The Politics of Deep Packet Inspection: What Drives Surveillance by Internet Service Providers? by Christopher Parsons M.A, University of Guelph, 2007 B.A., University of Guelph, 2006 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Political Science © Christopher Parsons, 2013 University of Victoria This dissertation is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Copyright ii Supervisory Committee The Politics of Deep Packet Inspection: What Drives Surveillance by Internet Service Providers? by Christopher Parsons M.A., University of Guelph, 2007 B.A., University of Guelph, 2006 Supervisory Committee Dr. Colin J. Bennett, Political Science, University of Victoria Supervisor Dr. Arthur Kroker, Department of Political Science, University of Victoria Departmental Member Dr. Andrew Clement, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto Outside Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Colin J. Bennett, Department of Political Science Supervisor Dr. Arthur Kroker, Department of Political Science Departmental Member Dr. Andrew Clement, Faculty of Information, University of Toronto Outside Member Surveillance on the Internet today extends beyond collecting intelligence at the layer of the Web: major telecommunications companies use technologies to monitor, mediate, and modify data traffic in real time. Such companies functionally represent communicative bottlenecks through which online actions must pass before reaching the global Internet and are thus perfectly positioned to develop rich profiles of their subscribers and modify what they read, do, or say online. And some companies have sought to do just that. A key technology, deep packet inspection (DPI), facilitates such practices. In the course of evaluating the practices, regulations, and politics that have driven DPI in Canada, the US, and UK it has become evident that the adoption of DPI tends to be dependent on socio-political and economic conditions. Simply put, market or governmental demand is often a prerequisite for the technology’s adoption by ISPs. However, the existence of such demand is no indication of the success of such technologies; regulatory or political advocacy can lead to the restriction or ejection of particular DPI-related practices. The dissertation proceeds by first outlining how DPI functions and then what has driven its adoption in Canada, the US, and UK. Three conceptual frameworks, path dependency, international governance, and domestic framing, are used to explain whether power structures embedded into technological systems themselves, international standards bodies, or domestic politics are principally responsible for the adoption or resistance to the technology in each nation. After exploring how DPI has arisen as an issue in the respective states I argue that though domestic conditions have principally driven DPI’s adoption, and though the domestic methods of governing DPI and its associated practices have varied across cases, the outcomes of such governance are often quite similar. More broadly, I argue that while the technology and its associated practices iv constitute surveillance and can infringe upon individuals’ privacy, the debates around DPI must more expansively consider how DPI raises existential risks to deliberative democratic states. I conclude by offering some suggestions on defraying the risks DPI poses to such states. v Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ...................................................................................................... ii! Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii! Table of Contents ................................................................................................................ v! List of Figures ................................................................................................................... vii! Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... viii! Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................... x! Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1! Deep Packet Inspection ................................................................................................... 2! Interested Parties ............................................................................................................. 3! The Sites of Study ........................................................................................................... 6! Methodology ................................................................................................................... 9! Outline of Dissertation .................................................................................................. 10! Chapter 2: Deep Packet Inspection and Its Predecessors .................................................. 13! A Chronology of Data Packet Inspection ..................................................................... 14! Data Packets 101 ....................................................................................................... 15! Shallow Packet Inspection ........................................................................................ 19! Medium Packet Inspection ........................................................................................ 19! Deep Packet Inspection ............................................................................................. 22! Technical Capabilities and Their Potentials ................................................................. 27! The Technical Possibilities of DPI ........................................................................... 27! The Economic Potentials of DPI ............................................................................... 33! The Political Potentials of DPI ................................................................................. 38! Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 41! Chapter 3: Who and What Drives Deep Packet Inspection .............................................. 43! Fixed Paths for the Internet? ......................................................................................... 44! Inventing the Internet’s Potentials ............................................................................ 44! ARPANET’s Values and the Contemporary Internet ............................................... 47! How a Technological Imperative Could Explain Deep Packet Inspection ............... 51! The Role of International Governance .......................................................................... 58! The Rise and Roles of International Internet Governance Bodies ............................ 58! International Governance Bodies and Control .......................................................... 62! How International Governance Could Explain Deep Packet Inspection .................. 65! The Politics of Framing ................................................................................................ 71! Policy Actors, Networks, and Communities ............................................................. 71! The Strategic Dimensions of Agenda-Setting and Policy Framing .......................... 75! How Domestic Framing Could Explain Deep Packet Inspection ............................. 78! Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 81! Chapter 4: The Canadian Experience ............................................................................... 83! Introducing the Actors .................................................................................................. 83! The Issues ...................................................................................................................... 87! Network Management ............................................................................................... 87! Content Control ......................................................................................................... 98! vi Advertising .............................................................................................................. 104! Policing and National Security ............................................................................... 107! Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 111! Chapter 5: The American Experience ............................................................................. 114! Introducing the Players ............................................................................................... 114! The Issues .................................................................................................................... 117! Network Management ............................................................................................. 118! Copyright and Content Control ............................................................................... 126! Advertising .............................................................................................................