Framing the Net - How Discourse Shapes Law and Culture PhD dissertation submitted at Roskilde University Department of Communication, Business and Information Technologies September 2011, Copenhagen By Rikke Frank Jørgensen 2 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Danish Summary ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8 List of Key Research Notions................................................................................................................................................ 10 List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................................. 12 1. MOTIVATION AND RESEARCH AIM ................................................................................ 14 2. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................... 16 Research Design ................................................................................................................................................................. 16 Philosophical Foundation ................................................................................................................................................... 18 The Notion of Metaphors .................................................................................................................................................... 20 Construction of Research Metaphors .................................................................................................................................. 21 My Role in Internet Policy .................................................................................................................................................. 23 Case Studies ........................................................................................................................................................................ 24 Selection of Cases ............................................................................................................................................................... 26 Data Collection and Analysis.............................................................................................................................................. 27 Uganda Case Study ............................................................................................................................................................. 29 Wikipedia Case Study ......................................................................................................................................................... 30 3. THE INFORMATION SOCIETY .......................................................................................... 32 The Notion of an Information Society ................................................................................................................................ 32 Redistribution of Power ...................................................................................................................................................... 34 Modernity and Complexity ................................................................................................................................................. 36 Social Systems .................................................................................................................................................................... 37 The Role of Communication ............................................................................................................................................... 38 Internet as a Hypercomplex Structural Match .................................................................................................................... 39 4. HUMAN RIGHTS AND ICT POLICY .................................................................................. 41 Human Rights Basics .......................................................................................................................................................... 41 A Civil Society Perspective ................................................................................................................................................ 45 An Institutional Perspective ................................................................................................................................................ 51 A Business Perspective ....................................................................................................................................................... 58 A Research Perspective ...................................................................................................................................................... 60 The Impact of Human Rights on Global ICT Policy .......................................................................................................... 62 5. THEORIZING PUBLIC AND PRIVATE .............................................................................. 64 The Notion of Public and Private ........................................................................................................................................ 64 Public and Private Law ....................................................................................................................................................... 65 Public and Private as Different Domains of Society ........................................................................................................... 66 Public and Private as a Status Ascribed to Activities or Information ................................................................................. 70 Public and Private – From a Human Rights Perspective .................................................................................................... 73 3 6. FRAMING THE NET ........................................................................................................... 79 Introduction......................................................................................................................................................................... 79 Net as Infrastructure ............................................................................................................................................................. 80 From Military Research to Public Infrastructure ................................................................................................................ 81 Summing up on the Conceptualization of the Net as Infrastructure ................................................................................... 83 Policy Issues Related to the Infrastructure Framing ........................................................................................................... 84 Net as Public Sphere .............................................................................................................................................................. 93 The Notion of a Public Sphere ............................................................................................................................................ 94 Internet as Public Sphere .................................................................................................................................................... 97 Multiple Publics ................................................................................................................................................................ 100 Decentered Political Authority ......................................................................................................................................... 101 Public Sphere as Public Life ............................................................................................................................................. 102 Summing up on the Conceptualization of the Net as Public Sphere ................................................................................. 102 Policy Issues related to the Public Sphere Framing .......................................................................................................... 103 Net as Media ......................................................................................................................................................................... 116 The Concept of Media ...................................................................................................................................................... 117 Media Theory .................................................................................................................................................................... 117 Internet as a New Media ................................................................................................................................................... 118 Media and Publicness ....................................................................................................................................................... 120 Summing up on the Conceptualization of the Net as Media ............................................................................................