ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes an abstract model of mandated access controls for the Internet. The model includes three types of actors: senders, intermediaries and recipients. Control decisions are based on three types of information: the item, the recipient’s jurisdiction, and the recipient’s type. With the architecture of today’s Internet, any party on whom responsibility might be placed has insufficient information to carry out that responsibility. That architecture could be changed to provide senders and intermediaries more information about recipient jurisdiction and type or to provide recipients and intermediaries more information about item types. Although such changes are possible, they would be costly in terms of time, money, and freedom. Moreover, such changes would have side effects of enabling regulation of the Internet by both public and private entities, beyond the scope of any legitimate government interest in controlling access to information.
