[governance] Who owns the Internet?

[Craig Simon]

My Ph.D dissertation dealt extensively with the very similar question of 
who "controls" the Internet. My conclusion was that the deployment of 
power on the Internet, as in any human society, is best understood as a 
relationship between guides, gatekeepers, and peers.

There may not be an identifiable owner/gatekeeper for the Internet as a 
whole, but one can certainly identify gatekeepers for specific resources 
and processes. When the subject turns to overarching principles, values, 
and norms (the unenforced rules that human agents nevertheless feel 
owned by), one can identify the guides who first articulated them. 
Finally, the actions of peers serve to amplify the powers of guides and 
gatekeepers: transactions between peers generally recapitulate and 
entrench the institutional standing of all agents within the system. 
Peers can also instantiate new standings, creating new forms of 
ownership and control, but that's another story.

If you're interested in a wordier version of what I just wrote, here's a 
link to the dissertation:

http://www.rkey.com/essays/diss.pdf

Craig Simon

Ginger Paque wrote:
> I think that ownership is the assertion that must be supported, not
> "non-ownership". I cannot substantiate "non-ownership" of an object. I can
> show proof of purchase, document my acquisition or construction, or assert
> that "possession" implies ownership. I have never heard of anyone claiming
> to own the Internet.
> 
> Ginger
> 
>  
> 
> Ms. Virginia (Ginger) Paque
> 
> DiploFoundation
> 
> Coordinator IGCBP 09
> 
>  
> 
> www.diplomacy.edu/ig
> 
> VirginiaP at diplomacy.edu
> 
> 
> -----Mensaje original-----
> De: Annan Ebenezer [mailto:siliconvalley2005 at yahoo.com] 
> Enviado el: Viernes, 20 de Marzo de 2009 08:12 a.m.
> Para: governance at lists.cpsr.org
> Asunto: Re: RE: [governance] Who owns the Internet?
> 
>  well, indeed one can easily say  that nobody owns it , but what really 
> supports that assertion ? 
> 
> ebenezer, Ghana
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