Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the internet, argues in an exclusive interview with Computer Weekly (CW), that the internet faces three major crises which, if left unsolved, will lead to the net stalling as a communications medium and an engine for economic growth.
In a wide ranging discussion Cerf, now VP and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, was speaking to CW at the launch of 6UK, a non-profit body dedicated to speeding up the use of the IPv6 internet addressing scheme.
"My sense right now is that we can and shall make changes to the
network's technical architecture to improve its safety, but we also need
legal agreements that cross international boundaries to enforce laws
that either protect citizens or law to improve our ability to conduct
electronic commerce."
Cerf notes that the net has only been in public operation since about
1994. "Sixteen years is not very much time to understand what kind of
societal, administrative and jurisdictional response we should have to
the problems we are encountering," he says.
The first crisis is that the world is running out of IPv4 addresses,
and the internet authorities will probably issue the last tranche of
them around June 2011, Cerf says.
This makes the switch to IPv6 addressing mandatory if the internet is
to continue to grow and enable grand sensor-based schemes such as smart
grids and automatic traffic scheduling, he says.
Most edge devices, such as laptops and mobile phones, now support
IPv6. The router systems have the software, but the internet service
providers (ISPs) just haven't turned it on, he says.
The second problem is security and reliability on the network. "If
people don't trust the applications on the net the network won't be as
widely used or be the basis for growing GDP, creating new jobs and
businesses," he says.
The third issue is to cope with mobility in the network. Cerf admits
the original design of the internet did not anticipate the degree to
which mobile access would be required. As a result, it doesn't do it
very well, he says.
"That's another protocol and technical thing that needs to be done to
improve the internet's ability to deal with mobile access," he says.
Asked if the growing tendency for government to lock down the net was
having an effect, Cerf says the internet has enabled communication
where it didn't exist before, including previously closed societies such
as communist China. It has also given individuals the ability to
publish whatever they want on websites, blogs and the like, and to have
it read by a global audience.
"People have become their own publishers, in a way. Some regimes feel threatened by that exchange of information," he says. "Other countries are reacting to hazards or abuses that are
undertaken on the net, whether it's stalking or capture of personal
information. Their reaction to this is that, if we force everyone to
identify themselves, or if we filter everything, we will stop these bad
things from happening.
"I am not persuaded it is possible to lock down the net in this way.
Even if it were possible, I'm not sure that is a world in which we would
all want to live," he says. "On the other hand, if we insist on anonymity at all levels so that
nothing is known, society itself may be at risk. Things like terrorism
come to mind. So there must be some balance in between."
