NURAl ) nu-t‘lh liirtc wrrli lime. (him the outer prom i Illll mut- ol'rllc ll|il(lt : tompromrsctl, the NORAD command |S able to scramble defensive air power through a rigidly defined system or command and control that is directed outward from a single source (USSPACECOM), to subservient end- point installations that help resist attack. The specific location ofeach radar installation is crucial, as is the path of the chain ofcommand. During the Cold War, NORAD was the lynchpin ofnut’lear defense in North America. It is a “solution" [0 the nuclear threat.

mils

The Internet system Could not be more different. It follows a Contrary organizational design. The Internet is based not on directionality nor on toughness, but on flexibility and adaptability. Normal military protocol serves to hierarchlze, to prioritize, while the newer network protocols 0{ the Internet serve to distribute.

In this chapter I describe exactly what distribution means, and how pro. tocol works in this new terrain of the disrributed network} I attempt to show that protocol is not by nature horizontal or vertical, but that protocol is an algorithm, a [traicriprimfar mus-rm: whose form of appearance may be any number of different diagrams or shapes.

The simplest network diagram is the centralized network (see figure 1 .1). Centralized networks are hierarchical. They operate with a single authotira» tive hub. Each radial node, or branch of the hierarchy, is subordinate to the central hub. All activity travels from center to periphery. No peripheral node is connected to any other node. Centralized networks may have more than one branch exrending out from the center, but at each level of the hierarchy power is wielded by the top over the bottom.

2. The division oi’networlt designs into centralized, decentralized, and distributed appears in Paul Baron's 0n Durrrbuml C Mrtrmmmlmmx l . I n/mdrit’tnm In Drrlrrfiuled C ummuml atmm Newark; (sanra Monica. CA: RAND, 1964), p. 2 Barnn‘s diagrams have been copied by many authors since then.

Following willirrn Evan,}olln Arqlullharld David Roiirtldt suggest a topologyeven simpler than the Centralized network. This is the thain or line ncrwrirk- rot example, “in a smuggling than where people, goods, or Information move along a line otscparate tontatts, and where end-torend tnrnniunicarinn must travel through the intermediate nodes " See Arquilllt and Ronfeldr, Now/er and Nation.- m harm r/ Terror, Crime, and MI/Ilam)‘ (Santa Monita, cr- RAND. 2001), p 7.

Chapter 1

B A: hub

B = node B B B B E Figure 1.1

A centralized network

The American judicial system, for example, is a centralized network. While there are many levels to the court system, each with its own qulSdlC- tion, each decision of each court can always be escalated (through the appeals process) to a higher level in the hierarchy. Ultimately, however, the Supreme Court has final say over all matters orlaw. . .

The panopticon, described in Foucault's Discipline ml Putin/r, is also a centralized network. In the panopticon, repurposed by Foucault from the Writings of Jeremy Bentham, a guard is situated at the center of many radial cells. Each cell contains a prisoner. This special relationship between guard and prisoner “links the centre and periphery." In it, “power is exercised with- out division, according to a continuous hierarchical figure" occupying the central hub.‘

A decentralized network is a multiplication of the centralized network (see figure I .2). In a decentralized network, insread ofone hub there are many hubs, each with its own array of dependent nodes. While several hubs exist. each with its own domain, no single zenith point exercises control over all others.

There are many decentralized networks in the world today—in fact, de- centralized networks are the Matt i'nrmmm diagram n/the mm em.

One example is the airline system. In it, one must always travel through Certain centralized hub citiesigenemlly in the Midwest or central areas of

the United states. Direct nonstop service is only possible ifone happens to

7» Michel FoliLiult, Drrrrplmt and Pariah, trans. Alan Sheridan (New York. Vintage, 1997),

p. 197.

Physical Media