This is a multidisciplinary work that encompasses considerations of politics, regulation and technology. It considers the impact of technology on the way in which, politically, we are able to regulate technology and how we devise policy to guide that regulation. The added complication is that Internet technology knows no jurisdiction. The rulemaking established in recent years is globally applicable and is carried out without the direct involvement of national governments in the key decision making processes, particularly in the environment under examination here which focuses on the management of the technical resources of the Internet. In formulating the hypothesis that grounds this work, I have focused on two things. Firstly, that technical regulation has political, and therefore, policy implications. Secondly, that where there are policy implications with direct commercial impact, we can expect to see the vigorous involvement of corporations as they manage the environment in which they do business. These two critical conditions have driven the formulation of policies and procedures for making decisions about Internet governance. They have also driven the actual decisions which have been implemented, to a greater or lesser degree of success. This research contributes to the scholarship in four significant ways. The first is that the Internet Domain Name System (IDNS) and its governance present a new perspective on the discussion of the globalisation of business regulation. The data used to support the analysis has not been collated or examined previously and is presented here to illustrate the extension of the literature and to frame the hypothesis. The second is that I have found that national governments have, despite ongoing control within their national jurisdiction, little effective influence over the management and governance of the Domain Name System (DNS) at an international level. Thirdly, I have found that corporations have significant power to determine the way in which policies for the management of the technical resources of the Internet are discussed, developed to consensus policy positions, implemented and reviewed. Finally, the research has opened up new lines of inquiry into the rise of a new class of bureaucrats, the cosmocrats and their cosmocracy, on which further research continues.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Syracuse University, 2008. / "Publication number: AAT 3333579."

O objetivo desse trabalho é relacionar o tema da Governança da Internet com a literatura de análise de Sistema-Mundo, focando na forma como a expansão da Internet afeta as estruturas de poder nas relações internacionais. A pesquisa visa contribuir para a agenda de pesquisa no Brasil sobre a melhor compreensão da prática da Governança da Internet no mundo. Nesse sentido, a problemática que motivou essa pesquisa parte dos questionamentos de quem governa a Governança da Internet. Quais os grupos de interesses que disputam e moldam as diferentes áreas de governanças da Internet e sua arquitetura? Como que as práticas reais da governança da Internet impactam as relações entre o centro e periferia das relações internacionais? A metodologia empregada, para tanto, foi uma revisão bibliográfica referente ao desenvolvimento da Internet, seu histórico, características funcionalidades técnicas; análise documental; e observação participante em fóruns e atividades de organizações que constituem o denominado ecossistema da Internet. Como referencial teórico, o trabalho utiliza Teoria de Redes e análise de Sistema-Mundo. O trabalho introduz algumas noções sobre a construção, evolução da Internet e de como ela funciona para evidenciar os contornos geográficos que a arquitetura da Internet possui devido a concentração assimétrica do controle sobre alguns nodos. A partir disso, apresenta a Internet enquanto uma das sínteses entre o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias e da retomada de um movimento de cercamento dos bens comuns intangíveis, na medida em que ela é, ao mesmo tempo, causa e consequência desse processo que influencia a reorganização do capitalismo. Por fim, apresentando como considerações finais algumas ponderações sobre a discussão acumulada ao longo da dissertação, sugerindo uma agenda de pesquisa para aprofundar questões levantadas nesse trabalho. / The objective of this work it to relate the Inernet Governance thematic with the World-System Analysis literature, focusing on how the Internet expansion influence the powers structures of International Relations. The research aims to contribute for the research agenda in Brazil about a better comprehension of the Internet Governance practice in the world. In this sense, the motivation of this research parts from questioning whom governs the Internet Governance. Witch groups of interest dispute and shape the different areas of Internet Governance and its architecture? How the real Internet Governance practice impact the relation between center and periphery in international relations? The methodology used, therefore, was a bibliography review on Internet development, its history, technical functions; documental analysis; and participant observation in forums and activities of organizations that constitutes the so called Internet ecosystem. As theoretical framework, the work use the Network Theory and System- World Analysis. The work introduce some notions about the Internet construction and evolution, and how it works, to to highlight the geographical contours that the architecture of the Internet has due to asymmetric concentration of control over some nodes. From this, presents the Internet as one of the synthesis between the development of new technologies and the resumption of a movement of enclosure of the intangible Commons, as it is both cause and consequence of this process which influences the reorganization of capitalism. At last, presents as final considerations some thoughts about the discussion accumulated along the dissertation discussion, suggesting a research agenda to study issues raised in this work.

O objetivo desse trabalho é relacionar o tema da Governança da Internet com a literatura de análise de Sistema-Mundo, focando na forma como a expansão da Internet afeta as estruturas de poder nas relações internacionais. A pesquisa visa contribuir para a agenda de pesquisa no Brasil sobre a melhor compreensão da prática da Governança da Internet no mundo. Nesse sentido, a problemática que motivou essa pesquisa parte dos questionamentos de quem governa a Governança da Internet. Quais os grupos de interesses que disputam e moldam as diferentes áreas de governanças da Internet e sua arquitetura? Como que as práticas reais da governança da Internet impactam as relações entre o centro e periferia das relações internacionais? A metodologia empregada, para tanto, foi uma revisão bibliográfica referente ao desenvolvimento da Internet, seu histórico, características funcionalidades técnicas; análise documental; e observação participante em fóruns e atividades de organizações que constituem o denominado ecossistema da Internet. Como referencial teórico, o trabalho utiliza Teoria de Redes e análise de Sistema-Mundo. O trabalho introduz algumas noções sobre a construção, evolução da Internet e de como ela funciona para evidenciar os contornos geográficos que a arquitetura da Internet possui devido a concentração assimétrica do controle sobre alguns nodos. A partir disso, apresenta a Internet enquanto uma das sínteses entre o desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias e da retomada de um movimento de cercamento dos bens comuns intangíveis, na medida em que ela é, ao mesmo tempo, causa e consequência desse processo que influencia a reorganização do capitalismo. Por fim, apresentando como considerações finais algumas ponderações sobre a discussão acumulada ao longo da dissertação, sugerindo uma agenda de pesquisa para aprofundar questões levantadas nesse trabalho. / The objective of this work it to relate the Inernet Governance thematic with the World-System Analysis literature, focusing on how the Internet expansion influence the powers structures of International Relations. The research aims to contribute for the research agenda in Brazil about a better comprehension of the Internet Governance practice in the world. In this sense, the motivation of this research parts from questioning whom governs the Internet Governance. Witch groups of interest dispute and shape the different areas of Internet Governance and its architecture? How the real Internet Governance practice impact the relation between center and periphery in international relations? The methodology used, therefore, was a bibliography review on Internet development, its history, technical functions; documental analysis; and participant observation in forums and activities of organizations that constitutes the so called Internet ecosystem. As theoretical framework, the work use the Network Theory and System- World Analysis. The work introduce some notions about the Internet construction and evolution, and how it works, to to highlight the geographical contours that the architecture of the Internet has due to asymmetric concentration of control over some nodes. From this, presents the Internet as one of the synthesis between the development of new technologies and the resumption of a movement of enclosure of the intangible Commons, as it is both cause and consequence of this process which influences the reorganization of capitalism. At last, presents as final considerations some thoughts about the discussion accumulated along the dissertation discussion, suggesting a research agenda to study issues raised in this work.

This dissertation will examine the question of whether internet neutrality is protected within the current South African legal framework and secondly whether or not internet neutrality should be protected when considering the policy advantages and disadvantages that it presents. Due to the fact that the arguments in support as well as against internet neutrality fundamentally originate from broadly two different and distinct philosophical approaches, this paper starts off with a historical analysis of the development of the internet. This is followed by a discussion of the nature of rights vis-à-vis the question of whether access to the internet can be considered as a fundamental human and/or legal right. After discussing both the history of the internet and the nature of rights in the context of the subject matter of this paper, the paper turns to the policy of internet neutrality itself. The paper compares the differing approaches followed by firstly the USA and secondly the EU with regards to internet neutrality, specifically in relation to consumer rights, competition law and corporate transparency. At the end of the paper, current South African consumer rights protection and competition law are analysed in order to determine whether or not the existing regulations afford adequate protect against potential abuses of data discrimination by ISPs. The debate regarding internet neutrality potentially affects each and every jurisdiction throughout the world where internet users accesses the internet. Not only is internet neutrality therefore a policy consideration all over the world but the policy consideration is one that should be answered through multidisciplinary research and inputs. It is therefore important to note that this research paper is written from a legal perspective and is merely a contribution to a policy question (namely that of internet neutrality) that has to be considered through the lenses of various academic fields. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Mercantile Law / LLM / Unrestricted

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a hybrid organization managing the most critical Internet infrastructure - the Domain Name System. ICANN represents a new, emerging Internet self-governance model in which the private sector takes the lead and the government sector plays a more marginal role. Little is known, however, about what is actually happening in this new organization. The dissertation (a) systematically assesses ICANN's overall performance based on a set of evaluative criteria drawn from its mission statements; (b) explores possible factors and actors that influence ICANN's overall performance by tracing the governance processes in three cases based on a preliminary conceptual framework; and (c) suggests practical and theoretical implications of ICANN's governance and performance in its broader institutional context. The study finds that although differing governance processes have led to different performance outcomes (Lynn et al. 2000), "stability" has been the defining value that has shaped the overall path of ICANN's governance and performance. The study characterizes ICANN as a conservative hybrid captured, based on specific issues, by the technical and governmental communities. It also proposes the concept of "technical capture" to suggest how technical experts can have significant, but often implicit, influence over the policy development process in organizations. / Ph. D.

IPv6, a new Internet protocol designed to exponentially increase the global availability of Internet addresses, has served as a locus for incendiary international tensions over control of the Internet. Esoteric technical standards such as IPv6, on the surface, appear not socially significant. The technical community selecting IPv6 claimed to have excised sociological considerations from what they considered an objective technical design decision. Far from neutrality, however, the development and adoption of IPv6 intersects with contentious international issues ranging from tensions between the United Nations and the United States, power struggles between international standards authorities, U.S. military objectives, international economic competition, third world development objectives, and the promise of global democratic freedoms. This volume examines IPv6 in three overlapping epochs: the selection of IPv6 within the Internet's standards setting community; the adoption and promotion of IPv6 by various stakeholders; and the history of the administration and distribution of the finite technical resources of Internet addresses. How did IPv6 become the answer to presumed address scarcity? What were the alternatives? Once developed, stakeholders expressed diverse and sometimes contradictory expectations for IPv6. Japan, the European Union, China, India, and Korea declared IPv6 adoption a national priority and an opportunity to become more competitive in an American-dominated Internet economy. IPv6 activists espoused an ideological belief in IPv6, linking the standard with democratization, the eradication of poverty, and other social objectives. The U.S., with ample addresses, adopted a laissez-faire approach to IPv6 with the exception of the Department of Defense, which mandated an upgrade to the new standard to bolster distributed warfare capability. The history of IPv6 includes the history of the distribution of the finite technical resources of "IP addresses," globally unique binary numbers required for devices to exchange information via the Internet. How was influence over IP address allocation and control distributed globally? This history of IPv6 explains what's at stake economically, politically, and technically in the development and adoption of IPv6, suggesting a theoretical nexus between technical standards and politics and arguing that views lauding the Internet standards process for its participatory design approach ascribe unexamined legitimacy to a somewhat closed process. / Ph. D.

La thèse se propose de définir un modèle de valorisation des noms de domaine, ces identifiants numériques sur Internet.Identifiants numériques assimilables à des numéros de série évolués, les noms de domaine ont été dévoyés de leur fonction principale au cours des trente dernières années, jusqu’à devenir aujurd’hui des actifs immatériels faisant l’objet de transactions importantes, atteignant plusieurs millions de dollars.De la création des extensions de noms de domaine à leur délégation, nous verrons comment les chartes de nommage et la gouvernance d’Internet ont affecté la nature et le positionnement des noms de domaine d’un point de venue technique et économique. Dans un deuxième temps nous verrons les différentes méthodes de valorisation existantes et nous en sélectionnerons une afin de l’appliquer pour les noms de domaine.Dans le cadre de l’expérimentation associée, nous chercherons à définir des tendances de valeur, des corrélations et nous chercherons à déterminer si la valeur des noms de domaine s’avère être prédictive.Enfin, nous proposerons une méthode de valorisation des noms de domaine basée sur cette expérimentation ainsi que différents outils permettant de gérer au mieux un parc de noms de domaine comme c’est fréquemment le cas au sein de grandes sociétés / The thesis aims to define a model for valuing domain names, these digital identifiers on the Internet. Digital identifiers that can be likened to advanced serial numbers, domain names have been diverted from their main function over the past thirty years, until today they have become intangible assets that are the subject of major transactions, reaching several million dollars.From the creation of domain name extensions to their delegation, we will see how naming charters and Internet governance have affected the nature and positioning of domain names from a technical and economic point of view. In a second step we will look at the different existing valuation methods and select one in order to apply it to domain names.As part of the associated experimentation, we will seek to define value trends, correlations and determine whether the value of domain names is predictive. Finally, we will propose a method for valuing domain names based on this experimentation as well as various tools to better manage a fleet of domain names, as is often the case in large companies.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:27:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Raquel Fortes Gatto.pdf: 644719 bytes, checksum: 29d38a4644e8a18e4b4c88b0d04ca1df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-05-16 / The Information Society has been changed by the Technological Revolution and its main element: Internet, which leads to the revision of the traditional social and legal standards, such as the sovereignty and international players, facing the virtual reality challenges. The Internet is an international public good or an space with no borders that reaches all mankind. The Internet Governance claims that all countries set a consensus about the cyberspace having multiple sovereignties but none in particular, such as the Sea Convention (Montego-Bay Agreement). The Internet Governance mechanisms includes technical (Internet standards and protocols), social (social boundaries, virtual communities, digital divide), economical (electronic commerce, technology access), legal, and others. The Internet Governance players are: governments, private sector, civil society and international organizations. This research has the objective to discuss the sovereignty concept all the way through the history of Internet Governance mechanisms. The methodology concerns the bibliographical review. The scientific literature available is short, due to the fact that Internet is a recent phenomenon. Data resources are documents from the international events (World Summit on Information Society and Internet Governance Forum); Internet governance organizations (Internet Engineering Task Force and ICANN); and interviews with Internet specialists. In conclusion, there is no break face the actual sovereignty concept, although there is some new characteristics such as the multistakeholder participation throughout the soft law / A Sociedade da Informação, marcada pela Revolução Tecnológica cujo ápice é o surgimento da Internet, demanda a revisão das instituições jurídico-sociais tradicionais, como os conceitos de soberania e atores no cenário internacional, adequando-se aos novos desafios impostos pela realidade virtual. Constata-se que a Internet é um domínio público global, ou seja, um espaço sem fronteiras que a todos afeta. A governança da Internet demanda que os países estabeleçam um consenso no qual o espaço cibernético comporte as múltiplas soberanias sem pertencer a uma só, nos moldes da Convenção do Mar. Os mecanismos de governança da Internet abarcam os aspectos técnicos (padrões e protocolos da rede de computadores), sociais (vínculos sócio-afetivos, comunidades virtuais, inclusão digital), econômicos (comércio eletrônico, acesso à tecnologia), jurídicos, dentre outros. Participam da governança da Internet os diversos atores: governo, iniciativa privada, sociedade civil e organismos internacionais. O presente trabalho tem por objetivo discutir sobre o conceito de soberania e sua aplicabilidade na trajetória evolutiva dos mecanismos de governança da Internet. Como metodologia de pesquisa foi utilizada a revisão bibliográfica. A literatura científica disponível é reduzida, salientando a escassez de trabalhos acadêmicos justificada por se tratar de um fenômeno recente. Ainda como fonte dos dados foi incluídos os documentos produzidos em eventos internacionais, tais como a Cúpula Mundial da Sociedade da Informação e o Fórum Mundial da Governança da Internet; relatórios de organismos de gestão da Internet (a Força Tarefa da Engenharia da Internet e a ICANN); e entrevistas verbais com especialistas. Conclui-se que não houve a ruptura com o conceito atual de soberania, mas a inclusão de algumas características como a governança pluralista (ou multistakeholder), realizada através de normas flexíveis (ou Soft Law)

A criação e a popularização da Internet pelo mundo levaram à institucionalização de uma realidade de governança descentralizada e multifacetada, que toca diversos regimes internacionais vigentes, arregimenta uma pluralidade quase infinita de stakeholders e conta com grande protagonismo de atores privados. A governança global da Internet diz respeito ao endereçamento dos dispositivos computacionais terminais e nucleares que integram a Internet e às tarefas de transmissão, roteamento e comutação de pacotes de dados de uma ponta à outra da Rede. Tais tarefas técnicas permeiam inevitavelmente a tensão existente entre, de um lado, o caráter global de fluxos e transações que ocorrem através da Internet, e, de outro, a vinculação territorial da infraestrutura, dos usuários e dos provedores de bens e serviços relativos à Internet. Isso os submete a diferentes jurisdições soberanas e regimes regulatórios nacionais e internacionais, e impõe desafios de coordenação da ação coletiva no campo das políticas públicas em diferentes níveis: da governança internacional das telecomunicações em sentido estrito à própria governança política no plano global, passando, inclusive, pela governança política no âmbito das poliarquias contemporâneas. Este trabalho responde ao seguinte problema de pesquisa: como a governança da Internet insere-se no contexto do desenvolvimento histórico da Era Digital? O que explica o regime internacional de governança da Internet vigente? Que assimetrias de poder caracterizam a governança global da Internet e as disputas políticas em torno de seu perfil institucional na atualidade? A pesquisa empregou os métodos de análise contextual e de rastreamento histórico de processos políticos, dos quais derivaram as seguintes técnicas de investigação: revisão de literatura e análise documental; participação presencial e remota em eventos científicos e de articulação política sobre o tema; acompanhamento etnográfico de fóruns on line sobre governança da Internet; e entrevistas com atores selecionados. O trabalho divide-se em três grandes partes. Na primeira, são apresentados os conceitos fundamentais para a compreensão deste estudo e sua articulação ao contexto sistêmico observável na política internacional, a fim de introduzir o papel central da Internet nas disputas políticas em torno da ecologia institucional da Era Digital. Na segunda parte, procura-se descrever, em perspectiva histórica, os diferentes formatos institucionais assumidos pela governança da Internet até os dias atuais e apresentam-se as implicações decorrentes para o estudo das relações internacionais. A terceira parte procura explicar a paralisia do desenvolvimento institucional da governança da Rede na primeira década do século XXI e propõe a reinterpretação do fenômeno a partir de uma crítica à abordagem do institucionalismo econômico de matriz racionalista, que se firmou como a principal concepção teórica voltada a orientar normativamente a evolução da governança da Internet. A crítica reinsere a matriz histórica da teoria institucional e a matriz realista ao estudo de regimes internacionais e da governança global. Em conclusão, alerta-se para os riscos que uma abordagem liberal-anárquica tem para que a governança global da Internet seja efetuada de forma verdadeiramente democrática, equitativamente pluriparticipativa e efetivamente habilitadora do desenvolvimento humano. Ao fim, projeta-se a continuação da pesquisa. / The creation and spread of the Internet throughout the World have led to the institutionalization of a decentralized and multifaceted governance reality, which is related to several other international regimes, comprised of a myriad of stakeholders and marked by the leading role of private actors. Internet’s global governance is basically related to the task of addressing computers and networks, as well as transmitting, routing and commuting data packets between terminals. Those technical tasks are inherently related to the tension that exists between, on the one hand, the global character of data flows and transactions that are carried through the Internet and, on the other, the territoriality of infrastructure, users, and Internet goods, services and application providers, which links them to sovereign jurisdictions and regulatory regimes (national and international). Therefore, Internet governance involves challenges of coordinating collective action in the field of public policies on different levels: from the stricter field of telecommunications governance to the wider field of global governance, touching upon political governance in contemporary polyarchies. This dissertation provides an answer to the following research question: How is Internet governance related to the historical development of the Digital Era? What explains the characteristics of the existing regime for Internet global governance? And what power asymmetries and political struggles define that regime? The investigation employed contextual analysis and process tracing with the support of literature and documentation review, remote and in loco participation in scientific and political events; on line ethnography of different deliberative fora; selected interviews. Three main parts integrate this research report: The first presents some basic concepts for the comprehension of the study. These concepts are articulated with the systemic context that characterizes their development as a way of defining the central role of the Internet in current political struggles over the institutional ecology of the Digital Era. The second presents a historical perspective of the institutional development of Internet governance, highlighting the implications of that development for the study of International Relations. The last part explains the institutional development paralysis that marked the first decade of the 2000s by proposing the reinterpretation of the regime’s trajectory through a critique of the rational institutional approach, which has become consolidated as the main theoretical framework to provide normative guidance for the future of Internet governance. The critique draws upon the historical streams of institutional theory and the realist approach to international regimes and global governance in the field of International Politics. In conclusion, the report underlines the risks that liberal-anarchic solutions present for a truly democratic, fair, multi-stakeholder and development-oriented Internet governance. In the end, the furtherance of the research is detailed.