[governance] regulating the digital space - whose laws apply, and whose do not

[Norbert Bollow]

Paul Lehto <lehto.paul at gmail.com> wrote:
> This is not really true.  As several of my past posts have
> established, without any contradiction on this particular point, the
> internet presently (and in the past) relies upon many governmental
> laws in the form of contract, property, and intellectual property laws
> to facilitate its expansion (to be sure) and arguably to support its
> existence as we know it.

I'm sure that I'm not alone in disagreeing with this statement
as formulated here as well as with your claim that you have
"established" it. As a clear counter-example, I would point to
the re-establishment of the Internet in Libya. Also note how
many core internet governance functions have worked well for a
long time in the absence of contractual or other legal obligations.
Also, when such legal frameworks are added to something can work
reasonably well without them, it is not accurate to claim reliance
on these legal frameworks. For example, even in the presence of a
contract between an ISP and a customer, and in a legal environment
in which enforcing such a contract is possible, it may well be that
neither side has any need to rely on contract law etc to enforce
the contract. The ISP can simply stop providing the service if the
customer does not pay, and customers can stop paying and give the
ISP a bad reputation if the ISP doesn't fulfil its responsibility.

More generally, Paul, please do not infer from lack of response to
some aspects of your postings the lack of disagreement or that those
who disagree do not have (possibly just in their heads) well-founded
counterarguments. Given the quantities of text that you post, and
that you speak from a perspective that is very different from that
of myself and probably most others here (that it itself is not a
bad thing at all, of course) it is simply impossible to react to
everything that one disagrees with. Furthermore, given that it is
necessary to set priorities with regard to which messages and which
points one reacts to, there are several aspects of your postings
that give at least me an additional inclination to avoid spending a
lot of time on corresponding with you: I prefer to correspond
with those who give me the impression of listening well to what is
being said, who are able to follow thoughts that don't fit too well
into a given ideological framework, and who treat everyone who
participates in the conversation with prefessional courtesy and
respect.

Greetings,
Norbert
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