Internet governance comprises three `layers' of governance—the layer of `physical infrastructure' through which information travels, the `code' or `logical' layer that controls the infrastructure, and the `content' layer which comprises the information that is transmitted through the network. The jurisdictional conflict has led to a series of arguments against any kind of regulation. The universal Internet transactions occur simultaneously and equally in all national jurisdictions, and regulating it with any particular national jurisdiction may have negative spillover effects on other jurisdictions. In this context, deterring and punishing cyber criminals require a legal structure that can support detection and successful prosecution of the offenders. Apart from technical and legal challenges, the law enforcement agencies also face certain operational challenges. The rapid technological advancements in computer related crimes demand special officers with technical knowledge to carry out investigation and prosecution on the offenders.

The national governments have the authority to restrict their citizens from accessing certain content by blocking the websites which provide banned content. This kind of restriction is justified under the pretext of ensuring protection to cultural diversity, in compliance with the local laws, or in preventing restrictive trade practices by foreign companies and such other activities. Ensuring privacy compliance with domestic laws of different countries to the users and safeguarding them against anti-social elements are the major issues of concern in Internet governance. The laws that are applicable against hate speech, libel, fraud, child pornography and other offences are equally applicable when similar offences are committed over the Internet.

The major areas of Internet governance are cyber crimes, open standards, Internet rights, access, freedom of expression and online participation for rural communities. The Internet Governance Forum, held by the UN in the year 2006, discussed four broad issues—openness to consider freedom of expression and free flow of ideas and information on the Internet, security to the users and the networks, cultural and linguistic diversity, and access issues. The issues related to public policy are to be managed at the national level, excepting a few which need intergovernmental cooperation. Examples of such issues are ensuring the integrity and stability of the country domain names, national Internet infrastructure, etc. Supervision of the Internet involves both technical and public policy matters, with the involvement of all stakeholders and relevant intergovernmental and international organizations. The private sector, civil society and intergovernmental organizations have a role to play in the development of Internet-related technical standards and relevant policies. National governments have the ultimate authority to decide whether the outcome of the intergovernmental cooperation is to be implemented or not.

Internet poses several challenges from the legal, technological, economic, political and cultural domains. The issues related to global Internet governance include uncertainties regarding the creation, improvement or adaptation of global mechanisms to deal with the fast-growing Internet regime. Internet governance refers to the application of rules, norms and decision-making procedures. Various organizations that regulate the infrastructure and the transmission of information and content on the Internet include the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) of the US, the Internet Society (ISOC), and the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs). ICANN has a limited but defined global role in governing the Internet regime. The regulatory organizations of the UN include the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG). IETF of the US, formed in the year 1976, aims at developing and promoting Internet standards. Internet Protocol (IP) addresses have four RIRs—the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) for North America, the Reseaux IP Europeans Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) for Europe, the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) for the Asia-Pacific region, the Latin American Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC) for Latin America and the Caribbean region, and a new African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) to manage allocation for Africa. Internet governance involves a wide range of issues reflecting a conflict of the Internet regime. Governance of information society is determined by various factors like social, economic and political structures. Some of the organizations concerned with Internet governance are the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), ICANN, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) proposed to relax access barriers to other spectrum bands and to encourage the use of converged Wi-Fi/GSM handsets, which can dramatically lead to the leverage of the benefits of the new wireless technologies and establish India as one of the policy pioneers in this area. The emergence of Internet telephony, the use of Internet infrastructure for the partial or full routing of voice calls—often referred to as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)—is another new regulatory challenge at the intersection of Internet and conventional telecommunications policies. India adopted a licensing regime for VoIP in 2002, and as of December 2003, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) have been granted a license for this service. With regard to content-related governance issues, India is also confronted with virus attacks and cyber crimes. The required legal framework is still evolving in many Asia-Pacific countries and there are no specific legal provisions to address the issues related to spam.

G Usha
Consulting Editor