NeTS: Large: Measuring and Modeling Internet Choke Points as Threats to Online Freedom

NetS：大型：测量和建模作为在线自由威胁的互联网瓶颈

• 批准号: 1518878
• 负责人: Jedidiah Crandall
• 金额: $ 140万
• 依托单位: University of New Mexico
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1518878&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NeTS; Large; Measuring; Modeling; Internet

Pressing policy questions with respect to Internet chokepoint, such as questions about Internet balkanization or the effects that a specific policy might have, are difficult to answer for two reasons. First, the data available are typically limited to a single country or small cross-section of the Internet for a short period of time. Second, the data do not lend themselves well to simple analysis such as averages or direct comparisons. Research is needed that bridges the gap between collecting long-term, wide-scale data and answering the ever-evolving high level questions that policy makers have. This project develops advanced capabilities for measuring Internet chokepoints and analyzing and modeling the data in a way that informs real policy questions. This project is carrying out Internet chokepoint measurements longitudinally and on a global scale, in multiple layers of the network stack including both TCP/IP layer filtering and filtering in social media. The project also studies the role of tunnels and network virtualization in how different countries and organizations implement chokepoints in order to have central locations for implementing policy. In order to accomplish these goals, the project is developing advanced TCP/IP side channel techniques for measuring TCP/IP layer filtering and understanding network topology, novel inference algorithms and natural language processing techniques to discern subtle manipulations of social media, and robust modeling techniques based on Agent Based modeling to analyze the data in a meaningful way. In terms of broader impacts, the project will provide new capabilities: (a) to inform policy makers about violations or threats to digital speech freedom, and (b) to advise democratic and anti-chokepoint efforts on how to circumvent chokepoints and limit retributions to citizens around the world. All source code developed as part of this project will be released under a GNU Public License (GPL) license, and the datasets will be made publicly available. A key part of the proposed project is mentorship of graduate and undergraduate researchers in all aspects of research, and recruitment and outreach to middle- and high-school students in New Mexico. The University of New Mexico is both a Carnegie RU/VH Very High Research Activity University and a HACU Hispanic Serving Institution as well as an EPSCoR state. This puts UNM in a unique position to involve groups that are underrepresented in computer science, and truly disadvantaged economically, in world-class Internet measurement research.

关于互联网瓶颈的紧迫政策问题，例如关于互联网巴尔干化的问题或一项具体政策可能产生的影响，很难回答，原因有两个。首先，可获得的数据通常在短时间内仅限于一个国家或互联网的一小部分。其次，这些数据不适合于简单的分析，如平均值或直接比较。需要进行研究，以弥合收集长期、大范围数据和回答政策制定者不断演变的高层问题之间的差距。该项目开发了测量互联网瓶颈的高级能力，并以一种告知真实政策问题的方式对数据进行分析和建模。该项目在纵向和全球范围内，在网络堆栈的多个层进行互联网瓶颈测量，包括TCP/IP层过滤和社交媒体过滤。该项目还研究了隧道和网络虚拟化在不同国家和组织如何实施瓶颈中的作用，以便拥有实施政策的中心位置。为了实现这些目标，该项目正在开发先进的TCP/IP侧通道技术来测量TCP/IP层过滤和理解网络拓扑，新的推理算法和自然语言处理技术来识别社交媒体的微妙操作，以及基于基于代理的建模的健壮建模技术来以有意义的方式分析数据。在更广泛的影响方面，该项目将提供新的能力：(A)向政策制定者通报数字言论自由受到的侵犯或威胁，以及(B)就如何绕过瓶颈和限制对世界各地公民的惩罚向民主和反阻塞点的努力提供建议。作为该项目的一部分开发的所有源代码将在GNU公共许可证(GPL)许可证下发布，数据集将向公众开放。拟议项目的一个关键部分是在研究的所有方面指导研究生和本科生研究人员，并在新墨西哥州招募和推广初中生和高中生。新墨西哥大学既是卡内基RU/VH非常高的研究活动大学，也是HACU拉美裔服务机构和EPSCoR州。这使得UNM处于一个独特的地位，可以让那些在计算机科学中代表性不足、在经济上真正处于不利地位的群体参与世界级的互联网测量研究。