Vladimir Radunovic
Program Coordinator
Internet Governance Capacity Building Program
DiploFoundation, Malta

Nikola Bozic
Activity Coordinator
DiploFoundation

The Internet is changing rapidly. During World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, and in the subsequent Internet Governance Forum in Athens, the issues debated were already outdated in comparison to emerging issues and threats. The Internet of today involves mobile phones, mp3 players, and many other gadgets; it visits Second Life, allows virtual property, and changes global habits by a different concept of privacy, socialisation, work, and trade. On top of all this, it brings many threats – malicious code, old threats via new tools, and shattered social values. New Tools In this section, initially we hope to present a very near future and the fascinations it will bring; as well, we seek to raise questions concerning whether new tools bring the same old problems, and, thus, do not require a new regulatory approach. More than policy, however, we ask whether converging technologies affect the habits and needs of users in ways that should be foreseen.

During the Internet Governance Forum meeting in Athens, in October 2006, participants ignored concerns over increasing threats to mobile phone usage, due to the common miscomprehension that mobile phones do not count as part of the Internet. However, not only are mobile phones connected more and more frequently to the Internet, but they are also becoming the primary “Internet consuming” tool. Browsing the net via mobile phones in search for accurate information is the most frequent usage; nonetheless, many others uses occur: mobile payments for parking, management of personal bank accounts, ticket bookings, and remote access to various servers through the VPN networks.

In the near future, a full integration of different technologies and services may occur, headed for a so-called convergence of technologies. One of the forthcoming convergences incorporates GSM voice technologies with Voice-over-IP (VoIP) via the WiMax wireless broadband Internet. Access to a broadband Internet on mobile devices also enables the introduction of IP-television (IPTV) and Video-on-Demand, in effect combining high-speed Internet, telephone, and video everywhere.

The convergence of the sensors with the interactive IP services, IPv6 and the inclusion of sensor systems to the Internet will soon result in a fully intelligent environment that can send information and receive instructions, and so interact with other objects in the net. An amazing example is a refrigerator that informs a person that the milk within is out of date and that he or she has no more vanilla ice cream. It may ask for confirmation to order these; by a simple “yes” click on a mobile, smart, interactive, networked device, the fridge will make an order to the supplier and carry out the online payment, waiting for a delivery by the supermarket. The result is fresh milk, one’s favourite ice cream, and a spoon of instant coffee that, combined with a robot’s help, will produce a refreshing ice-coffee.

One can think of even more amazing, but realistic stories if combined with radio-frequency-identification-tagged (RFID) devices or with ultra-wideband wireless (UWB) devices. RFID tags, an alternative to bar codes, are devices attached to different objects that transmit data to a receiver. UWB wireless devices are similar, in that they involve a short-range signal with high bandwidth and very low energy consumption. Even though the technologies are already available, the actual products announced look astonishing, with an example of a newly announced Microsoft Surface product[i] that makes a variety of devices (smartphones, mp3 players, storages...) connect and exchange data with computers whose operations are managed by simple finger movements over the wide touch-screen.




New Needs

Either the Internet has created new needs, or it has made some hidden needs visible. The concept of privacy, for instance, has changed significantly with the appearance of the Internet. Deliberate “public privacy” is not the approach only of youngsters; many older individuals sharing their very private photos and life details with the unknown world, though MySpace, YouTube, and other “public places.”

The need for occasional anonymity has always been present. The Internet does not always guarantee it, but it still offers many oases for anonymous access. Avatars in public forums and chat rooms serve as perfect masks to hide the person, or even temporarily to change it fully, from occupation and social status to gender!

Remote access, usually associated with remote control of distant devices via mobile devices through the Internet, also refers to new habits of humankind: online shopping, online education, online banking, online work, and online communication. Online relationships, formed based on several remote chats, are very common these days. Many marriages result from online relationships these days, some of which stay online.

The opportunity for personal expression occurs through blogs, forums, personal pages, or other Web2.0 tools. Everyone can express him- or herself in a very easy and accessible way. Self-expression is the most obvious example of how technology may help to satisfy one’s basic needs.

One of the greatest benefits of networking certainly is social networking, a technology-facilitated creation of numerous online human networks gathered around a wide variety of interests. While academic communities, for instance, might be considered ancient, taking only a new, online form, many other contemporary communities exist only thanks to modern services: for example, last.fm links “netizens” with similar musical tastes (based not only on the names of the authors and type of the music, but also on the analysis and comparison of music samples); linkedin connects old friends scattered around the world by linking the circles of a friend’s friends; and facebook enables file-sharing among friends and contacts.[ii]


New Spaces & New Markets

Online gaming and virtual life are prominent features of the Internet. While most virtual spaces offer no more than amusement and gaming, a major advance was made in 2003 by Linden Lab, a San Francisco-based technology company, in creating Second Life.[iii]

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 6,750,716 people from around the globe.

The difference between Second Life and other virtual worlds is the existence of virtual money, called Linden dollars. In essence, this money is fully real, since in order to have it, a resident of Second Life has to buy it with US dollars.

Anyone can join Second Life by simply downloading the application and signing up; yet, to own anything else than the avatar (virtual body) and basic clothes one commonly has to pay with Linden dollars. Unlike the piece of ground that one can buy either from the authors or from resellers, other objects, such as buildings or clothes, can be programmed as textures. Akin to a real world, however, not many people have the knowledge or time to deal with producing new textures, and thus turn to buying them from other residents. Et voila – a virtual business is born!

It is easy to imagine the potential dimensions of business in Second Life: construction, fashion and trends, decorative objects, even knowledge, with training and lectures delivered through this virtual world. The prices of virtual objects are significantly lower than those of real ones.

The question rises, however, about the types of service and objects sold within Second Life. Telegraph.co.uk warns about the distribution of child pornography. Concerns over money laundering and financial frauds via transactions in Second Life have recently come to a focus, due to the virtual currency: transactions of even large amounts of virtual money within the virtual space are not easy to track.

The existence of the virtual property, finally, opens many juridical questions alike to those covered under common legislative for the real property; it also raises concerns of the protection of virtual property, and the overall relations among the residents of the virtual space based on their property and corresponding rights.

Certainly, new spaces bring not only threats, but also a wide variety of benefits. Apart from the business sector, which already possesses many islands within Second Life (IBM, for instance), nations are in the game as well through virtual diplomatic representation. On 22 May 2007, the first virtual embassy of a real state, that of the Maldives, was inaugurated on Diplomacy Island, fully hosted and managed by DiploFoundation.[iv] Several days later, the embassy of Sweden in Second Life opened, presenting a replica of the House of Sweden in Washington DC.[v]

Clearly, Second Life is only a tool, currently the most powerful, and an example of the new pathway of online behaviour configured in virtual space. One should focus concerns, thus, on the emerging issues related to the virtual spaces, rather than on Second Life as such.

The markets emerging within virtual spaces, such as Second Life, are the most comprehensive and relevant examples of the new economic markets. Virtual trade of virtual goods for virtual money is, in the end, nothing else but common trade for real money. With a closer look, this phenomenon is not new at all; knowledge and skills have been exchanged or sold for millennia. The only difference is that the knowledge and the service are packed within a programming code.

Besides markets in virtual worlds, one may encounter using computers several other forms of trade of virtual goods. Very popular ways of earning money today are web banner exchanges and earn-by-click services.

At a glance, these new opportunities look like they offer mutual benefit to all the parties involved. Nonetheless, a long list of concerns has been raised, starting from money laundering and extending to labour rights and health issues.


New Threats

The new markets and tools inevitably induce the appearance of new threats, either as deliberate misuse or as due to the grater dependence of the society on the Internet. The new threats should, thus, be seriously analysed as well.

It is not unusual to see more mobile phones than citizens in some countries. For children, mobile gadgets are often not only devices to talk with their parents and friends, but more for chat and Internet browsing. Internet content is thus becoming more accessible to children: pornography and other inappropriate content, as well as information.

Internet addiction is not a new phenomenon in the information society, but is deepened by use of mobile devices and the universal accessibility to the Net. Many users do not notice that they use Internet services constantly.

“WILFing” is a new word in the cyber dictionary, meaning, “What Was I Looking For?” It describes Internet surfing with no clear aim, surfing in which the user has a need to be on the Internet, but does not know what to do.

The ability to work, entertain oneself, and make contact online potentially leads to a de-socialisation of mankind. However, the opposite point of view stands as well: with improved interactivity within chat rooms and online games, many real life meetings and gatherings of friends from the online world occur.


New Users

Recently, we have witnessed the emergence of a new generation of the Internet users. The advance of web2.0 and online interaction have resulted in new needs of netizens. All problems discussed during the 1990s now have a new shape and complexity. In the 1990s, the main group of Internet users were educated students and communications technology experts. Today, we have representatives of all ages and of all cultural, professional, and educational backgrounds present on the web, including very young children. As individuals learn to use computers, they also learn to be online. Hence, a great diversity of interests have organised networks and are very visible on the Internet. They use these networks for internal communication among the members, creating virtual private networks, and as for animation of the public for their aims.

During the Internet Governance Forum in Athens, in October 2006, one of the panels brought together teenagers for participants to hear the voice of those who will “live the Net” in the near future. This event enabled the teenagers to question current policy makers, but not to express their views of the Internet of tomorrow and of their needs as future Internet users. All stakeholders should devote much more attention and space for action to youth activists, to understand emerging issues rather than issues of the past.

Vladimir Radunovic will be a speaker of the Third Global Knowledge Conference session on "Facilitating Innovative Approach to Community Development ".