Carving up the Internet: Jurisdiction, Legal Orders, and the Private/Public International Law Interface

Abstract

The Internet is caught between old forces of local territorialism and new forces characteristic of global economies. As a result, this article maintains that it may end up being carved or frag- mented into discrete legal spheres. This development contradicts with the hitherto traditional vision of the Internet as a paradigmatic example of a borderless world of global transnational- ism. This fragmentation is taking two forms: one vertical which refl ects concerns of public policy and the protection of local values, the other horizontal which is driven by the rationale of commercial effi ciency. The former (vertical), if not understood and handled properly, may lead to an informational impoverishment of the Internet. One response to this risk resides in new confi gurations of the appropriate jurisdictional bases for assertions of state power. I argue in favour of a double standard of jurisdiction for the regulation of Internet content: one, based on the principle of targeting, used to sanction behaviour, the other, an incarnation of the effects doctrine, used to prevent actions and fulfi l the cathartic function of law. The latter (horizontal) form of fragmentation should lead us to rethink certain aspects of the concept of law, in par- ticular with regard to legal pluralism, and to discover new places where law is to be found.