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Internet governance

 as the control put in place to manage the growth 

of the Internet and its usage. The global nature of the Internet makes it less practical for a 

government to control cyberspace. Dyson says:

Now, with the advent of the Net, we are privatizing government in a new way – not only in 

the traditional sense of selling things off to the private sector, but by allowing organizations 

independent of traditional governments to take on certain ‘government’ regulatory roles. 

These new international regulatory agencies will perform former government functions in 

counterpoint to increasingly global large companies and also to individuals and smaller 

private organizations who can operate globally over the Net.

Dyson (1998) describes different layers of jurisdiction. These are:

  1 

Physical space comprising individual countries in which their own laws such as those 

governing taxation, privacy, and trading and advertising standards hold.

  2 

ISPs – the connection between the physical and virtual worlds.

There are number of established  non-  profit-  making organisations that control different 

aspects of the Internet. These are sometimes called ‘ supra-  governmental’ organisations since 

their control is above government level.