Event recap: Who governs the Internet?

During a discussion on “Who governs the Internet”, Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda noted that “The Internet is a platform for the creation and distribution of wealth.” If anyone knows this, it is Ambassador Sepulveda, who through his role as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and US Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy actively engages with government officials from all over the world -- all of whom seem to have a keen understanding that the Internet brings innovation and creativity that benefit individuals, civil society, and local economies.

This universal understanding of the benefits of the Internet is good news seeing as we’ve heard quite a bit lately about challenges the Internet has brought to the diplomatic table; countries pushing for data localization, raising privacy concerns, blocking social networks, and trying to keep up in the fight against cybercrime. The Internet governance landscape has entered a period of transformation. As pointed out by ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker, technological change is continuously testing the boundaries of organizational and political assumptions, and the policy framework must adjust. But even in this period of upheaval, it is not completely clear why Internet governance -- a relatively technical and bureaucratic issue -- should be receiving as much attention as it has recently. American University Professor and author Laura DeNardis said it best: “Arrangements of technical architecture are always arrangements of power.”

Perhaps the public is realizing that there is an awful lot of power in those Internet connections?