[governance] Re: Russia plans to create independent web / internet

[Milton L Mueller]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Avri Doria [mailto:avri at psg.com]
>
> perhaps i have my naive glasses on again, but i wonder what the real
> so what of all this is.

The real "so what" is the attempt to realign communication patterns with nation-state institutions. Nation-states, to invoke the sociologist Max Weber, are territorial monopolies on the use of coercive force. This linkage is something we started to break out of to some extent with the de-monopolization of telecommunications, the global connectivity of the Internet and the rise of a transnational civil society. 

To view a network bounded by something as massive, centralized and coercive as the Chinese state or the Russian state as "just another private network" does strike me as naïve in the extreme. Particularly when both political entities attempt to integrate political, military, economic, technical and _linguistic_ considerations. 

Private networks are fine by me. We are not talking about private networks. We are talking about national networks (atavistic spectres from hell...) 



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