There is no centralized or even far-flung security management for the Internet. The Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon University is mainly a voluntary clearinghouse for information about security problems in Internet software.
The lack of a central security mechanism "is a mixed bag," Bradner said. A centralized system that could authenticate the origin of all traffic would be useful in tracing the source of an attack, he said.
Striking a balance
That is where a delicate balance must be struck: between the ability to trace traffic and the desire to protect an individual's privacy or a corporation's data. "It's not at all clear that there's a centralizable role, or that there's a role government could play without posing a severe threat to individuals," Bradner said.
Past plans for identity verification have failed because of the complexity of making them work on a global scale, he said.
Such are the challenges that face the Internet as it continues its march.
"The really interesting question to ask is whether we can build a next generation of applications," Carpenter said. "Can we move from what we have now, which is an information source, to a network that's really an information utility, used for entertainment, education and commercial activities? There's tremendous potential here, but we've got a lot of work to do."
As that work progresses, another question centers on what role the government should play. Many carriers who bear the cost of expanding the infrastructure favor federal incentives for carriers to invest in new broadband technology. The Federal Communications Commission is also mulling policy changes, soliciting suggestions from the communications industry for making broadband access more widely available.
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