Politics, Public Goods, and Corporate Nudging in the HTTP/2 Standardization Process

Sylvia E Peacock

doi:10.1177/2158244020971611

Abstract

The goal is to map out some policy problems attached to using a club good approach instead of a public good approach to manage our internet protocols, specifically the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). Behavioral and information economics theory are used to evaluate the standardization process of our current generation HTTP/2 (2.0). The HTTP update under scrutiny is a recently released HTTP/2 version based on Google’s SPDY, which introduces several company-specific and best practice applications, side by side. A content analysis of email discussions extracted from a publicly accessible IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) email server shows how the club good approach of the working group leads to an underperformance in the outcomes of the standardization process. An important conclusion is that in some areas of the IETF, standardization activities may need to include public consultations, crowdsourced volunteers, or an official call for public participation to increase public oversight and more democratically manage our intangible public goods.

Highlights

How is the internet governed? The research question may appear simple, but an answer is as complex as our favorite technology (Roche, 2016)
The current study offers a glimpse into the mechanics of nudging within a circle of experienced, candid, and well-acquainted senior computer professionals tasked with critically assessing the merits and publishing the standards of our essential internet protocols
The significantly extended project time frame to standardize SPDY may serve as the first indication of an apparent public goods problem, which will manifest itself in the section below, where we will look at the project goal discussions in the HTTP working group

Summary

Introduction

How is the internet governed? The research question may appear simple, but an answer is as complex as our favorite technology (Roche, 2016). The significantly extended project time frame to standardize SPDY may serve as the first indication of an apparent public goods problem, which will manifest itself in the section below, where we will look at the project goal discussions in the HTTP working group. As the number of deadlines mount without producing results between 2012 and 2015, MN becomes increasingly aware of the public goods problem involved in the standardization of internet protocols and includes a larger group of experts in the consultations. We find a working group tasked with producing a club good with the worthy goal to improve the speed of data transmissions, strung out by belated public contributions Such inefficient use of volunteered expert time is uneconomical with public involvement appearing as an afterthought, but it might be improved upon with additional ideas discussed in the concluding section

Conclusion

Ethics Statement