MA. JEAN B.

CASTAEDA
Technology and the Law
Thursday 5:30-7:30
Atty. Romulo L. De Grano, Jr.

REACTION PAPER
Berkman Classics: Jonathan Zittrain's iLaw Course
At the outset, Prof. Jonathan Zittrain of the Harvard Law School
introduced the following questions as means to understanding the internet technologies,
viz: (1) Why is it so hard to trace people on the Net and so easy for them to pirate with
impunity?; (2) Why is video streaming so unreliable?; and (3) Why are we so vulnerable
to viruses and hacks?
While our lives have been marched into by the internet technologies, we
find it hard to refute the same from inhabiting in our regular conduct albeit the apparent
complexities it may bring into such as the breach of exclusive rights. Equally, its
utilization may generate deception from unmerited information coiled in the internet not
to mention the probability of getting into the hitch of viruses and hacks.
To delve into the foundation of the internet technologies, Prof. Jonathan
Zittrain made mention of the vertical integration of facilities and service of the internet
which involves its old and new order. The old order is basically composed of the
BROADCAST facility which involves television and radio; the CABLE which uses
airwaves and wires controlled by cable companies; the COPPERWIRE which deals with
the means and modalities of communications. With regard to the new order of the
internet technologies, along with the use of radio and satellite, the internet came into
being.

Ma. Jean B. Castaeda | Technology and the Law

In the world where internet technologies can be regarded as pabebe, a

vernacular jargon used to describe someone or something inexorable or relentless, its
expediency and practicality in the human activities is to some extent inevitable or
walang makakapigil. However, its interference with the modern civilization is not
without setback. On that note, who will be the winners and losers of the information
age? How the internet technologies might affect the ability of its users, the government,
outsiders, or of those who are winners to control the content and use of information to
moderate the use of the same and to get the privacy, property, speech, and control of its
content.
The modern men may perhaps have fair-share of the preceding concerns,
yet again, the resolution of the same will not be indubitably protracted given the
remarkable character of the modern technologies. Having said the foregoing, Bob
Arden, the famous connoisseur of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has once
articulated the simplicity or the fundamental principle by which the internet was
designed, viz:
The lesson of the internet is that efficiency is not the primary consideration.
Ability to grow and adapt to changing requirements is the primary consideration.
This makes simplicity and uniformity very precious indeed.
From which the internet is fundamentally designed, on running a network,
the IETFers such as Bod Braden, want the network not to be a Christmas tree laden
with every single ornament or every feature that somebody wants. The IETFers want it
to have data that would get from point A to point C without any great hassle but
otherwise efficiently allowing applications to arrive at the end points.
In sum, from the milieu of the discourse made by Prof. Jonathan Zittrain
relative to the internet technologies, two (2) things may spawn into ones mind:
SIMPLICITY and COMPLEXITY. The former connotes the assenting effect of the
internet technologies to society while the latter signifies the subdued realism its users
Ma. Jean B. Castaeda | Technology and the Law

may get themselves into when said technology is employed with impetuosity and lack of
accountability. So long as internet technologies subsist, its users, the government,
outsiders, or of those who are winners of the modern ages are interconnected and while
it is so, the MODERN TECHNOLOGY and the LAW go hand-in-hand.
Respectfully submitted.

Ma. Jean B. Castaeda | Technology and the Law