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14 ReferencesWho regulates and manages the Internet Infrastructure? Democratic and legal risks in shadow global governance
Abstract
This essay explores the democratic and legal risks related to the emerging situation of global Internet governance. This situation can be considered as an outcome of the 1997 US Federal Government's policy aims towards privatisation and self-regulation of the technical management of the increasingly global Internet at that time. Thus far there is little empirical knowledge available about the nature and functioning of the various relatively unknown international organisations that are involved in the technical development and management of the Internet. Attention in this respect seems to be exclusively focused on only one of these organisations, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which continues to have a unique relationship with the US Federal Government's Department of Commerce. The empirical question of who actually regulates and manages the Internet infrastructure further rises in importance if we consider that the technical development of the Internet might not be a 'neutral' development but could involve the building in of regulatory norms into the technology.
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- Second, the perspectives were developed for specific kinds of interorganizational arrangements that differ substantively in their purposes, their activities, and some of their structural characteristics (e.g., whether or not the arrangements are focused on technology). For instance, governance theory has been developed for research and development alliances [28], IT outsourcing arrangements [19], Internet governance [20], open source software development projects [24], electronic marketplaces [32], and coordination among social services agencies [30]. Therefore, differences in conceptualizations of interorganizational governance may reflect differences in the substantive phenomena that are of primary concern to various theorists.
[Show abstract] [Hide abstract] ABSTRACT: Government agencies increasingly enter into interorganizational alliances to accomplish common goals. Alliances to create and maintain shared IT infrastructures for communication, coordination, and collaboration among agencies are an especially important phenomenon. This article examines three perspectives on the governance of interorganizational alliances (interpersonal interactions, financial ownership, and legal forms) and evaluates their applicability to interorganizational network infrastructures on the basis of theoretical arguments and the analysis of a single case study. Even combined, the three perspectives do not address the full range of issues involved in the case, because they do not pay sufficient attention to the varied formal and legal arrangements by which interorganizational network infrastructures are governed. The conclusion is that the conceptualization of governance for interorganizational network infrastructures remains problematic and that future theoretical development as well as empirical research is needed to resolve the open questions.- [Show abstract] [Hide abstract] ABSTRACT: Controlling the Internet has for a long time been the privilege of academics in the USA. However, with the evolution of the Internet as the world communication medium of the 21 st century and the world-wide-web providing the infrastructure for business and public services in the digital era, the stakes have risen dramatically. The value of the Internet is nowadays considered extremely important in a number of key areas of public life ranging from business, law, local and central government to international politics. Various proposals as to who should be responsible for controlling or even policing the Internet have been considered and debated upon over the past few years. The issue has been raised at an unprecedented level with governments of the most powerful countries on the planet locked in serious and longstanding diplomatic negotiations as to which of the super powers should be in control. Yet the less powerful and smaller nations have repeatedly called for the establishment of an international organization to guarantee independent control of the Internet. This paper considers the above two proposals and attempts to answer the following questions: a) Do single countries deserve the right of having absolute control and acting as the sole guardian of the ultimate communication medium? b) Would an international organization be the answer? If so, how independent can it be and how much security can it offer to the smaller nations and the individual user? The study of each case is performed on the basis of what criteria would apply in terms of legal framework adopted, transparency of procedures and degree of acceptance of the controlling body on a world wide basis. The ultimate question raised is: can the guardian be trusted and if so how widespread this trust would be? The results of the first internet governance forum meeting in Athens in 2006 and the aims of the second due in Rio de Janeiro in November 2007 are also discussed.
- [Show abstract] [Hide abstract] ABSTRACT: A sound conceptualization of international e-risks has grown in demand, because of the increasing penetration of the Internet, and specifically the enabling-facility of the Internet technology for small firms. Yet, to date, there has been no study explicitly attempting to build an international business risk framework for the online environment, nor to explain online internationalization decisions. The purpose of the present paper is threefold, (1) to combine and complement the existing traditional international risk constructs and the emerging views on e-business risks into a comprehensive and unified international risk framework for the online context; (2) to develop propositions regarding SMEs' active online internationalization decisions by drawing on Dunning's OLI framework; and (3) to explore the online-offline risk trade-off inherent in online internationalization decisions by integrating the e-risk framework into the eclectic paradigm.
Article
Rethinking Citizen – Government Relationships in the Age of Digital Identity: Insights from Research
The introduction and use of new ICT-enabled means of managing citizen identity information in public service environments may lead to fundamental changes of the informational foundations of citizen - government relationships. This raises important theoretical and empirical questions about the impact and implications of emerging information age government on the 'social contract' between the... [Show full abstract]
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