GovernmNet: Controlling the Internet

Essay, in incubation, above code-name, GSOH, particular predilection for the names Gavin and Adam, WLTM: Opinionated male 15-50, with passion for technology and politics thereof a bonus, for engaging intercourse. :)

So I've been thrown (threw myself, actually) in at the deep end; make sense of the regulatory conundrum that the internet represents. What little I do know about the subject matter is that the nature of the internet (the codes that make it work and such) does not lend itself to territory-based or legal regulation. So just at that point one's curiosity is piqued. But then when you consider the near-ubiquity of the internet, its importance on so many levels for the future, and the interplay between stakeholders, the topic gets really interesting.

How can such a decentralised yet universal resource be best controlled to optimise value - who should be in control and how should they operate? How involved should national governments be, do they have a right to exercise some power, and if so how can they even do so? Are corporations such as Google and Apple the effective power-wielders, or (undemocratic) governments if you will, of the internet? How much power do the net's denizens, i.e. you and I (netizens?), possess?

I'm just launching myself into the essay and haven't read any books/articles so I don't really know what approach I'll take, but, of course, the importance of the issue stretches far beyond my meaningless coursework. So for now, as well as the other questions I've posed, I would ask, what you believe to be the most important issues to enshrine as we progress, and what's the best way to go about achieving those aims? And is the current regime an effective one?


Go! :)


(I've put the thread in Current Affairs because of the political issues involved)

Space reserved for proper answer when I get back from uni, but believe me, I'll give you lots of material. Manys the rant my girlfriend has had to endure about some "real world" authority trying to stick its oar in. Rant will star Comcast, the RIAA, the Chinese, Turkish and Irish governments, and an English guy in Switzerland.