Protocols

“…is a set of recommendations and rules that outline specific technical standards.”

In computing,

“…any type of correct or proper behaviour within a specific system of conventions.”

Galloway used the conventional road etiquette as an example of how computer protocols work, saying that protocol is a technique for achieving voluntary regulations within a contingent environment. Although the Internet is commonly perceived by critics as chaotic and lacks centralized command, there is actually more protocological control than it may seem. What makes it look like the way it is now is probably TCP/IP, which are the leading protocols for data transmission from one computer to another. I think that torrents are actually a really good example that contributes to the misconception of the Internet today. Probably because it is file transfer system that is very unpopular with copyright authorities, based solely on peer-to-peer network relationships.

Since DNS servers are structured like an inverted tree, a hypothesis was put forth saying that whole countries can be blacked out from the rest of the Internet by just modifying the information contained in the root servers. DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) is a type of attack that floods a website with relentless and useless traffic, causing it to stall or go offline. The incoming traffic originates from potentially hundreds or thousands of sources, making it nearly impossible to stop the attack by simply blocking a few IP address, or even to track down the attacker. Here is an article about the largest DDoS attack that China has ever faced. This further reinforces my stand – that the Internet is a large controllable mesh of networks.

Read Dana’s post on how the protocols undertaken by the Chinese government to restrict the use of Facebook, Twitter, and a number of  other social networking sites.

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