Pub Date : 2020-06-12DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.1769892
Sherly Haristya
Abstract Civil society plays a critical role in the multistakeholder approach adopted in Internet governance. However, little is known about the dynamics within that stakeholder group. Besides the struggle and contestation for recognition, civil society actors face less well-known challenges such as managing the diversity among them while striving to arrive at decisions when they participate in global multistakeholder processes as a group. This article investigates the effort of and the challenges faced by civil society in managing its diverse entities to participate while aiming to be influential in watershed multistakeholder fora, namely in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) I and II, Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and the 2014 Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance (NETmundial). Using observational data, documents, and mailing-list messages, this study found that the coordination struggles within civil society affected their goals when they participated in multistakeholder processes. This study suggests that civil society actors need to manage their short- and long-term goals in Internet governance in order to strengthen the legitimacy and efficacy of their participation as a group in Internet-related multistakeholder policy-making processes.
{"title":"The efficacy of civil society in global internet governance","authors":"Sherly Haristya","doi":"10.1080/24701475.2020.1769892","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2020.1769892","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Civil society plays a critical role in the multistakeholder approach adopted in Internet governance. However, little is known about the dynamics within that stakeholder group. Besides the struggle and contestation for recognition, civil society actors face less well-known challenges such as managing the diversity among them while striving to arrive at decisions when they participate in global multistakeholder processes as a group. This article investigates the effort of and the challenges faced by civil society in managing its diverse entities to participate while aiming to be influential in watershed multistakeholder fora, namely in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) I and II, Internet Governance Forum (IGF), and the 2014 Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance (NETmundial). Using observational data, documents, and mailing-list messages, this study found that the coordination struggles within civil society affected their goals when they participated in multistakeholder processes. This study suggests that civil society actors need to manage their short- and long-term goals in Internet governance in order to strengthen the legitimacy and efficacy of their participation as a group in Internet-related multistakeholder policy-making processes.","PeriodicalId":52252,"journal":{"name":"Internet Histories","volume":"4 1","pages":"252 - 270"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2020-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24701475.2020.1769892","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48327261","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-04DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.1769893
R. Nunes
Abstract Notwithstanding the growing interest in cyberactivism in Brazil since the 2013 protests, not much is known about the previous unfolding of this kind of activism before it became a major actor in challenging the political system. Thus, this paper aimed to offer a first outline of cyberactivism’s history in Brazil, taking into account which actors and practices were present in each moment, stressing their continuities and discontinuities. To this end, we used existing empirical literature – predominantly focused on particular actors, practices or moments – to gather data, facts and processes. Our investigation found out three moments of cyberactivism in the country, disrupted by an entaglement of socipolitical and technological factors and classified on the basis of existent actors, practices and platforms. First, the emergence, whereby web portals served as a source of information and a space for self expression and political articulation. Second, the consolidation, in which blogs provided networks for debates known as blogospheres. And, finally, the routinisation, when the emergence of social networks – stimulating debates, individual political manifestations, exchange of strategic information and calls for demonstrations – enabled cyberactivism to become part of everyday life.
{"title":"Outlining the history of cyberactivism in Brazil","authors":"R. Nunes","doi":"10.1080/24701475.2020.1769893","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2020.1769893","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Notwithstanding the growing interest in cyberactivism in Brazil since the 2013 protests, not much is known about the previous unfolding of this kind of activism before it became a major actor in challenging the political system. Thus, this paper aimed to offer a first outline of cyberactivism’s history in Brazil, taking into account which actors and practices were present in each moment, stressing their continuities and discontinuities. To this end, we used existing empirical literature – predominantly focused on particular actors, practices or moments – to gather data, facts and processes. Our investigation found out three moments of cyberactivism in the country, disrupted by an entaglement of socipolitical and technological factors and classified on the basis of existent actors, practices and platforms. First, the emergence, whereby web portals served as a source of information and a space for self expression and political articulation. Second, the consolidation, in which blogs provided networks for debates known as blogospheres. And, finally, the routinisation, when the emergence of social networks – stimulating debates, individual political manifestations, exchange of strategic information and calls for demonstrations – enabled cyberactivism to become part of everyday life.","PeriodicalId":52252,"journal":{"name":"Internet Histories","volume":"4 1","pages":"287 - 303"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2020-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24701475.2020.1769893","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45937532","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-02DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.1769891
E. Ferrari
Abstract This article investigates the relationship between disembodiment and cyberspace in early internet culture by analysing how bodies are represented in Wired magazine. Using a multi-stage qualitative analysis of the cover images, the cover titles and the cover articles of the magazine between 1993 and 1997, it reconstructs Wired’s discourse on bodies and cyberspace. The article suggests that Wired employs a discourse that I term selective disembodiment, a white male fantasy in which white women and people of colour matter only when they are disembodied in cyberspace, and only as disembodied entities: the voice and recognition they acquire by inhabiting cyberspace does not carry over in their embodied lives. This operates a political differentiation: between bodies that matter and bodies that don’t. It is a vision of politics and society that, while superficially inclusive, downplays and curtails the agency of non-white, non-male bodies and still has implications for the internet today.
{"title":"Bodies that matter, bodies that don’t: selective disembodiment in the early Wired magazine (1993–1997)","authors":"E. Ferrari","doi":"10.1080/24701475.2020.1769891","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2020.1769891","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article investigates the relationship between disembodiment and cyberspace in early internet culture by analysing how bodies are represented in Wired magazine. Using a multi-stage qualitative analysis of the cover images, the cover titles and the cover articles of the magazine between 1993 and 1997, it reconstructs Wired’s discourse on bodies and cyberspace. The article suggests that Wired employs a discourse that I term selective disembodiment, a white male fantasy in which white women and people of colour matter only when they are disembodied in cyberspace, and only as disembodied entities: the voice and recognition they acquire by inhabiting cyberspace does not carry over in their embodied lives. This operates a political differentiation: between bodies that matter and bodies that don’t. It is a vision of politics and society that, while superficially inclusive, downplays and curtails the agency of non-white, non-male bodies and still has implications for the internet today.","PeriodicalId":52252,"journal":{"name":"Internet Histories","volume":"4 1","pages":"333 - 348"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2020-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24701475.2020.1769891","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45261736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-01DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.1769890
Meghan Grosse
Abstract In the current era, the commercial nature of the internet seems like a foregone conclusion. However, during the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton, the structures and guidelines for how this global system would operate were unresolved. Clinton took direct steps to ensure the commercialization of the internet and made a deliberate effort to gain agreement with public and private interest groups both in the United States and abroad. This article examines those efforts, focusing on three key questions present in the global discourse: First, where does oversight for internet structures come from, both in terms of country of origin, but also in terms of public versus private sectors? Second, how do traditional economic concerns translate to this new system? And finally, what protections are prioritized in this system? In looking at the patterns in that discourse, I argue that the Clinton Administration’s leadership in the area of internet governance projected a concern for an open, global internet while in actuality, the Administration pursued a U.S.-centric approach to governance that prioritized commercial interests. Given the continued importance of national sovereignty in debates around internet governance, the decisions being made in the 1990s demand further consideration.
{"title":"Laying the foundation for a commercialized internet: international internet governance in the 1990s","authors":"Meghan Grosse","doi":"10.1080/24701475.2020.1769890","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2020.1769890","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the current era, the commercial nature of the internet seems like a foregone conclusion. However, during the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton, the structures and guidelines for how this global system would operate were unresolved. Clinton took direct steps to ensure the commercialization of the internet and made a deliberate effort to gain agreement with public and private interest groups both in the United States and abroad. This article examines those efforts, focusing on three key questions present in the global discourse: First, where does oversight for internet structures come from, both in terms of country of origin, but also in terms of public versus private sectors? Second, how do traditional economic concerns translate to this new system? And finally, what protections are prioritized in this system? In looking at the patterns in that discourse, I argue that the Clinton Administration’s leadership in the area of internet governance projected a concern for an open, global internet while in actuality, the Administration pursued a U.S.-centric approach to governance that prioritized commercial interests. Given the continued importance of national sovereignty in debates around internet governance, the decisions being made in the 1990s demand further consideration.","PeriodicalId":52252,"journal":{"name":"Internet Histories","volume":"4 1","pages":"271 - 286"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2020-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24701475.2020.1769890","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46699206","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-05-05DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.1759010
Sofie Flensburg, S. S. Lai
Abstract This article studies the evolution of the internet infrastructure and assesses emerging digital power structures and regulatory dynamics. We revisit and develop Thomas P. Hughes’ momentum theory (1994) and contend that the internet, as other large technological systems, has evolved in different phases reflecting a shift from being mainly influenced by socio-economic conditions to having a determining influence on the development of societal structures. We argue that contemporary internet infrastructure studies can benefit from Hughes’ theoretical approach, but also need to strengthen their methodological and empirical strategy. The article contributes to this by approaching the changes in digital infrastructures, markets, and state policies in Denmark from 1992 to 2019. Building on database material, we analyse the development of digital devices and internet connections, submarine fibre optic cables and internet exchange points, websites, and digital content. We conclude that the identified changes confirm Hughes’ momentum hypothesis: in the beginning the implementation of the internet reflected historical market structures and institutional characteristics, while the later development challenges and transforms the established regime.
{"title":"Networks of power. Analysing the evolution of the Danish internet infrastructure","authors":"Sofie Flensburg, S. S. Lai","doi":"10.1080/24701475.2020.1759010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2020.1759010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article studies the evolution of the internet infrastructure and assesses emerging digital power structures and regulatory dynamics. We revisit and develop Thomas P. Hughes’ momentum theory (1994) and contend that the internet, as other large technological systems, has evolved in different phases reflecting a shift from being mainly influenced by socio-economic conditions to having a determining influence on the development of societal structures. We argue that contemporary internet infrastructure studies can benefit from Hughes’ theoretical approach, but also need to strengthen their methodological and empirical strategy. The article contributes to this by approaching the changes in digital infrastructures, markets, and state policies in Denmark from 1992 to 2019. Building on database material, we analyse the development of digital devices and internet connections, submarine fibre optic cables and internet exchange points, websites, and digital content. We conclude that the identified changes confirm Hughes’ momentum hypothesis: in the beginning the implementation of the internet reflected historical market structures and institutional characteristics, while the later development challenges and transforms the established regime.","PeriodicalId":52252,"journal":{"name":"Internet Histories","volume":"5 1","pages":"79 - 100"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2020-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24701475.2020.1759010","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45351415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-04-25DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.1758436
Will Mari
{"title":"A review essay: examining the fraught racial, gendered and class-based origins of the early internet and its antecedents","authors":"Will Mari","doi":"10.1080/24701475.2020.1758436","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2020.1758436","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52252,"journal":{"name":"Internet Histories","volume":"4 1","pages":"349 - 353"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2020-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24701475.2020.1758436","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45656156","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-04-11DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.1747261
Margaret A. Priestley, T. Sluckin, T. Tiropanis
Abstract Rigorous research into the historical past of Web technology-driven innovation becomes timely as technological growth and forecasting are attracting popular interest. Drawing on economic and management literature relating to the typical trends of technological innovation, we examine the long-term development of Web technology in a theoretically informed and empirical manner. An original longitudinal dataset of 20,493 Web-related US patents is used to trace the growth curve of Web technology between the years of 1990 through 2013. We find that the accumulation of corporate Web inventions followed an S-shaped curve which shifted to linear growth after year 2004. This transition is unusual in relation to the traditional S-curve model of technological development that typically approaches a limit. The point of inflection on the S-curve coincided reasonably closely with the timing of the dot-com crash in year 2000. Moreover, we find a complex bi-directional relationship between patenting rates in Web technology and movements in the NASDAQ composite stock index. The implications of these results are discussed in theoretical and practical terms for sustained technological growth. Specific recommendations for different stakeholders in commercial Web development are included.
{"title":"Innovation on the web: the end of the S-curve?","authors":"Margaret A. Priestley, T. Sluckin, T. Tiropanis","doi":"10.1080/24701475.2020.1747261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2020.1747261","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Rigorous research into the historical past of Web technology-driven innovation becomes timely as technological growth and forecasting are attracting popular interest. Drawing on economic and management literature relating to the typical trends of technological innovation, we examine the long-term development of Web technology in a theoretically informed and empirical manner. An original longitudinal dataset of 20,493 Web-related US patents is used to trace the growth curve of Web technology between the years of 1990 through 2013. We find that the accumulation of corporate Web inventions followed an S-shaped curve which shifted to linear growth after year 2004. This transition is unusual in relation to the traditional S-curve model of technological development that typically approaches a limit. The point of inflection on the S-curve coincided reasonably closely with the timing of the dot-com crash in year 2000. Moreover, we find a complex bi-directional relationship between patenting rates in Web technology and movements in the NASDAQ composite stock index. The implications of these results are discussed in theoretical and practical terms for sustained technological growth. Specific recommendations for different stakeholders in commercial Web development are included.","PeriodicalId":52252,"journal":{"name":"Internet Histories","volume":"4 1","pages":"390 - 412"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2020-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24701475.2020.1747261","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41628692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-04-02DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.1742533
Elena Danescu
Abstract The following pages are taken from a long interview (more than eight hours of footage in total) that Viviane Reding granted us in 2015 in connection with the “Pierre Werner and Europe” research project. Drawing on more than 40 years’ experience in politics, Viviane Reding spoke about her career, the role of Luxembourg and Luxembourgers in the European integration process, and various key events in which she played a part. In these extracts, she discusses her role as a member of the first and second Barroso Commissions (2004-2009 and 2010-2014) and her efforts to help build an information and knowledge society in Europe, one that serves citizens and protects their rights and fundamental freedoms. Her achievements in this respect include capping mobile phone roaming charges (they were subsequently abolished in 2017), advocating for the introduction of a single emergency number (112) in all EU countries, launching the Europeana digital library, and spearheading a programme to use technological innovation for climate and energy solutions. She also describes the process of developing a Digital Agenda for Europe to improve the continent’s digital competitiveness compared with the United States, China and Japan – a complex and challenging task given the context of globalisation and the divergent interests of the various stakeholders (research, industry, consumers, etc.). Finally, she mentions the reform of personal data protection that she initiated (leading to the GDPR, adopted in April 2016).
{"title":"Viviane Reding on her action in the field of the information society and media (2004-2010) Interview by Elena Danescu","authors":"Elena Danescu","doi":"10.1080/24701475.2020.1742533","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2020.1742533","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The following pages are taken from a long interview (more than eight hours of footage in total) that Viviane Reding granted us in 2015 in connection with the “Pierre Werner and Europe” research project. Drawing on more than 40 years’ experience in politics, Viviane Reding spoke about her career, the role of Luxembourg and Luxembourgers in the European integration process, and various key events in which she played a part. In these extracts, she discusses her role as a member of the first and second Barroso Commissions (2004-2009 and 2010-2014) and her efforts to help build an information and knowledge society in Europe, one that serves citizens and protects their rights and fundamental freedoms. Her achievements in this respect include capping mobile phone roaming charges (they were subsequently abolished in 2017), advocating for the introduction of a single emergency number (112) in all EU countries, launching the Europeana digital library, and spearheading a programme to use technological innovation for climate and energy solutions. She also describes the process of developing a Digital Agenda for Europe to improve the continent’s digital competitiveness compared with the United States, China and Japan – a complex and challenging task given the context of globalisation and the divergent interests of the various stakeholders (research, industry, consumers, etc.). Finally, she mentions the reform of personal data protection that she initiated (leading to the GDPR, adopted in April 2016).","PeriodicalId":52252,"journal":{"name":"Internet Histories","volume":"4 1","pages":"228 - 241"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2020-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24701475.2020.1742533","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41456795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-04-02DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.1749806
Elena Danescu
Abstract Value creation is increasingly based on knowledge and intangible assets. This trend has gained momentum with the development of the service sector, the rise in competition as a result of globalisation and deregulation, and the impact of the digital revolution.Innovation has proven to be a key factor in economic growth. In the aftermath of the global crisis; public authorities, states, European organisations (the EU and the Council of Europe) and transnational and international bodies (UN, OECD, WTO, IMF) have a major role to play in regulating the multi-dimensional potential of global growth and defending against the problems inherent in these new, unavoidable processes.The EU sees the Digital Single Market (DSM) and the capital markets union as two priority aspects in the completion of the European Single Market (ESM), This article aims to highlight the main political, technological, institutional and regulatory characteristics and contradictions of the DSM from a global perspective, tracing its development over time and particularly analysing the taxation of the digital economy. The article also examines the EU’s changing role in a complex system of players worldwide, its contribution in setting global standards on fiscal and technological development, its involvement in the governance of new networks. This research is based on a wide range of multilingual and multimedia sources, relevant statistics on the digital economy, and clarifications of notions and terminology as needed.
{"title":"Taxing intangible assets: issues and challenges for a digital Europe","authors":"Elena Danescu","doi":"10.1080/24701475.2020.1749806","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2020.1749806","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Value creation is increasingly based on knowledge and intangible assets. This trend has gained momentum with the development of the service sector, the rise in competition as a result of globalisation and deregulation, and the impact of the digital revolution.Innovation has proven to be a key factor in economic growth. In the aftermath of the global crisis; public authorities, states, European organisations (the EU and the Council of Europe) and transnational and international bodies (UN, OECD, WTO, IMF) have a major role to play in regulating the multi-dimensional potential of global growth and defending against the problems inherent in these new, unavoidable processes.The EU sees the Digital Single Market (DSM) and the capital markets union as two priority aspects in the completion of the European Single Market (ESM), This article aims to highlight the main political, technological, institutional and regulatory characteristics and contradictions of the DSM from a global perspective, tracing its development over time and particularly analysing the taxation of the digital economy. The article also examines the EU’s changing role in a complex system of players worldwide, its contribution in setting global standards on fiscal and technological development, its involvement in the governance of new networks. This research is based on a wide range of multilingual and multimedia sources, relevant statistics on the digital economy, and clarifications of notions and terminology as needed.","PeriodicalId":52252,"journal":{"name":"Internet Histories","volume":"49 20","pages":"196 - 216"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2020-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24701475.2020.1749806","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41297538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-04-02DOI: 10.1080/24701475.2020.1749807
Stefan Gadringer
Abstract Few Internet governance issues raised a similar level of public alertness, as it has been the case with network neutrality. Advocates in favour of strict rules feared the end of the Internet itself, while access providers fought against interferences in their business areas. The regulatory process in the European Union was multi-faceted and faced several key changes and turning points. This paper examines the positions at stake from the emergence of the network neutrality debate in 2009 during the amendment of the Telecom Single Market Directive to its aftermath in 2019. Focussing on the implications for public and private online communication, a normative and social value framework provides us with the basis for interpreting key developments. The methodological setting is a multi-method-design consisting of a comprehensive literature review, a document analysis as well as expert interviews with involved stakeholders. The results shed light on the importance of the EU Internet market, its characteristics and challenges and allow to draw a comprehensive image of the European Union’s performance in regulating network neutrality. Albeit the complex institutional setting slowed down the process, the outcome is characterized by the inclusion of multiple stakeholders and the possibility to adapt legal norms on a dynamic basis.
{"title":"Network neutrality in the European Union: A communications policy process analysis","authors":"Stefan Gadringer","doi":"10.1080/24701475.2020.1749807","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2020.1749807","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Few Internet governance issues raised a similar level of public alertness, as it has been the case with network neutrality. Advocates in favour of strict rules feared the end of the Internet itself, while access providers fought against interferences in their business areas. The regulatory process in the European Union was multi-faceted and faced several key changes and turning points. This paper examines the positions at stake from the emergence of the network neutrality debate in 2009 during the amendment of the Telecom Single Market Directive to its aftermath in 2019. Focussing on the implications for public and private online communication, a normative and social value framework provides us with the basis for interpreting key developments. The methodological setting is a multi-method-design consisting of a comprehensive literature review, a document analysis as well as expert interviews with involved stakeholders. The results shed light on the importance of the EU Internet market, its characteristics and challenges and allow to draw a comprehensive image of the European Union’s performance in regulating network neutrality. Albeit the complex institutional setting slowed down the process, the outcome is characterized by the inclusion of multiple stakeholders and the possibility to adapt legal norms on a dynamic basis.","PeriodicalId":52252,"journal":{"name":"Internet Histories","volume":"4 1","pages":"178 - 195"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2020-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/24701475.2020.1749807","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47154605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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