Cyberspace self-governance: A skeptical view from liberal democratic theory

The idea that cyberspace should be presumptively self-governing has resound ed in thoughtful scholarship and has colored federal rhetoric and policy re garding electronic commerce. In this Article, Professor Netanel critiques a central prong of the argument for cyberspace self-governance: The claim th at a self-governing cyberspace, which its advocates see as a shining exampl e of "bottom-up private ordering," would more fully realize liberal democra tic ideals than does nation-state representative democracy. Although granti ng that this claim poses an intriguing challenge to traditional liberal dem ocratic theory, Professor Netanel argues that it ultimately fails. He conte nds, indeed, that an untrammeled cyberspace would ultimately prove inimical to the ideals of liberal democracy. It would free majorities to trample up on minorities and serve as a breeding ground for invidious status discrimin ation, narrowcasting and mainstreaming content selection, systematic invasi ons of privacy, and gross inequalities in the distribution of basic requisi tes for citizenship in the information age. Accordingly, Professor Netanel concludes, selective government regulation of cyberspace is warranted to pr otect and promote liberal democratic ideals.