Models of Internet Governance
University of Illinois
PUBLIC LAW RESEARCH PAPER NO. 07-25 ~and~
University of Illinois
LAW & ECONOMICS RESEARCH PAPER NO. LE08-027
Models of Internet Governance
Lawrence B. Solum
University of Illinois – College of Law
This paper can be downloaded free of charge from the Social Science Research Network at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1136825
978–0–19–956113–1 03-Bygrave-c02 OUP337-Bygrave
(Typeset by SPi, Delhi)
48 of 91
September 3, 2008
17:23
2 Models of Internet governance
Lawrence B. Solum
2.1. What is Internet Governance?
Internet governance is a large, complex, and ambiguous topic. When we think about regulation of the Internet, we might be thinking about a narrow but important set of questions about specific institutions, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force 1 (IETF) or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers 2 (ICANN): these institutions can be said to govern the technical infrastructure and architecture of the Internet. We might also be thinking about a much broader and perhaps more compelling set of questions about policy issues that implicate the Internet: these questions include the regulation of online gambling, child pornography, freedom of speech, and the future of commerce and implicate nation states and international organizations. For the purposes of this investigation, Internet governance implicates both the narrow questions about Internet infrastructure or architecture and the broad questions about regulation of applications and content. Moreover, the broad and narrow questions are related. Regulation of the technical infrastructure of the Internet has implications for the regulation of applications and content. Begin with the Internet itself. The Internet is a global network of networks, with communication between networks enabled by a communications protocol suite, currently TCP/IP. The Internet enables computers or servers that are attached to the net to communicate with one another,
PUBLIC LAW RESEARCH PAPER NO. 07-25 ~and~
University of Illinois
LAW & ECONOMICS RESEARCH PAPER NO. LE08-027
Models of Internet Governance
Lawrence B. Solum
University of Illinois – College of Law
This paper can be downloaded free of charge from the Social Science Research Network at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1136825
978–0–19–956113–1 03-Bygrave-c02 OUP337-Bygrave
(Typeset by SPi, Delhi)
48 of 91
September 3, 2008
17:23
2 Models of Internet governance
Lawrence B. Solum
2.1. What is Internet Governance?
Internet governance is a large, complex, and ambiguous topic. When we think about regulation of the Internet, we might be thinking about a narrow but important set of questions about specific institutions, such as the Internet Engineering Task Force 1 (IETF) or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers 2 (ICANN): these institutions can be said to govern the technical infrastructure and architecture of the Internet. We might also be thinking about a much broader and perhaps more compelling set of questions about policy issues that implicate the Internet: these questions include the regulation of online gambling, child pornography, freedom of speech, and the future of commerce and implicate nation states and international organizations. For the purposes of this investigation, Internet governance implicates both the narrow questions about Internet infrastructure or architecture and the broad questions about regulation of applications and content. Moreover, the broad and narrow questions are related. Regulation of the technical infrastructure of the Internet has implications for the regulation of applications and content. Begin with the Internet itself. The Internet is a global network of networks, with communication between networks enabled by a communications protocol suite, currently TCP/IP. The Internet enables computers or servers that are attached to the net to communicate with one another,