Who Watches The Watchmen?

Simon Yeoman asks: is it time to regulate the internet or can it be left to its own devices?

- Simon Yeoman

While the internet remains an overwhelming force for good, a number of recent events have led to some very serious questions being asked about its future direction and how it could be ‘reset’ to work in a better way for everyone going forward. Various utopian and dystopian visions of the internet have been suggested and some of these may hinge on the future role played by the tech giants that are currently dominating the industry.

We may look back on this time as the tipping point. Genuine questions are being raised about how best to manage the internet’s challenges, and whether the internet itself needs to be redesigned.

There are two ways to address these challenges: we either reform the technology of the internet itself – essentially resetting it – or we find a way to regulate what we already have. Most likely we will need a combination of both approaches, so let’s look at these in turn.

SELF-REGULATION OR GOVERNMENT INFLUENCE?

The main argument made against government regulation is that it’s hard to regulate something that crosses international boundaries and isn’t centrally controlled. Other than ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), there are no global internet authorities that are solely responsible for our internet experience. There is nothing an individual government can do to meaningfully influence the internet, and even those countries that attempt to impose some levels of control or censorship can only do so much.