Indirect Threats to Freedom and Privacy: Governance of the Internet and the WWW

Harry Hochheiser, University of Maryland

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2000)

Both the general public and privacy advocates view most threats to freedom and privacy on the Internet as arising from direct corporate and government strategies. Other policies exist, however, that indirectly influence civil liberties. These indirect threats arise from the procedures and policies of governance institutions that set standards affecting the Internet. This paper examines the impact of standards bodies on both substantive and philosophical issues of freedom and privacy on the Internet, with a focus on the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the World Wide Web Consortium(W3C). Possibilities for increasing participation and accountability in these areas are discussed.