Fight for control threatens to destabilize and fragment the internet

The Internet Atlas Project at the University of California, Berkeley's goal is to shine a light on long-term risks to the internet. We produce indicators of weak points and bottlenecks that threaten the internet’s stability. Our research shows that the internet is facing twin dangers; on one side, there’s the threat of total consolidation. Power over the internet has been increasingly concentrated primarily in the hands of a few, US-based organizations. On the other side, there’s fragmentation. Attempts to challenge the status quo, particularly by Russia and China, threaten to destabilize the internet globally. In this environment, building a stable and transnational internet for future generations is a challenge. To make the internet more stable globally, people need measurements to understand its chokepoints and vulnerabilities. Just as central banks watch measures of inflation and employment when they decide how to set rates, internet governance, too, should rely on indicators, however imperfect.

[Nick Merrill is a research fellow and director of the Internet Atlas Project at the University of California, Berkeley.]