the computer. They are merely a set of instructions that the computer understands and then visualizes on screen to be what the user understands as a variation in print type.

Suggested Further Readings

  1. Bertolt Brecht, "The Radio as an Apparatus of Communication," inVideo Culture, ed. John Hanhardt (Layton, UT: Peregrine Smith Books, 1986), p.53.
  2. Hans Magnus Enzensberger, "Constituents of a Theory of the Media," in Video Culture, ed.John Hanhardt (Layton, UT: Peregrine Smith Books, 1986), p.98.
  3. Vannevar Bush, "As We May Think", in "Reading Digital Culture", ed. David Trend (USA: Blackwell, 2001), p.9.
  4. Donna Haraway, "A Manifesto for Cyborgs", in "Reading Digital Culture", ed. David Trend (USA: Blackwell, 2001), p.28.

Chapter 3: Power

Summary

The following chapter Galloway uses Deluze's concept of control and Foucault's concept of Biopolitics to help argue that protocol has control over life itself. This relates to the idea that politics are present in all forms of society and the way people live their everyday lives.

Key terms

Biopolitics: "When politics ceases to interest itself in the soul and the body and begins to take interest in life itself. In other words the idea that politics is becoming an issue salient in everyday life". [42]

Biopower: "When power is no longer measured by the giving and taking away of life but rather when life is neither created or destroyed". [43]

Dividuals: "The term dividuals is used to describe the idea that with the current format that society has, the individual is now able to be divided almost infinitely due to the amount of codes and numbers associated with them". [44]

Second nature: "The way in which material objects in the modern era have a tendency to become aesthetic objects. [45]

Metabolic: "Derived from the dynamic flow of biological processes, as an adjective to describe a relationship that is harmonious, systemic, and self regulating, and in which skills and resources are evenly balanced yet constantly updated through a relationship of equilibrium. This simply breaks down to when a part of the system becomes useless to one individual it is then passed on to another individual that can use it". [46]

Organic : "When two or more parts fulfill individual functions for the good of the whole". [47]

Social Hieroglyph : "Social Hieroglyph is the idea that something that does not announce on its surface what it is on the inside. This means that the value of things is not always recognizable unless looking further into it under the surface. [48]

Anti-Entopic Position : "Entropy is the physical principle derived from thermodynamics that stated that, in any given system, things will tend to "fall apart" r tend toward disorder. The Anti-entropic position believe the opposite of this". [49]

Dividuals

It is argued that "We are no longer dealing with a duality of mass and individual from the modern era. Instead, individuals become "dividuals", and mass become sample, data, markets, or banks"[50] This is an example of how society is currently living. Every single individual has become a dividual. Dividuals are individuals that can be sorted and categorized into numbers and data. Society is being categorized by their personal information which includes information such as address, social insurance number, name, and DNA.

Joel Stein & The Internet

The following is a clip that was created by Joel Stein from Time Magazine. It provides one with an example of how the Internet uses our information to categorize us into different groups, numbers, and data.

Discussion Questions

After watching the clip by Joel Stein it is evident that society is constantly using public domains(which are public property.)

  1. Do you feel that data mining is an infringement of public privacy?
  2. Is it expected and accepted?
  3. Where should we draw the line?

The Bios

Biopolitics

"Biopolitics is when politics ceases to interest itself in the soul and body and begins to interest itself in life." [51] This is the idea that politics have moved into all aspects of life. " The endeavor, began in the 18th century, to rationalize the problems presented to governmental practice by the phenomena characteristic of a group of living human beings constituted as a population: health, sanitation, birthrate, longevity, race." [52]

Biopower

"When power is no longer measured by the giving and taking away of life, but to a new mode in which life is neither created or destroyed. This allowed the ancient to feel they had the power to allow or disallow life". [53]

The Bios In Everyday Life

Second Nature

Second Nature is the way in which material objects in the modern era have a tendency to become aesthetic objects. Galloway is getting at the fact that our society now puts much emphasis on aesthetics and needed to purchase things that are aesthetically pleasing rather over serving a use. An example of this idea is toilet paper, you can buy the no name brand or brand name, both brands will clean up messes but one feels and looks better than the other. Because of the connotations and politics associated with the no name brand people are likely to purchase the brand name so when people use the paper towels at their house they maintain a certain reputation in the eyes of their guests. Every brand has a stigma attached to it and every stigma is politically charged.

Consumerism

Conclusion Chapter 3

In conclusion to Protocol and Chapter 3 it can be concluded that modern society has turned individuals into numbers and data. Foucault believes that the world is run by politics this includes the politics of ones everyday life including their daily choices and why those choices are made.

Suggested Further Readings

  1. Kelly, M.E. (2010). International Biopolitics: Foucault, Globalization and Imperialism Theoria: A Journal of Social & Politcal Theory, 57(123), 1-26. doi:10.3167/th.2010.5712301
  2. Lipton, J.D. (2010). MAPPING ONLINE PRIVACY. Northwestern University Law Review, 104(2), 477-515
  3. Joinson, A.N., Reips U., Buchanan, T., & Schofield, C. (2010). Privacy, Trust, and Self-Disclosure Online. Human Interaction, 25(1), 1-24, doi:10.1080/07370020903586662

Chapter 4: Institutionalization

Overview of Chapter

While the first three chapters of Galloway’s Protocol focus on how protocol has succeeded as the main principle of organization for distributed networks, chapter four discusses how protocol has failed. Galloway discusses how bureaucratic organizations and commercial interests are detrimental to protocol and the development of new technologies. Galloway highlights the various groups (IAB, ISOC, IESG, IETF) responsible for establishing and standardizing the Internet protocols. Galloway draws attention to the importance of the democratic tendencies of the controlling organizations that set the standards through voluntary and openly discussed industry standards. This overview of organizations in control of protocol further emphasizes Galloway’s main point: “The founding principle of the Net is control, not freedom. Control has existed from the beginning.

Failures of Protocol

Bureaucratic organizations that attempt to regulate and control as well as proprietary interests resulting in market monopolies are both enemies of protocol. Galloway discusses how bureaucratic institutions pose a threat to protocol because they “limit the open, free development of technology” [54]. Organizations that attempt to regulate by setting mandatory laws that must be followed may appear to be a form of protocol, however, this is not the case as protocol’s approach to control is reached through the implementation of a set of fluid, optional standards that do not restrict the development of new technology. Likewise, Galloway points out how commercial, proprietary interests are also an enemy of protocol. Companies with proprietary interests that control an entire market threaten protocol because they cause a single popular product to become the industry standard, limiting the diversity of new technology. For example, Apple IPods dominate the mp3 market, eliminating most competition which means that IPods are the sole industry standard which does not allow for other models and forms of technology to rise. Both bureaucratic and proprietary interests prove detrimental to the broad open initiatives and free exchange that are the driving forces behind protocological thinking.

Spam

The first failure of internet protocol occurred on April 12, 1994 with the introduction of the first case of spam. The issue affected Usenet, a protocol system that discussed the acceptance of new newsgroups through a democratic process that allowed anyone with an email address to vote on whether or not they accepted the new group proposal. If the group is approved a group message is sent throughout the Usenet network. In 1994, a corporation defied Usenets intentions and sent a commercial advertisement to everyone on the Usenet network. The culprits had managed to alter the Usenet’s democratic protocological system into a method for spreading commercially driven advertisements. Because protocol has to be universally adopted, its weakness lies in these institutions and individuals that wish to exploit the system for personal gain. Galloway explains that a weakness of protocol is that it “is not allowed to work purely on its own terms”[55]. Spam is one example of the many ways in which protocol has the potential to fail.

Secret Child Pornography Ring Hacked by Anonymous[56]

This article discusses the hacker group Anonymous and how they hacked into a child pornography sites to eradicate the content.This is an example of protocol because the members of Anonymous work together to decide which websites and issues require their attention then implement their standards on the corporation.

Institutional Establishment of Technical Protocols

Galloway discusses how protocol is “a type of controlling logic that operates outside institutional, governmental and corporate power, although it has important ties to all three”. Technical protocols are established by an array of mostly voluntary professional bodies that attempt to provide solutions to advancements in technology. Like the idea of protocol itself, the committees in charge of protocol development are open to anyone willing to contribute. An important organization within protocols is The American Standards Institute (ANSI), which established the C programming language in 1983 and standardized the C++computer language in 1990 which is still used today. Like a protocol, the C++ computer language “fit into more environments with less trouble than just about anything else” [57]. Through standardizing protocols such as C++ across entire industries instead of exploiting the technology for commercial profit, protocols have the ability to openly allow technology to reach its full potential. The public organization ANSI and the private company National Institute for Standardization and Technology (NIST) are the organizations responsible for coordinating the standards creation process. Both agencies are nonregulatory which means that the standards they produce are not mandatory laws that the industry must adopt but more so openly debateable guidelines that have the best interest of the industry at heart and are thus usually easily accepted by the technical community.

ANSI follows several principles to maintain the quality and integrity of standardizing development:

  • Decisions are reached through consensus among those affected
  • Participation is open to all affected interests
  • The process is transparent-information on the process and progress is directly available
  • The process is flexible, allowing the use of different methodologies to meet the needs of different technology and product sectors

Galloway stresses the importance of these governing agencies being open, voluntary and fluid in facilitating the international unification of industrial standards. These organizations working alongside governmental and corporate power are what make technical protocol possible.


Organizational Hierarchy of the Internet

There are four groups that make up the organizational hierarchy in charge of the internet standardization. They are: The internet society (ISOC), the internet architecture Board (IAB), the internet engineering steering group (IESG) and the internet engineering task force (IETF)

Internet Society (ISOC) Internet Society Official Website

  • Founded in 1992
  • Is the umbrella organization for all the other three groups
  • Their mission is to assure the open development, evolution and use of the internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world.
  • Facilitates the development of internet protocols and standards
  • Also provides fiscal legal independence for the standard making process, separating this activity from its former US government patronage.

Internet Architecture Board (IAB) Internet Architecture Board Official Website

  • Committee of thirteen who are nominated
  • Provides oversight of the architecture of network protocols overseas the standards creation process, hears appeals, oversees the RFC editor and performs other chores
  • Primarily and oversight board

Internet engineering steering group (IESG) Internet engineering Steering Group Official Website

  • Assists and manages the IETF

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Internet Engineering Task Force Official Website

  • Core area where most protocol initiates begin, several thousand people are involved mostly though email, but sometime face to face.
  • Least bureaucratic because it is more of an informal community than anything, there are no board of directors, officers; the members are considered members as long as they participate in meeting via email.

Proposal of new internet Standard

When proposing a new standard for the internet RFC editor and the IESG along with the IAB have complete control over the internet drafts and passing of standard. There are three stages in which the standard must go through:

1. Proposal standard.

  • Evaluation process in which the IESG overlooks the proposal

2. Draft Standard

  • Once the standard has been tested in real world application subtle revisions on the standard can be mad, but no substantial changes

3. Standard

  • The standard is passed and is now considered and official internet standard and is given a number

World Wide Web

  • Developed by computer scientist Tim Bernes-Lee
  • Created HTTP and HTML language that allows user to transmit and display web pages and internet language
  • When it comes to the net it is not about freedom but rather control, control has been around since the beginning of protocol

Notes and References

  1. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P3
  2. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P3
  3. ↑ Tutzauer, F., & Elbirt, B. (2009). Entropy-Based Centralization and its Sampling Distribution in Directed Communication Networks. Communication Monographs, 76(3), 351-375. doi:10.1080/03637750903074727
  4. ↑ Lim, M. (2007). Inverted-Panopticism: The Use of Mobile Technologies in Surveillance. Conference Papers -- International Communication Association, 1-23. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
  5. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P31
  6. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P37
  7. ↑ http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/trans.html
  8. ↑ http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/protocol
  9. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P55
  10. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P56
  11. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediation_(Marxist_theory_and_media_studies)
  12. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P56
  13. ↑ Griffin, Em. "Mapping the Territory." A first look at communication theory. 7. ed. Boston: Mcgraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008. 43. Print.
  14. ↑ Griffin, Em. "Mapping the Territory." A first look at communication theory. 7. ed. Boston: Mcgraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008. 43. Print.
  15. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P59
  16. ↑ Trend, David, and Donna Haraway. "A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s." Reading digital culture. USA: Blackwell, 2001. 28. Print.
  17. ↑ Trend, David, and Vannevar Bush. "As We May Think." Reading digital culture. USA: Blackwell, 2001. 10. Print.
  18. ↑ Trend, David, and Vannevar Bush. "As We May Think." Reading digital culture. USA: Blackwell, 2001. 11. Print.
  19. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P60
  20. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P60
  21. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P64
  22. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P61
  23. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P60
  24. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P68
  25. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P65
  26. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P65
  27. ↑ Lury, Celia. "Exchanging Things: The Economy and Culture." Consumer culture. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2011. 39. Print.
  28. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P66
  29. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P66
  30. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P66
  31. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P66
  32. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P67
  33. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P67
  34. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P67
  35. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P68
  36. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) P69
  37. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P72
  38. ↑ Galloway, A (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P75
  39. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P75
  40. ↑ http://www.ecommerce-web-hosting-guide.com/what-does-html-stand-for.html
  41. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P77
  42. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P.85
  43. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P. 84
  44. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P. 86
  45. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol". (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P. 88
  46. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P. 93
  47. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P. 96
  48. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol". (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P. 99
  49. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P. 103-104
  50. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge MA) PG86
  51. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P81
  52. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P85
  53. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) P84
  54. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA)P121
  55. ↑ Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA)P120
  56. ↑ http://www.brockpress.com/news/technology/secret-child-pornography-ring-hacked-by-anonymous-1.2677532#.TrcYtUOInqE Otrowski, D. (2011)."Secret Child Pornography Ring Hacked By Anonymus" The Brock Press
  57. ↑ >Galloway, A. (2004) Protocol. (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA)P124
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