How does the Internet work?

The internet has become such a ubiquitous part of everyday life that virtually no one ever cares to really wonder how it works.

People have a vague idea of what the Internet is: A massive collection of computers around the world that send data to each other over phone lines. People visualize this in their minds and see wires criss-crossing one another, so we call it the “web.”

But local information technology (IT) executive Judith Duavit-Vazquez more appropriately refers to the Internet, a creation that means so much to the modern world, more of a complete “mess” than a carefully constructed web.

Vazquez was recently appointed to the board of directors of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the international body that oversees the web and makes sure this otherwise complete mess continues helping us keep our lives in order.

Vazquez is the first Asian female to get a seat on the ICANN’s policy-making body, putting the Philippines, already popular for going gaga over social networking, in the very center of the Internet’s world map.

The ICANN, as its name suggests, is in charge of assigning names and addresses to the billions of sites and pages that make up the Internet.

Without the ICANN, Google searches would not give any results, making it impossible for students to research for overdue term papers.

This is truly an impressive feat, given the many forces that are at work at ICANN.

“The Internet has grown to such a size … its political influence in developing nations is such that there are many more fingers in the pot. The US Congress is a two-party system. The ICANN is a 150-plus multinational organization,” Vazquez says.

Vazquez says the appointment of a Filipino to the ICANN board means a lot for the Philippines, which is a major player in the world’s information communications technology (ICT) space.

At the ICANN, Vazquez plans to work on steering the Internet world into the next phase of its development. Being a creation by the west—the first network of computers was set up by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) to connect with the Pentagon—Vazquez says the Internet is still understandably “west centric”.

But the web, she says, is destined to be “truly global,” with the Asia Pacific region’s population of four billion people leading the growth.

She says the future of the Internet contains internationalized domain names. Yes, that means websites coded in Chinese, with Mandarin or Fukien addresses.

Vazquez says before addressing the many issues involving the Internet, ICANN will first have to implement reforms from within. She says on top of her agenda as part of the multinational organization is to improve governance of ICANN.

Giving Asia and other developing regions around the world a louder voice in ICANN will the top priority, and Vazquez believes her appointment is an important first step.

She says she plans to use her experience as a director of broadcast giant GMA Network Inc. and as the CEO of her own telecom infrastructure company PHCOLO Inc. to help improve the way the ICANN is run, especially in the area of fiscal management and control.

“The next five to 10 years will be rigorous, challenging and exciting for ICANN due to the paradigm and technical shifts,” Vazquez says, noting that to stay relevant, the organization will have to be visionary, adaptive and effective.

In the Philippines, Vazquez says she plans to use her position to address problems holding back the growth of the Internet in the Philippines.

At present, she says the country has become a major contributor to the world’s ICT space as a leading outsource provider for call center and business processing solutions.

“It is also a nation blessed with a population that is English-speaking, educated, young and creative,” she says. The country is also the third-largest labor exporter, and the “texting” capital of the world.

However, the country’s bandwidth and electricity costs remain one of the highest in the Asia Pacific region. “We are already notorious abroad,” she says.

“Digital content is hosted outside our nation resulting in huge bandwidth latency issues,” she says.

She also points out that the lack of interconnection between the broadband networks of the country’s Internet service providers means that Internet traffic originating from one point in the country still has to be transmitted abroad before finally reaching its destination, also inside the archipelago.

She says the government also needs to start reviewing its telecommunications and media-related laws, with the end-goal of allowing the entry of more foreign capital that can drive innovation and spur growth.

This will spur the creation of true Internet-based industries, she adds.

“Note that my observation carries no pessimism or criticism. We simply need a little more time, education, incentive and execution,” she adds.