Considering the Geopolitics of the Internet Under the Biden Administration at State of the Net

January 27, 2021 – Keynoting Wednesday’s State of the Net Conference, former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell urged the new administration of Joe Biden to promote broadband, fiber, 5G wireless networks – as well as allowing consumers to move seamlessly across wired and wireless networks.

Powell, chairman of the agency during the first term of President George W. Bush, cautioned that sovereign governments are seeking  to exert more control over internet companies at all levels of the broadband stack.

During a session on Wednesday about intermediary liability, panelists said that the European Digital Services Act created a safer digital space in which the fundamental rights of all users of digital services are protected. It does this by establishing a level playing field to foster innovation, growth, and competitiveness, both in the European single market and globally, speakers said.

It may continue to stoke the nationalist-driven approach to tech companies exemplified by the Trump Administration’s effectively banning telecommunications and internet infrastructure technologies manufactured in China, such as Huawei and ZTE.

In a situations where technology is seen as a solution to healthcare, education, and climate, social media companies are now under enormous pressure regarding their users’ speech.

The few existing intergovernmental agreements on internet policy, including the U.S.’s Privacy Shield with the EU, are under enormous strain. Global cooperation on internet issues relies upon multilateralism.

Panelists said that it is possible for sovereignty and self-determination to occur simultaneous on the digital policy, just as there is existing cooperation over national borders even in a time of heightened awareness over border security.

Yet the U.S.’s general inability to pass wide-ranging privacy legislation stands in juxtaposition to an increasing number of countries with national privacy frameworks.

Future tech policy issues will not likely address the first quantum algorithms, but of algorithms and international norms governing and improving artificial intelligence, as well as policies to work on bilateral agreements on global trade policies.