Network Sovereignty
A Network Sovereignty is a digital sovereigntye that involves the efforts of a governing body, such as a state, to establish and enforce boundaries within a network, exerting control over the flow of information within these boundaries to maintain state sovereignty over its digital domain.
- Context:
- It can (typically) involve Internet Governance to regulate the activities within its digital boundaries.
- It can (often) lead to laws and regulations that control data and information flow within a state's borders.
- It can range from minimal interference in data flow to comprehensive surveillance and control.
- It can (often) be influenced by national security concerns, thus affecting both domestic and international data flows.
- It can lead to debates on Information Privacy and the balance between control and freedom in the digital space.
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- Example(s):
- an Internet governance policy that restricts access to certain international websites within a country, demonstrating network sovereignty by controlling digital content accessed by its citizens.
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- Counter-Example(s):
- Data Soveignty
- Internet Service Providers operating independently of state control and regulations, without any imposed boundaries on the network they manage.
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- See: Internet Governance, State (Polity), State Sovereignty, Internet, Cyberspace, Joel R. Reidenberg, Information Privacy, EU, Data Protection Directive, UK, Data Protection Act 1998, National Security.
References
2024
- (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_sovereignty Retrieved:2024-5-11.
- In internet governance, network sovereignty, also called digital sovereignty or cyber sovereignty, is the effort of a governing entity, such as a state, to create boundaries on a network and then exert a form of control, often in the form of law enforcement over such boundaries.
Much like states invoke sole power over their physical territorial boundaries, state sovereignty, such governing bodies also invoke sole power within the network boundaries they set and claim network sovereignty. In the context of the Internet, the intention is to govern the web and control it within the borders of the state. Often, that is witnessed as states seeking to control all information flowing into and within their borders.
The concept stems from questions of how states can maintain law over an entity such like the Internet, whose infrastructure exists in real space, but its entity itself exists in the intangible cyberspace. According to Joel Reidenberg, "Networks have key attributes of sovereignty: participant/citizens via service provider membership agreements, 'constitutional' rights through contractual terms of service, and police powers through taxation (fees) and system operator sanctions." Indeed, many countries have pushed to ensure the protection of their citizens' privacy and of internal business longevity by data protection and information privacy legislation (see the EU's Data Protection Directive, the UK's Data Protection Act 1998).
Network sovereignty has implications for state security, Internet governance, and the users of the Internet's national and international networks.
- In internet governance, network sovereignty, also called digital sovereignty or cyber sovereignty, is the effort of a governing entity, such as a state, to create boundaries on a network and then exert a form of control, often in the form of law enforcement over such boundaries.