Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

Internet service provider 251standards and guidance. The most important of these isthe World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Other technicalorganizations include the Internet Engineering Task Force(IETF) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Namesand Numbers (ICANN), the latter of which administers thedomain system (seen domain name system). The domainregistries in turn are run by many different institutions andagencies.Growing Role of Governments?Many of the key innovators of the Internet have looselyshared a somewhat anarchic or libertarian viewpoint, andreinforced it with the claim that the decentralized architectureof the Internet itself resists imposition of rules fromoutside. (Thus the saying, “the Internet sees censorship as afailure and routes around it.”)However, recently some writers such as Lawrence Lessigof Stanford Law School have called for a reappraisal.Lessig argues that the Internet is far from ungovernableand that indeed such an important institution must be regulated.The question is how to regulate it wisely, shapingits architecture to support freedom, democracy, and otherdesirable values.In 2003 and 2005, the United Nations brought togethermany government representatives who raised many issuesabout what they saw as inadequacies of the privately runInternet (for example, in the assigning of domain names)and a perceived bias toward American interests. TheUnited Nations has established an Information and CommunicationTechnologies (ICT) Task Force to carry onthese meetings, which will be called the Internet GovernanceForum (IGF). Other international institutions suchas the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)have sometimes come into conflict with the Internet’s selfgoverningbodies.Within the United States there continues to be strongresistance to imposing new regulations on the Internet, inpart because of fear of constricting one of the most importantand fastest growing sectors of the economy.The conflict between the Internet’s self-governingculture and the needs and desires of political institutionswill no doubt continue. Sometimes the conflict canbe very sharp, as with China’s blocking of Internet contentthat it finds objectionable (see censorship and theInternet). Other issues are perhaps deeper, such as thequestion of how to enforce criminal laws or economicregulations that were designed for a world made of brickand steel.Further ReadingGoldsmith, Jack, and Tim Wu. Who Controls the Internet? Illusionsof a Borderless World. New York: Oxford University Press,2006.Internet Governance Project. Available online. URL: http://www.internetgovernance.org/. Accessed September 23, 2007.Lessig, Lawrence. Code Version 2.0. New York: Basic Books, 2006.MacLean, Don, ed. Internet Governance: A Grand Collaboration.New York: United Nations ICT Task Force, 2004.World Wide Web Consortium. Available online. URL: http://www.w3.org/. Accessed September 23, 2007.Internet radioInternet radio is the provision of radio broadcast contentover the Internet (see streaming). Basically, the digitizedsound files of the broadcasts can be accessed and playedusing widely available software such as Windows MediaPlayer or RealPlayer. Internet radio began in the mid-1990s,and today an increasing number of broadcast stations areoffering their programming in this form, allowing them toreach audiences far beyond the reach of their signal. Somestations stream live (during the actual broadcast), whileothers make programs available for download. (For automaticdownloading of broadcasts, see podcasting). Thereare also “radio stations” that provide their content only viathe Internet. Internet radio should not be confused withsatellite or cable radio, which carry conventional radio signalsin real time.For the user, Internet radio expands the selection ofstations available from a few dozen over the air to hundredsor thousands. Potentially this allows for the supportof specialized stations that have been struggling for audiencesin traditional markets—examples might be stationsbroadcasting jazz or alternative music, political advocacy,or programming in less widely spoken languages.Of course there still remains the question of how commercialInternet radio can support itself. Many on-air stationssimply include their advertising in the Internet stream(although this can be sometimes ineffective if the ad referssolely to a local business). Some stations sell subscriptionsor charge a fee for each program.Regular radio stations must pay royalties to performerswhose music is played on the air. Until recently, such feeshave been minimal (or even ignored) for Internet radio. Amajor issue arose in 2007 when the U.S. Copyright RoyaltyBoard approved a steep increase in the royalties for musicon Internet radio. Many smaller Internet radio stations haveprotested that the increased fees would put them out ofbusiness as well as hurting many independent performerswho depend on this medium to get their work heard.However, a number of stations have been able to negotiatereductions or caps on these fees on an ad hoc basis.Further ReadingHeberlein, L. A. The Rough Guide to Internet Radio. London: RoughGuides, 2002.Hoeg, Wolfgang, and Thomas Lauterbach, eds. Digital AudioBroadcasting: Principles and Applications of Digital Radio. 2nded. New York: Wiley, 2003.Internet Radio Guide. Available online. URL: http://www.windowsmedia.com/Mediaguide/Radio. Accessed September23, 2007.Lee, Eric. How Internet Radio Can Change the World: An Activist’sHandbook. Lincoln, Nebr.: iUniverse, 2004.Web Radio [directory]. Available online. URL: http://www.radio-directory.com/. Accessed September 23, 2007.Internet service provider (ISP)An Internet service provider is any organization that providesaccess to the Internet. While nonprofit organizationssuch as universities and government agencies can be