International Law as a Driver of Internet Governance

A special issue of Laws (ISSN 2075-471X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2022) | Viewed by 25807

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Law, University of Zurich, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland
Interests: internet law; internet governance; international finance law; international trade law; information technology law

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues

Internet governance, having been coined as regulatory and policy topic more than 15 years ago, is embedded into international legal regimes. The normative importance is obvious due to the fact that governance issues related to the Internet are influenced by international and national legal frameworks. The integrity of the Internet depends on compliance with generally acknowledged legal principles and concepts. New challenges, such as cybersecurity and cyber stability, require the respective implementation of appropriate rules. The participation of a large variety of actors in Internet matters also necessitates the realization of a multistakeholder model for procedural and substantive matters.

The aim of the Special Issue consists in academic assessments of the relations between different international legal principles and Internet governance debates.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Relevant areas of research may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • International law and internet integrity
  • International legal concepts as foundation for Internet governance
  • Cybersecurity as a new Internet challenge
  • Cyber stability as an objective of Internet governance
  • Chances and challenges of multistakeholderism
  • Models of multistakeholder involvement
  • Due diligence in the context of Internet governance
  • Digital cooperation as new governance model
  • Sovereignty and responsibility in Internet governance

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Rolf H. Weber
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Cybersecurity
  • Cyber Stability
  • Digital Cooperation
  • Due Diligence
  • Global Public Goods
  • International Legal Principles
  • Internet Integrity
  • Multistakeholderism
  • Shared Spaces
  • State Responsibility

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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9 pages, 241 KiB  
Article
Children’s Rights by Design and Internet Governance: Revisiting General Comment No. 25 (2021) on Children’s Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment
by Christian Djeffal
Laws 2022, 11(6), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11060084 - 23 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2624
Abstract
This article reviews how children’s rights can be considered a driver of internet governance based on general comment No. 25 (2021) on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment. This instrument translates the rights derived from the UN Convention on the Rights [...] Read more.
This article reviews how children’s rights can be considered a driver of internet governance based on general comment No. 25 (2021) on children’s rights in relation to the digital environment. This instrument translates the rights derived from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child from the pre-digital era to the application of children’s rights to current issues of digitization. In the introduction, I explain how this general comment was drawn up and what its legal significance is. This article briefly summarizes the content of the general comment and then goes on to discuss the main impacts of this instrument on internet governance, namely, substantial shifts, children’s rights by design, the law’s binding nature, and participation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue International Law as a Driver of Internet Governance)
22 pages, 597 KiB  
Article
Governing Cross-Border Data Flows: International Trade Agreements and Their Limits
by Yik-Chan Chin and Jingwu Zhao
Laws 2022, 11(4), 63; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11040063 - 16 Aug 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 15230
Abstract
In modern international competition and cooperation, digital trade rules centered on the cross-border flow of data have become a competitive advantage for countries. Under the guidance of commercial freedom, the United States chooses to actively promote the free flow of data across borders. [...] Read more.
In modern international competition and cooperation, digital trade rules centered on the cross-border flow of data have become a competitive advantage for countries. Under the guidance of commercial freedom, the United States chooses to actively promote the free flow of data across borders. The European Union has placed the protection of personal data rights before the cross-border flow of data through the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and developing countries generally reserve space for industry policy interpretation. As one of the world’s largest economies, facing the needs of domestic industrial development and the pressure of international systems, China’s cross-border data flows’ policy is to ensure data flows under the premise of security, protection of personal information, seek international coordination of rules, and the freedom of transmission. The key question, therefore, is how to facilitate interoperability or find a middle ground among the divergent approaches in order to avoid the fragmentation of the digital trade system. The article suggests that a thin and narrowly scoped WTO agreement on e-commerce rules on cross-border data flows with sufficient policy space to accommodate different needs, policy preferences and priorities, and local contexts via legitimate exception provisions would be a welcome movement. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue International Law as a Driver of Internet Governance)
13 pages, 236 KiB  
Article
Peaceful Settlement of Interstate Online Disputes
by Joanna Kulesza
Laws 2022, 11(3), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11030049 - 8 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4251
Abstract
This paper covers the existing international law toolbox on peaceful settlement of disputes and its application to online conflicts. It reiterates the existing measures of diplomatic and judicial measures to address differing positions of states and non-state actors as well as their applicability [...] Read more.
This paper covers the existing international law toolbox on peaceful settlement of disputes and its application to online conflicts. It reiterates the existing measures of diplomatic and judicial measures to address differing positions of states and non-state actors as well as their applicability for the unique online environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue International Law as a Driver of Internet Governance)

Other

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13 pages, 1014 KiB  
Concept Paper
Public–Private Interactions in Privacy Governance
by Shin-yi Peng
Laws 2022, 11(6), 80; https://doi.org/10.3390/laws11060080 - 26 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2580
Abstract
This paper addresses the possible roles of private actors when privacy paradigms are in flux. If the traditional “informed consent”-based government-dominated approaches are ill-suited to the big data ecosystem, can private governance fill the gap created by state regulation? In reality, how is [...] Read more.
This paper addresses the possible roles of private actors when privacy paradigms are in flux. If the traditional “informed consent”-based government-dominated approaches are ill-suited to the big data ecosystem, can private governance fill the gap created by state regulation? In reality, how is public–private partnership being implemented in the privacy protection frameworks? This paper uses cases from APEC’s Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as models for exploration. The analysis in this paper demonstrates the fluidity of interactions across public and private governance realms. Self-regulation and state regulation are opposing ends of a regulatory continuum, with CBPR-type “collaboration” and GDPR-type “coordination” falling somewhere in the middle. The author concludes that there is an evident gap between private actors’ potential governing functions and their current roles in privacy protection regimes. Looking to the future, technological developments and market changes call for further public–private convergence in privacy governance, allowing the public authority and the private sector to simultaneously reshape global privacy norms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue International Law as a Driver of Internet Governance)
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