Philosophy and the precautionary principle: science, evidence and environmental policy

Abstract

might have on these companies. Their unique size and, inmany cases, global footprint make them both easier and harder to control than traditional websites, and their centrality to the online habits of users means that alignment efforts by states take place not just at the network level of the Internet, but also in their influence on the practices of individual online companies. Control by the Chinese government of local Chinese media, or the cluster of issues related to the influence of Facebook in different elections, are but two examples of this. These objections are not intended to diminish the book’s importance. In away, the very salience of issues at the level of the largest Internet companiesmakes it essential to prevent the critical lower layers of the Internet falling from the attention of activists, analysts, and policymakers. There are few things more useful when engaging with a problem than a proper understanding of what the problem is. By reducing fear of a fragmented Internet, and replacing it with a more analytically powerful account of different attempts to increase alignment, Mueller has made another substantial contribution to the discussion (and, hopefully, practice) of Internet governance.