New Scientist - 26.10.2019

42 | New Scientist | 26 October 2019

WHEN the era of computer networking

dawned with the first message on

ARPANET, the precursor of the internet, on

29 October 1969 (see page 35), Vint Cerf was

a 26-year-old graduate student in the data

packet networking group at the University of

California, Los Angeles. He has been a central

figure in the evolution of the internet ever

since. Together with Robert Kahn, he wrote

TCP/IP, the Transmission Control Protocol

and Internet Protocol that underpin the

functioning of the net. A long-time champion

of an open internet, in 1992 he cofounded the

non-profit Internet Society with Kahn and

others to help maintain that ideal. Since 2005,

he has been Google’s chief internet evangelist.

You’re sometimes called the father of the

internet. Can you explain what you did?

Of course, I didn’t go around planning to be

called the father of the internet or a father of

the internet. Bob Kahn and I got together in

1973 to solve an engineering problem that the

US Department of Defense laid on the table.

The only computer networking that had been

successfully demonstrated was between

machines in air-conditioned rooms. Our

problem was to use satellite and mobile radio

communication in addition to dedicated

telephone centres to link computers together.

In solving that problem, which took about

six months, we developed a set of protocols,

of procedures, formats and mechanisms for

allowing computers to talk to each other.

Did you have an idea at the time

how big that would be?

I think we believed that it was an extremely

powerful technology, although I guarantee we

didn’t know of all the applications that would

emerge. But we designed the system to be

ultra-flexible and amenable to the addition

of new protocols, networks and networking

technologies. We made it as open-ended as

possible, and invited anyone to participate in

the system’s implementation and evolution.

We decided not to patent the technology at all,

to remove any barrier to its adoption. I would

say we were fairly successful in that decision.

Does that open ideal still exist in today’s

internet, dominated by private interests

and big companies?

That’s sort of a loaded question. Let me back

up for a moment and say it’s very rare that you

have an architecture that can manage the kind

of growth the internet has seen. With regard

to large companies, yes, there are certainly

economies of scale. But there is a lot of

competition and new players come along

quite readily, even in China, where the Chinese

government supposedly controls the internet

nowadays. Look at [Chinese e-commerce giant]

Alibaba, coming out of nowhere. And then

we’ve seen companies that were very

prominent decline: AOL, for example,

and Yahoo. So people who get excited about

successful companies should keep in mind

that success isn’t guaranteed.

You’re currently Google’s chief internet

evangelist. What does that mean?

All of my work has been aimed at getting more

internet out there. I believe it’s better to have

access to the internet than not. On a daily basis,

I get a heck of a lot more utility out of the

internet than I get disadvantage. This isn’t

to argue there isn’t any misinformation

and the like. It’s sort of like walking out in

the streets of London: it’s dangerous if you

don’t pay attention to what you’re doing.

Doesn’t that underplay the internet’s dangers?

Did you know that people find things in

libraries about how to build bombs and

make weapons? I mean, it’s shocking, isn’t it?

The internet may make access to information

more readily available, but I would argue

strenuously that its beneficial effects outweigh

the deleterious ones. The invention of the

printing press brought similar problems: the

American Revolution was partly stimulated by

anonymous printed tracts. We came to terms

with that and I believe we can come to terms

with it online as well.

Is the answer more control over what people

can and can’t do on the internet?

No. I think that would be very harmful.

There are some regimes that don’t like it

that people can use the internet to find

information, to share information, to

coordinate their activities. Anyone who

watched the Arab Spring in 2011 will appreciate

the use of mobile technology and social media

Vint Cerf ’s protocols underlie the workings of the

internet, and have stood the test of time – but the best

days of the net are yet to come, he tells Richard Webb

The internet

evangelist

DAVID S. HOLLOWAY/GETTY IMAGES; COLLAGE: LIAM MADDEN