[governance] 'search neutrality' to go with net neutrality

[Roland Perry]

In message <4B45F869.6040009 at wzb.eu>, at 15:06:17 on Thu, 7 Jan 2010, 
Jeanette Hofmann <jeanette at wzb.eu> writes

>>  I wonder how many people on this list would wish that governments 
>>got  themselves organised, and [attempted to] sort out all the 
>>perceived ills  on the Internet, on the grounds that they believe the 
>>current mechanisms  were failing their collective citizens?
>
>Here is quote from Larry Lessig that I recently used:
>
>"In a world drowning in spam, computer viruses, identity theft, 
>copyright 'piracy', and the sexual exploitation of children, the 
>resolve against regulation has weakened. We all love the Net. But if 
>some government could really deliver on the promise to erase all the 
>bads of this space, most of us would gladly sign up."

I hadn't seen that quote before, but it does sum up what a lot of 
"ordinary" people think.

>I think what has changed over the last decade is that the belief in the 
>Internet's capacity for for self-regulation has lost its original 
>traction. But public regulation hasn't become the default solution. The 
>debate is about where, when and how governments should play a role.

The joy we have (all this debate, meetings etc) is that the Internet is 
going thorough this particular phase in its lifecycle. Automobiles went 
through it a couple of generations ago.

I'm not a big fan of the expression "self regulation" because that 
implies "self control in the absence of any applicable legal framework".

But most of the issues involved *do* have a legal framework, but working 
out how that legal framework applies to the online world is difficult, 
and in the mean time the authorities are happy if the "industry" applies 
a common-sense interpretation of the existing legal framework, ahead of 
the various law enforcement and judicial systems getting their 
collective brains into the right gear. That's what I call co-regulation.

The sorts of issues being regulated in this way are competition, 
privacy, defamation, trademark & copyright, obscene & harmful material, 
and 'duty of care' of a supplier to his customer and to the public.

>In this respect, the Internet has become more similar to other policy 
>fields, hasn't it?

The only other policy field that I can think of which is at 
approximately the same stage is Human Embryo Research.

>>  And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is most of the IG debate in a 
>>nutshell.

-- 
Roland Perry
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, send any message to:
     governance-unsubscribe at lists.cpsr.org

For all list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance