Internet Protocols and Digital Inequalities in Global Communications

Abstract

This case study examines how the internet’s infrastructure—especially the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and internet exchange points (IXPs)—shapes global inequalities in data flow and connectivity. Using examples from Brazil and Germany, the study reveals how decisions made at the technical and commercial levels—such as server location, peering arrangements, and AS_PATH selection—result in structural disadvantages for users in the global South. While Brazil hosts the world’s largest public IXP ecosystem, major content providers like Apple do not connect locally, forcing Brazilian ISPs to route user data through distant hubs like Frankfurt’s DE-CIX, a commercial IXP in the global North. These infrastructural asymmetries affect latency, increase dependency, and deepen global data imbalances. The case challenges to reconsider the internet not as a neutral or borderless space but as a network shaped by power, geography, and commercial interests. By tracing how global routes prioritize corporate and Northern infrastructure, the study invites discussion on sovereignty, data justice, and infrastructural reform in the digital age.