Internet Technologies Increasing Ability to Control: The Development of Disciplinary Capacity in the Past Two Decades

Abstract

This chapter looks at how the ability of the Internet to control communications has changed in the past two decades. The chapter is loosely modelled on the structure of the Internet itself, where information passes through a chain of control points. In doing so it looks at ‘the ability to control Internet content’ which is termed here ‘disciplinary capacity.’ It then looks at Internet accessibility devices, the domain name system, Internet service providers and more broadly Internet networks, online service providers and Internet hosts. In conclusion, it argues that the discussed shifts in the Internet ecosystem since the mid-1990s have brought with them a gradual increase in the disciplinary capacity of the Internet.