Global Digital Data Governance | Polycentric Perspectives | Carolina A
www.taylorfrancis.com
This book provides a nuanced exploration of contemporary digital data governance, highlighting the importance of cooperation across sectors and disciplines in

(Reproducing this from Fission Talk)

Below I will add in my condensed chapter notes. Each chapter is available as its own paper on the book website 1 if you want to just pick and choose. Many of these chapters were presented as papers at the Internet Governance Forum in 2022.

Here is the TOC for your reference:

  • Chad KohalykOPMEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    Ch 3: Internet Interoperability and Polycentric Attributes in Global Digital Data Ordering

    • the chapter aims to bring in a more nuanced formulation of the issue of Internet fragmentation and digital data governance
    • critically examine the attributes of polycentric governance
    • increasingly regulated by national authorities in the areas of competition, data protection, elections, intellectual property, law enforcement, and human rights, to name just a few of the different centres of authority, yet with limited power over the scope, scale, and capacity to enforce these measures.
    • some old IR scholarship on the topic (Nye!)
    • The Internet can be conceptualized as an infrastructure for innovation
    • Seven attributes of polycentric governance: transscalar, transsectoral, diffusion, fluidity, overlapping mandates, ambiguous hierarchies, and no final arbiters
      1. Transscalarity is a key feature for the development of ‘global markets’ and ‘global audiences’ for digital services
        • tampered with by copyright regimes, data protection, etc. Christchurch Call cited as an example
      2. transsectoral = multistakeholder. three major actors that have been traditionally involved in these arrangements: states, companies, and the technical Internet community
      3. Diffusion entails scattered authority. counter-example is the Internet’s cloud design, which marks a centralized approach.
        • While the power might not be concentrated, a state actor can use existing norms and regulatory power to affect communications infrastructure with a greater effect than other private sector or civic actors. (internet shutdowns)
      4. Fluidity = continual appearance of new organizations, working groups, regulatory frameworks, and practices: from sociotechnical instruments, to governmental policies, to multistakeholder platforms,
      5. overlapping mandates. Various examples in this section. Note, data flows are not for one purpose and that they change depending on what type of data it is
      6. ambiguous hierarchies = pre-existing laws, conventions, frameworks, norms, and technical protocols for data… which institution should be responsible?
      7. no final arbiter = a recursive device that cuts across the previous six.
    • systemic ordering forces
      • norms
      • practices
      • underlying structures (the most invisible)
    • Economic and political power are centralizing