PUBLIC INTEREST REPORT SUMMER 2012

Social Motivations in a Cyber World

— BY CLAIR STROM and MONICA AMARELO

The Internet era, like the Renaissance and City, the British Silicon Valley. Hammersley we live, where we bank, where we meet, Enlightenment before it, is one of the greatest is paid to tell stories about the future in order where we fall in love.” The Internet is the revolutions to advance the potential of to understand the present. dominant platform for life in the 21st human achievement and human connection. In the words of the science fiction century. Technology changes our expectations of each author William Gibson, “the future is already In 1963, Intel co-founder Gordon other and social media channels like here, just not evenly distributed.”2 Moore made a bold prediction, popularly , , and Twitter have According to Hammersley, Facebook, known as Moore’s Law.3 Moore’s Law states transformed modern life. Twitter, and Google now define modern life that the number of transistors on a chip will One of the world’s most original in the West. A functioning Internet with double approximately every two years. This thinkers on technology trends, Ben , and a good connection to golden rule is a guiding principle and a Hammersley1 has worked as a war social networks is not only a sign of springboard for technological advancement. correspondent and technological innovator. modernity, but of civilization itself. The For the same price the number of components He coined the term “podcasting” and is the Internet is the central platform for business, on an integrated circuit will double. Or British ambassador to East London Tech culture, and personal relationships —“where conversely, the same amount of computing PUBLIC INTEREST REPORT SUMMER 2012

MOORE’S LAW obsolete. The new iPhone 5 will be 128 or of the law, the law of the Internet has no 256 times as powerful as the iPhone 3Gs. history to fall back on. Cyber law is being Moore’s Law is the foundation for The possibility for that increase in power is developed exciting new technological capabilities and the driving force behind the modern by judges who work to fit legal disputes on the improved energy efficiency. While Moore’s condition. Internet into preexisting frameworks. As a Law is the fundamental driver of the result, the legal principles governing conduct semiconductor industry, what’s even more CYBER AND and commerce in cyberspace are in a state of important is what it flux. Claims of trademark and copyright delivers to the consumer. I N T E R N E T LAWS infringement have become commonplace items Advances in process Policymakers write on the world wide web. t e c h n o l o g y a n d For example, the 1996 technology laws that For politicians it reductions in cost make Telecommunications Act,6 was relevant when makes life very c o m p u t i n g d e v i c e s passed but now is severely outdated since it won’t come into difficult. In terms of accessible to an ever- only pertains to wired services and does not c y b e r s e c u r i t y increasing number of force for another address wireless networks. policy, officials are people worldwide, Two more recent examples are the Stop couple years—by writing legislation empowering innovations Online Piracy Act (SOPA)7 “to promote f o r o u t d a t e d —from the smallest which time the prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and technology. Today handheld devices to the innovation by combating the theft of U.S. technology won’t p o l i c y m a k e r s largest cloud-based servers. property, and for other purposes”8 and the attempt to make Un d e r s t a n d i n g Protect IP Act (PIPA),9 which started off in the exist anymore. laws to g overn Moore’s Law is the key to U.S. Senate as the failed Combating Online technology which understanding the modern Policies, therefore, Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) won’t come into world. The evidence of from 2010. need to written with force for another M o o r e ’ s L a w i s Congress shelved both antipiracy bills10 f e w y e a r s — b y everywhere, embedded in the future in mind. indefinitely after Internet giants Google, which time the devices millions of people Facebook, and rallied the world technology won’t exist anymore. These laws use every day, such as personal computers and wide web to deal a major defeat to the will be in force for the next 10 – 20 years, laptops, tablets, smart phones, cell phones, traditional media industry while emboldening enacting its rules on technology, which can’t common household appliances, and a new breed of online political activists. possibly yet be imagined. Policies, therefore, consumer electronics—as well as inspiring, Congressional aides and lobbyists said need to be written with the future in mind, important technological innovations in lawmakers were reluctant to brave another not the present.5 automobiles, life-saving medical devices, and firestorm incited by Google, Facebook, Twitter, Courts around the world also are spacecrafts. Wikipedia and other popular websites during creating Internet law right now —a process Moore’s Law has many implications and an election year. it makes planning a real challenge. For that is both exciting and frightening to example, when Apple released the iPhone watch. Unlike other areas of commerce that CHANGING NORMS 4 can turn to historical traditions to help 3Gs in June 2009, it was a magical device. The halving again and again of the price of settle disputes and guide the development Three years later this amazing technology is technologies also is a problem for national PUBLIC INTEREST REPORT SUMMER 2012

As every aspect of our lives moves with a few people –neighbors, friends, and being able to access all the other data in the onto the Internet,11 the need for robust family. Today people assume that every world and it actively changes the way people security measures is great, but those meal, every hotel, every piece of culture live. Digital natives will soon be in positions security measures come with their own consumed is something to have an opinion of authority, eager to take advantage of risks. What are we protecting, if the on and to share that viewpoint on the proliferating modes of global communication. protection itself means we become, in Internet. Today the Internet provides a In an age of proliferating data, smart phones some small way, a police state? place to review everything. and Internet literacy, we must remain aware Under current defense philosophies, Twelve years ago, the only opinion that extremist messaging will reach more technological innovation inevitably leads that mattered was of the professional susceptible and receptive audiences than at to a constant state of asymmetric warfare. critic’s. For example, to review a book, it any time in the past. A new philosophy is required to reflect the was necessary to gain years of experience to present conditions and the future societal become an authority. Today people are norms. encouraged to submit reviews regardless of Telephone numbers are one example background or expertise. Clair Storm is a biomedical engineering of a new norm. Before the turn of the e change in expectation causes student with a pre-law minor at Stevens century, a phone number represented a problems, especially in the political arena. Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. place—a house, an office, a booth – and People write and post opinions in support Her research includes constitutional law and the understanding that someone might not of candidates and issues during elections. policy, political science, and judicial processes. be at that place when a call was placed. Aer a candidate is elected, those During the summer of 2012, she studied law Today, a phone number is a person. e previously valued opinions no longer and public policy at Georgetown University switch in the meaning of phone numbers, matter and are simply ignored. and interned at the Federation of American from place to person, has completely In this way, society is renegotiating its Scientists. changed social behavior. social contract. e Internet, and the In about ten short years, society has content on it, empowers people. People Monica Amarelo is the managing editor of transformed from a specialist class of have become more sophisticated in their the FAS Public Interest Report and director people with expertise to voice opinions to understanding of media and understand of communications at the Federation of a reputation society.12 In the past, verdicts the value of data. American Scientists. on meals, books, music, television, films, is leads to the next big social products and politics were only shared change. ere is a growing expectation of

REFERENCES AND NOTES

1 Articles and biographical information on Ben Hammersley, editor-at-large of Wired: http://www.benhammersley.com/ 2 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, entry on William Ford Gibson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gibson

3 PC Magazine, Encyclopedia, definition of Moore’s Law: http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Moores+law&i=47229,00.asp

4 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, entry on the technical specifications of the iPhone 3Gs by Apple Corporation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_3GS

5 e Internet Society provides this guide on Internet law as a public service. e guide provides links to many useful legal research sites on the Internet: http:// www.isoc.org/internet/law/

6 Federal Communications Commission website. e Telecommunications Act of 1996 with text and links to additional resources: http://transition.fcc.gov/ telecom.html

7 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, entry on the : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

8 H.R. 3261 Stop Online Piracy Act, 112th Congress, House Judiciary Committee; October 26, 2011.

9 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, entry on the Protect IP Act: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act

10 Jared Newman, PC World, “Congress Puts SOPA, PIPA on Hold,” January 20, 2012: http://www.pcworld.com/article/248468/ congress_puts_sopa_pipa_on_hold.html

11 Congressional Research Service Report, “Promoting Global Internet Freedom: Policy and Technology,” August 30, 2012: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/ R41837.pdf

12 Hassan Masum, Mark Tovey with foreword by Craig Newmark. e Reputation Society - How Online Opinions Are Reshaping the Offline World, MIT Press, February 2012: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12750