Can we govern information in cyberspace? This article provides an interesting perspective on the role of law on information in cyberspace. The rhetoric surrounding the internet is that it is a forum for free speech-- the true equalizer in a socioeconomically and educationally divided society. However, increasingly (as we have seen with the Wikileaks debacle), the internet can become a highly political space with different companies, individuals, and groups waging hacking wars on eachother. Companies like Paypal bent to the pressure of the U.S government to cut off service to Wikileaks. Since there is no government of cyberspace nor any due process of law, can the internet provide a truly democratic space? Or is its anarchical system one that encourages confusion and guerilla computing?
"The physical structure of the Internet is still so decentralized and resilient that it serves the purposes of free speech and spreading information. But the larger issues are ones that have been present from the beginning. Even though [the Internet is] transnational, companies are located in physical spaces and can be prosecuted by specific national governments. That is going to continue to be the case, and we're going to see a further balkanization in which governments do what they can in their own space and bump up against what other states are doing in their own space."
- Connie
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