Looking to the Internet for models of governance

Abstract

If code is law then standards bodies are governments. This flawed but powerful metaphor suggests the need to examine more closely those standards bodies that are defining standards for the Internet. In this paper we examine the International Telecommunications Union, the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association, the Internet Engineering Task Force, and the World Wide Web Consortium. We compare the organizations on the basis of participation, transparency, authority, openness, security and interoperability. We conclude that the IETF and the W3C are becoming increasingly similar. We also conclude that the classical distinction between standards and implementations is decreasingly useful as standards are embodies in code -itself a form of speech or documentation. Recent Internet standards bodies have flourished in part by discarding or modifying the implementation/standards distinction. We illustrate that no single model is superior on all dimensions. The IETF is not effectively scaling, struggling with its explosive growth with the creation of thousands of working groups. The IETF coordinating body, the Internet Society, addressed growth by reorganization that removed democratic oversight. The W3C, initially the most closed, is becoming responsive to criticism and now includes open code participants. The IEEE SA and ITU have institutional controls appropriate for hardware but too constraining for code. Each organization has much to learn from the others.

Information Infrastructure Development and Governance as Collective Action

“…By keeping to an average rate of collective resources contributed, there are higher possibilities that participant groups will benefit from the good (ibid). Beyond such normative propositions, it has also been argued that, unless there are clear governance structures (including membership and IP rights protection)-usually imposed centrally by external agencies-for resolving conflicts of interests and resources supplied, the tendency would be for IT systems to fragment (Bekkers et al 2002, Markus et al 2006, Vincent and Camp 2004.…”

Cultural Cognitive Style and Web Design: Beyond a Behavioral Inquiry into Computer-Mediated Communication

“…Since the creation of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1994, much attention has been directed at the design and usability of communication technologies. The W3C’s long term goals for the Web have taken into consideration not only the engineering of new online technologies, but also the ways in which the development of environments might better serve a world community as a forum for the communication and dissemination of information (Vincent & Camp, 2005).…”

Nurturing software

“…Similarly, there is concern that the design of digital rights management software may inadequately consider values of fair use and privacy [9]. This has led scholars to examine the role of organizations in which software is developed [11].…”