ABSTRACT
The network environment of cyberspace is an unplanned environment. It has, as we saw in the previous chapter, developed over the last 40 years in a piecemeal fashion, with most environmental changes designed to meet a particular demand, whether that be simple interconnectivity, efficiency, accessibility of content or commercial demands. Although the cyberpaternalists have demonstrated the efficiency of harnessing the power of the network environment as a regulatory tool,1 there are considerable obstacles to be overcome before this can be achieved. Chief among these obstacles is the open architecture of the key network protocols, TCP/IP and HTTP.2 By maintaining an open architecture it is difficult to create regulatory structures at either the internetworking (or TCP/IP) layer or the content (or HTTP) layer. These open designs help ensure that at the heart of the modern network retains Bob Kahn’s rule that, ‘there would be no global control at the operations level’. Thus to achieve regulatory control through environmental, or design, controls within the architecture of cyberspace, one has to identify the weak points within the network: the ‘pinch points’ where regulatory controls may be imposed and in so doing have the maximum effect on the largest possible number of internet users.
