Regulating the Global Information Society

Description

The impact of digital computing and communications technology has transformed information and transaction costs in socio-economic structures, creating new contingent social and, latterly, business models. With the exponential growth in e-commerce and household mass usage of the Internet, the regulation and ordering of global communities and commerce is being shaped for the structural transformation of national and regional entities into an economy increasingly characterised as 'Information Society', in which sovereignty, regulation and power relationships are dynamic, interdependent and increasingly complex. This book provides a framework for understanding this transformation. The contributors examine the legal, political, economic and sociological aspects of the regulation of digital communications networks, which are borderless by nature and potentially constitute the first truly global industry. Basing their discussion on a variety of subjects, including the US v. Microsoft antitrust trial, the Internet domain name controversy and the Millennium world trade round, they provide a holistic insight into the broad range of areas which are united by the common theme of the regulation of the Global Information Society. Issues addressed in the volume include: * whether the internet can or should be regulated * the role of national, regional and global institutions in such regulation * which policy areas will determine the future direction of the GIS * whether the GIS is a public or private space, governed by democratic or private corporate interests * the appropriate role for self-regulation of standards in the GIS. This original volume provides a valuable insight into policymaking in the GIS and is an indispensable guide to the most prominent and salient aspects of the current debates on this subject. It is an essential resource for all those interested in the implication of these debates in fields including Law, Politics, Economics and Communications Studies. Christopher T. Marsden University of Warwick, UK, Richard Higgott University of Warwick, UK, Steven D. Anderman University of Essex, UK, Jonathan Aronson, Fod Barnes

"This anthology concerns the many sources of conflict associated with computers and communication networks in the international economy and efforts to resolve such disputes. The subject is one of overwhelming complexity.... Many of the authors represented here are participants in national and international conflict resolution efforts, and they have long lists of academic and professional publications. Overall, the quality of the articles is very high, and a majority are very detailed and extraordinarily well documented. The best concentrate on particular subjects such as antitrust law.."-"Perspectives on Political Science