Global Issue 5: Global Commons

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While most people think of commodities as physical objects subject to trade, such as diamonds or snack foods, in the era of globalization anything can be bought and sold. This includes resources that most people do not think about, like satellite orbits, or use in common with each other, like air. Yet these resources (or commodities) are increasingly valuable and vulnerable to pollution or misuse.

This activity contains 3 questions.

Information on the Internet and World Wide Web

Although it was initially developed by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), no one actually owns the Internet. The same can be said for the World Wide Web. One can only own small pieces of either, such as an Internet domain name or individual Web hub. Similarly, WiFi nodes are located in certain areas but no entity actually owns them either.

US Multimedia is one of several companies engaged in cutthroat competition regarding software programs to help administer the Internet and World Wide Web. International commerce on the Internet and World Wide Web are nothing new and neither is online commentary on the commerce. Government regulation of online commerce lags behind more slowly at global, national and local levels.

Despite early arguments that "information wants to be free", content (text, images, etc.) on websites, e-mails and other virtual communications does belong to specific individuals or organizations that can be held legally liable for them and does cost users or sponsors. The Napster phenomenon was a classic example of the clash between user desires and the intellectual property rights of artists whose work was circulated royalty-free on the Web without their permission. Yet regulating Internet content is a difficult task and, of course, it leads to the growth of companies selling filters to screen objectionable content as well as security systems to prevent cybercrime. Computer program hacking is a time-honored tradition, as is the development of worms or viruses that interfere with standard online operations.

Given the complexity and rapid evolution of the physical and intellectual aspects of the Internet and World Wide Web, can they ever be successfully managed or regulated?

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Telecommunications frequencies bandwidth

Telecommunications covers the wide range of ways that people who are not within earshot of each other can exchange ideas and information. Modern telecommunications, using tools such as cell phones or wireless Internet, still need access to physical properties such as parts of the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum to work. The amount of EM spectrum allocated by international agreement to each government or commerical user is called bandwidth, since it describes the number (or width) of radiation wavelengths involved.

As telecoms technology evolves, so do the commercial and legal aspects of the industry. Currently, buying and selling telecom bandwidth is a multi-billion dollar business involving major corporations who keep close watch on the satellite broadband market . Federal governments are also keenly interested in spectrum policy.

New technologies that allow communications and navigations satellites to share bandwidth or alternate use of the same frequencies may revolutionize the satellite telecommunications industry. What are some of these new technologies and what are their implications for global telecommunications?

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Air and Space

Earth's atmosphere and the very air we breathe are very much a shared resource, owned by no one but used by all. Pollution is clearly a major concern. But so is the right to fly through certain parts of the atmosphere over certain areas. That is why countries own the rights to airspace. As civilian and military aircraft of all sorts multiply due to market and strategic demands, so do the opportunities to lease or sell airspace rights and the need to regulate use.

Just as new Law of the Sea regulations permit private and public vessels to navigate the world's waterways as well as have access to natural resources within or under the water, so must satellite operators agree on whose satellites can go into which orbits in the space around Earth. Satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) are very high above Earth and stay fixed over one location, such as a city. This is important for communications satellites that relay telephone and TV signals. Satellites in low earth orbit (LEO) are much closer to the planet and whiz around once every 90 minutes or so. These satellites are used more for weather observation and taking images of the land below. Local law enforcement agencies and real estate developers often purchase satellite images from private vendors with little or no government regulation.

To what extent should federal governments continue to own and regulate airspace and satellite orbits in an era of increasing private capability and market demand?

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