Who owns the physical Internet and where is it?

我建议研究数据中心、物理连接、路由服务器、基础设施即互联网，使用位置、所有权、实时访问统计数据、长期趋势和未来情景；挖掘公共数据库、物业交易和交通报告，以建立互联网的实时模型。互联网现在是日常生活的一部分，由消费者、政府、专家/专家使用。它是一种有形但神圣、现代但固定(和不可改变)的东西，值得信任，但不断被误解和恐惧。“它”是人们经常研究的，但还不为人所知。从纸面上看，互联网很简单：计算机设备(个人电脑/手机/服务器/传感器等)。连接到全球物理电缆网络，以不同程度的复杂程度/难度连接，并与关于如何以及在哪里将这些电缆上发送的数据路由到这些设备的协议相互链接。人类使用或(很少)编程这些设备；作为最终用户、服务提供商或运营商。几十年来，这一点从未改变。互联网的早期系统和公共部门，精心设计的协议都是为了持久而构建的，它们确实做到了。它支撑着许多部门的交易(军事、银行、商业、商业、学术界、政府、通过电子邮件和VOIP进行的通信、消费者零售、旅游、媒体消费和分销、人力资源招聘和公司扩张)，更重要的是，大多数新行业/地区的所有交易。大部分时间和精力都花在研究它的治理、安全性、为(消费者)使用它的零售价格、成本和可靠性(5个9)。它的“互操作性”和“标准”(在朝鲜、美国或印度、北极和南极空间站、航天器和海底机器等不同参与者之间)，而很少或根本没有人关注组成互联网本身的材料，或者它的地理和所有权。互联网是--几乎是历史上唯一的--几十亿人经常使用的物理事物，他们的物质位置(S)、所有权和规则是未知的(但不是“秘密”)--它就是这样。但它在哪里？它是什么？关于其物质存在的几乎所有的研究、知识和事实都在以下三个领域之一：1.在互联网上(例如，作为一家互联网服务提供商的家庭用户或移动用户的成本，或者更少是作为在其他地方具有互联网存在的某人的成本，例如更新博客)2.为通过互联网发送的商品/公用事业/奢侈品付费(例如，一本书，或Netflix，3.雇用劳动力在互联网上工作的成本和价值--例如，一家拥有网站的新企业互联网本身的所有权知识(作为生产性劳动力/固定资本)组成全球互联网的实际电缆和服务器机房、运营它们、安装它们、升级/审查/监控/修复或拆除它们的工人仍然未知，被视为“技术人员”或被视为自然规律。那是什么？它在哪里?谁拥有和控制它？这个话题将分3个阶段讨论：1.最新的文献综述、现有的系统分析和专家讨论--目前有哪些数据可以开始构建当前互联网的图景？2.工具链的建立和数据源检查--可以连接、擦除、创建哪些数据源，以使这幅图景更加丰富？3.前端、社会和经济分析--从这幅更丰富的图景中可以推断、推断或声称什么？将于2023年底更新

I propose to examine the data centres, physical connectivity, route servers, infrastructure that is the internet, using location, ownership, real time access statistics, long term trends and future scenarios; mining public databases, property transactions and traffic reports to build a real time model of the Internet.The Internet ('it') as a 'Thing' is now part of everyday life, used by consumers, governments, experts/ specialists alike. It's something tangible yet sacred, modern yet fixed (and unchangeable), worth trusting yet constantly misunderstood and feared. 'It' is regularly studied, yet unknown. 'It' needs serious examination.On paper, the Internet is simple: Computer devices (PCs/mobile phones/ servers/ sensors, etc.) are attached to a worldwide network of physical cables, connected with varying degrees of sophistication/ difficulty, interlinked with 'agreements' about how and where to route data sent on these cables to these devices. Humans use, or (rarely) programme these devices; as end users, providers or operators of services. This has not changed in decades. The Internet's early systems and public sector, well-designed protocols were built to last, and they did.'It' underpins transactions in many sectors (military, banking, business, commerce, academia, government, communication via email and VOIP, consumer retail, travel, media consumption and distribution, HR recruitment and company expansion) and, more importantly, all transactions in most new sectors/ regions.Much time and effort go into studies of its 'governance', security, retail price to 'use' it (for consumers), cost and reliability ('5 9s') for providers offering services 'on' it, its 'interoperability' and 'standards' (between such disparate players as DPRK, US or India, the North and South Pole stations, space vehicles and undersea machines) whilst little to no attention is paid to the materials that make up the Internet itself, or its geography and ownership.The Internet is - almost uniquely in history - a physical thing, used constantly, by billions of people, whose material location(s), ownership, and rules are unknown (and yet not 'secret') - it just is. But where and what is it? Almost all of the research, knowledge and facts about its material existence is in of one of three areas:1. Being "on the Internet" (e.g. cost as a home user of an ISP, or a mobile user, or more rarely as someone whose business has 'an Internet presence' somewhere else, e.g. updating a blog)2. Paying for a commodity/ utility/luxury sent via the Internet (e.g. a book, or Netflix, or a 'cloud' service)3. The cost and value of employing labour to work 'on the Internet' - e.g. a new business with a websiteKnowledge of the ownership of the Internet itself (as productive labour/ constant capital) the actual cables and server rooms that make up the global Internet, the workers who operate them, install them, and upgrade/ censor/ monitor/fix or remove them remains unknown, is dismissed as 'techie' or is viewed as a natural law. What is it? Where is it? Who owns and controls it?This topic will be addressed in 3 stages:1. State of the art literature review, existing systems analysis and expert discussion - what data is currently available to begin building a picture of the current Internet?2. Toolchain building and data source examination- what data sources can be connected, scraped, created, in order to make this picture richer?3. Front end, societal and economic analysis - what can be deduced, inferred or claimed from this richer picture?To be updated by end of 2023