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A widely accepted principle of lawmaking is there should be equivalence between online and offline laws. The application of this principle requires the achievement of functional equivalence, irrespective of whether there is also formal equivalence of wording. However, there are complex barriers, deriving from the nature of the online technologies, to doing so successfully. In many instances the only way to achieve equivalence is via a fundamental reform of offline law. Ultimately, this process will leave little if any room for a separate law of [...] A widely accepted principle of lawmaking is there should be equivalence between online and offline laws. The application of this principle requires the achievement of functional equivalence, irrespective of whether there is also formal equivalence of wording. However, there are complex barriers, deriving from the nature of the online technologies, to doing so successfully. In many instances the only way to achieve equivalence is via a fundamental reform of offline law. Ultimately, this process will leave little if any room for a separate law of [...] The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is assessed in this paper as having a special role in the development of the law of new media, recognising both the importance of its management of the global domain name system and how questions of institutional legitimacy have highlighted the lack of agreement on the role of law in the governance of the global Internet. In order to underline how ICANN’s work relates to the regulation of the Internet and new media in particular., two particular issues are considered, both of which have been the subject of major announcements in 2009: (1) the facilitation of Internet multilingualism through internationalised domain names (IDNs) and (2) an attempt to expand the generic top-level domain (gTLD) system including prospect of dedicated gTLDs such as .xxx. In the case of internationalisation, it is argued that the question of internationalised domain names is best understood through its relation to historical processes of engagement between law, language and [...] The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is assessed in this paper as having a special role in the development of the law of new media, recognising both the importance of its management of the global domain name system and how questions of institutional legitimacy have highlighted the lack of agreement on the role of law in the governance of the global Internet. In order to underline how ICANN’s work relates to the regulation of the Internet and new media in particular., two particular issues are considered, both of which have been the subject of major announcements in 2009: (1) the facilitation of Internet multilingualism through internationalised domain names (IDNs) and (2) an attempt to expand the generic top-level domain (gTLD) system including prospect of dedicated gTLDs such as .xxx. In the case of internationalisation, it is argued that the question of internationalised domain names is best understood through its relation to historical processes of engagement between law, language and [...] This article discusses how and why the locus of the tensions brought about by new information and communications technology (“ICT”) in the global inter-networked society have gone beyond territory, sovereignty and law and why this shift changes the focus of the discussion initially from government to governance, and then ultimately to participation. Free and open source software (“FOSS”) developer communities are used both as case studies and as a critique of existing regulatory approaches to ICT. By showing the profound and sometimes disruptive impact hybrid active subjects like FOSS communities have had on matters relating to regulation, governance and culture, this article explains why there is a need to expand what democracy means and entails in the digital networked [...] |
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