ABSTRACT
The chapter introduces the concept of the Internet as it has emerged, based on technology and how it might be defined. It then looks at what governance, as contrasted with government, would mean, again in current usage. To be able to discuss Internet governance, we need to know what
each term means. This is a significant question, because although the WSIS defined “Internet governance,” there is no agreed definition of what the Internet is, nor what governance implies. When the Internet is defined, the aspects that can be regulated can also be defined. When governance is defined, the limits of regulation will also be set out. In communication theory, a communication consists of five parts: a
sender, a message, a channel, a receiver and a feedback mechanism. At its simplest, for a traditional telephone conversation to take place, you (the sender) have a telephone into which you speak (the message) that carries your voice over either a fixed line or wireless (the channel) to the phone of another person (the receiver) who can reply (feedback). Of course, it is more complex than that. Your telephone has to be connected to a network that is run by a telephone company through either wires into your home or office or through a wireless transmission tower. That network has to be connected to the network that your receiver is on. Often the receiver’s network is supplied by a different company. It could even be a company in a different country, in which case there would have to be international standards to permit the call to go through. This would include such issues as the technical standards (which kinds of telephone numbers would be allowed) and financial arrangements (since the cost of the call is charged to the sender, how is the company providing services to the receiver of the call going to collect for its services). Internet mavens refer to this process as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS). Communication over the Internet is similar to POTS, but different in
critical ways. It is a network of networks (which is where the term Internet
comes from). There are senders (anyone using a computer to connect with the network), there are messages, in the form of e-mails or requests for information, there are channels including those made available by companies or institutions like universities-called Internet service providers (or ISPs) that connect the individual to the larger network of networks. There are channels, usually large fiber-optic cables called pipes, over which messages flow and there are recipients who are connected to the Internet though their own ISPs. Here the similarities end. Unlike POTS, the Internet is borderless.
