AS-level cooperation on the internet

What is it about?

The Internet is not only a technical system but also closely tied to geography and politics. While many studies have focused on its technical structure, less attention has been paid to how political and regional factors shape it. In this paper, we combine different types of data, including how Autonomous Systems (ASes) connect with each other and where they are located, to study cooperation patterns on the Internet. We find that, at the global level, the network shows only a moderate tendency for dissimilar nodes to connect, and its structure is relatively flat. However, within many individual countries or regions, the patterns are quite different: connections are more uneven, and the structure is more hierarchical than the global average. We also propose a visualization method to track how cooperation between countries and regions changes over time. Finally, using case studies of the Russia–Ukraine conflict and Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, we show that cooperation between countries at the AS level can change rapidly in response to major geopolitical events.

Featured Image

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our findings show that, at the global level, the network is relatively flat, whereas within individual countries or regions it is more uneven and hierarchical. We visualize how cooperation between countries and regions changes over time and show by case studies how it responses to major geopolitical events, thereby highlighting an underexplored geopolitical dimension of the Internet.

Perspectives