Some interesting papers on the future of Internet and the potential for continued innovation versus the desire by broadband suppliers to build walled gardens who may also want to restrict content and usage.

http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/cooper/archives/openarchitecture.pdf

THE FUTURE OF THE INTERNET IN THE BROADBAND AGE

The papers in this volume are collected from speakers at a forum held on Capitol Hill entitled Broadband Technology Forum: The Future Of The Internet In The Broadband Age. All of the speakers are active in the public policy debates, regulatory proceedings and court cases that have been defining the contours of the next generation of the Internet.

The purpose of the forum was to engage staffers from Congressional offices and federal agencies in a dialogue over the importance of preserving the vibrant nature of the Internet.

The papers are powerful testimony to the proposition that open architecture is critical to the success of the Internet. The end-to-end principle of the Internet and the open communications networks in which it was incubated are critical building blocks of a dynamic, innovative information economy.

The papers address three aspects of the environment in which the Internet was created and flourished ­ technology, economy and law ­ three of the critical modalities of regulation, as Lawrence Lessig called them in his paper - Code, law and Cyberspace.

Part II presents empirical studies of the dynamic environment created by open architecture in digital networks and the negative impact on innovation of closure and discrimination in communications networks. Chapter IV presents a paper prepared for the forum by Mark N. Cooper that takes a broad view of the impact of the Internet. It attempts to use network theory and recent analyses of technological change to reinforce the long-standing claim that the open architecture of the Internet represents a fundamental change and improvement in the innovation environment.