How trust and distrust among networkers shape connectivity
Uta Meier-Hahn
TPRC43 provided the opportunity to present preliminary results from my PhD research about informal regulation of internet interconnection. I was so thrilled to be in the same session as David Clark that I had someone take a picture. David Clark shared his "Lessons for History" about "Adding Enhanced Services to the Internet" – a very interesting read.
In my contribution I specifically look at the role of trust and distrust among networkers. The full paper can be downloaded at SSRN. The slides are online at Euro-IX where I presented this research as well.
"Creating connectivity: trust, distrust and social microstructures at the core of the internet"
Abstract: Since the commercialisation of the internet in the 1990s, many network operators world wide have been confronted with the paradox of internet interconnection: private network actors such as internet access providers, carriers and content-heavy companies compete in a market environment, but in order to have a product, they need to cooperate. This article illuminates practices of cooperation and coordination between networkers empirically from a micro-social perspective. The text focuses on the question of what role trust but also distrust play in mitigating legal, architectural and economic uncertainties in the field of internet interconnection. Preliminary findings from 38 qualitative interviews with network engin- eers, peering coordinators and internet exchange representatives across the globe are presented. Such networking professionals play a critical role in establishing, maintaining and dissolving connectivity globally. The article shows how trust and distrust work in tandem in this field. Distrust can cause critical moments that lead to reflection about existing modes of governance. On a theoretical level, the study proposes a conception of internet interconnection as a global microstructure that allows for coordination in the absence of multi-lateral regulation or overarching organisational structures.
Meier-Hahn, Uta, Creating Connectivity: Trust, Distrust and Social Microstructures at the Core of the Internet (September 4, 2015). TPRC 43: The 43rd Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy Paper; HIIG Discussion Paper Series No. 2015-03. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2587843 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2587843