ABSTRACT
The Internet, as we have come to know it as a series of institutional, mechanical and human interactions, has elements of revolution and disruption with widespread political and social consequences. This chapter is about the ongoing contest in international society to characterize the Internet as a specific kind of technology, the contest to gain some consensus as to what functions it should play and not play, how it should be conceived and how regulated. How it revolutionizes, what is disrupted and how collectively do governments and publics come to understand these impacts – all of this is in play. This is a story of how the concept of newness is wielded – as a shield to protect developments or as a sword to foil misadventure. Notwithstanding its quasi-military origins, the Internet has often, perhaps predominantly, been presented as an instrument for the free flow of information, an instrument in the global battle for democracy and a driving force in the politics of globalization. But we know that this image is subject to complex shaping – an issue of controversy and contention among states, not the expression of a natural essence.
