From the day when the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was created in 1969 to this day, the internet has been in existence for over 50 years now. If we consider the independent commercial network that appeared in the early 1990s, the history of the development of the internet spans only about 30 years. In just a few decades, the internet has profoundly shaped the current world we live in. It not only connects human activities through information networks, but also creates a mirror image of human society in the cyberspace. The internet has now become an important part of the contemporary human society.
The emergence and development of the internet has brought tremendous progress to mankind. The internet, functioning as a deep integration of information technology and human production is accelerating the restructuring of the global economic landscape. It is also bringing changes to our lifestyles, behavior patterns and modes of thinking. One of the important roles of the internet is the publicization of information and knowledge. The internet has brought knowledge and information that can be acquired by ordinary people in a faster, broader and more economical way. This in turn has created a network of various public and business services.
However, amidst the rapid development of the internet, various problems have arisen. As the internet is public and has far-reaching characteristics, it has given rise to its unique problems and risks. To simplify the issue, negative effects and influences of the internet can be roughly divided into the following categories:
The first is the problem of Internet commerce. This issue is related not only to the impact of online commerce on the real economy and how taxation is involved in internet commerce, but also new types of internet-based financial crimes, such as various P2P services, which makes up a larger scale than the traditional illegal fundraising crimes. The second is the internet monopoly problem. Due to the natural monopoly of the internet, the open and democratic characteristics of the internet at the beginning of the development are giving way to internet monopoly and authoritarianism. The development track of internet commercial giants both in China and in other countries is the best proof of the natural monopoly of the internet. The third is Internet data privacy and ethical issues. The internet era has produced massive amounts of data, including various personal privacy information. Private information protection and the ethical use of data remain unresolved issues. The fourth is the problem of false information on the internet. With the development of online media, it is rather difficult to distinguish between true and false. This doesn't only affect the people's confidence in the media, but can also easily evolve into social problems. As a result of this, identifying and analyzing information for their accuracy is becoming a common demand.
The deeper the human society is immersed in the online world, the greater the negative impact of the internet. This influence has spread to businesses, countries, individuals, enterprises, finance, geopolitics, military and even culture. The impact from the online world is so great that it is not something that can be constrained by a simple enterprise or industrial association. It has now evolved to the extent that it requires state or national organizations to intervene and adjust. For example, the European Union officially implemented the landmark personal privacy protection act, the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) on May 25th 2018, which became the biggest change to internet regulation since the birth of the internet. U.S lawmakers are also considering taking action to end the era of "Wild West" in American social media, and will also explore the overwhelming dominance of internet companies in the market.
Concerning the huge impact of the internet, Anbound scholars pointed out that it stems from the characteristics of internet technology. The internet is not a common technology, but rather a social technology. Other than promoting technological improvements, it can also bring about huge changes and revolutionary results to the society. Just like the industrial revolution the past, the social revolution that the internet caused will ultimately affect the social structure, numerous social groups and interest organizations. It will change industrial development and influence our way of life. Therefore, in addition to driving technological development, the internet must also assume social responsibility.
Anbound has previously quoted an analysis from the Stigler Center of the University of Chicago Business School on the three powers of the U.S. Internet technology giants. The first is to act as the gatekeeper that filters information for audiences or enterprises. The gatekeeper also decides if a product can enter the market. A second form of power is leveraging, which means that technology giants have the same leverage as the financial market. The third is the power of informational exploitation. This power allows internet giants to access massive data due to its monopoly status and size of its user base, enabling them to further exploit their power. In the internet age, these three kinds of power can easily form an extraordinary, super-controlling power that profoundly affect the society. The policies regarding to the internet of any country that ignores such potentially disruptive changes will no doubt generate enormous risks.
It would be crucial to ensure there is a controllable development, healthy development and sociality of the internet to contain the possible risks. Even a single technical mistake can cause great social confusion. Presently, some countries have introduced a number of policies such as privacy and security of internet data, taxation of internet commerce, internet monopoly issues, internet regulatory policy issues and ethical norms of internet information use, among others. All these are to ensure the healthy development of the internet. For example, France began to impose digital taxes, the United Kingdom started to strengthen the regulation of the internet through the law, while Facebook called on the government to strengthen the supervision of the Internet. These examples work well to illustrate the self-adjustment of the state and Internet companies to cope with changing situations.
The analysis of Anbound scholars considers the social aspect as a crucial component of creating a better global internet community. If the development follows the current trend, there could be standardization in the cyber world which brings it parallel to that of the real world. For example, if transparency is an indicator of modern society, then the cyber world would have its own indicators. However, such indicators have not yet been fully established. The "global internet community" should include clear order, division and boundaries, clear identification of authenticity and other factors. It should also include social order, law, tradition and culture. We believe that in the future, social standards of the internet will certainly exist and will be gradually developed into a system of rule and order.
In our view, the social and communal constraint on the internet can only be achieved through joint efforts of the public and the law. In the long run, only the social and communal constraint can regulate the internet, as it is impossible to rely solely on administrative power nor legal power alone. Such constraint encompasses social norms, laws, administrative forces, traditions and customs. Conversely, the current cyber world could easily be ran by an internet giant, but such a giant can disappear as easily as well.
Final analysis conclusion:
The internet is a revolutionary technology that brings not only technological advances, but also subversive social changes. To ensure the stability of the development of the Internet era, we must rise to build a new, global internet community in order to form stable norms and constraints on the internet.
