ABSTRACT
In 2011, as the popular uprising in Syria began to take hold, all Internet service in that country stopped, cut off by decree of the Syrian government. Soon thereafter, a deputy assistant secretary of state testified before Congress, noting a increase in Internet repression. Many jurisdictions are using Internet addresses with political boundary designators, such as ".fr," ".uk," and ".co.us." In addition, Iran is in the process of creating its own, internal version of the Internet as a method to control public access only to "halal" information, that which conforms to Islamic law. To a great extent, it is attractive, functional, and prosperous because the most common experience is one of universal reach and access. The reality is this reach and access occurs through physical and logical network layers, composed of communications systems, various computational machines, and the software implemented over them, each with a unique geographical location.
