Internet Governance: An Introduction

The Internet has shrunk the world into a global village. It has not only evolved as a preferred medium for communication and information sharing, but also as a medium for entertainment and economic activities, building communities and transacting at professional and personal levels, contributing to the global and local economic development. With nearly one fifth of the world’s population being connected to the Internet conducting millions of transactions every day, a whole new virtual world has evolved on the Internet. Our dependence, as an individual, as a society and as a country, on the Internet need not be overemphasized. This situation raises certain fundamental questions as to who controls the Internet and how the Internet infrastructure and activities on it are governed. These questions introduce us to a widely debated topic – the ‘Internet Governance’. Internet Governance revolves around the control and supervision of the logical and physical infrastructure of the Internet-definition of protocols, control of root servers, and domain name resources etc. It primarily refers to all policies and regulations that influence the way the Internet is structured, the way it works and the way it is used. Major stakeholders involved in Internet Governance – individuals, business organizations, and the countries – interpret it differently and have different connotations and perspectives of it. Issues galore related to the internet Governance are hotly debated among the countries of the world as to what they want and what they do not want, who should control it, and how it has to be governed and so on. This book attempts to provide a clear understanding of the concept, the need and the issues related to the Internet governance, along with various country perspectives of it.