Abstract
Multiregulation, a central support system for the ethical regulation of the Internet, provides a solution which is both complex and difficult to realize. It gives another vision of the methods of law production, as the characteristics of the internet imply an almost instantaneous and largely harmonized law. It also gives another vision of the application of the law since priority will be given to the means of making the players responsible in the context of promoting self-regulation tools. Accordingly, the harmonization of international law must make the progressive creation of a global public order system possible, to which all states will be likely to commit themselves. This harmonization aims at a progressive reconciliation of the rules, particularly those applicable within cyberspace. Agreement on a common denominator of rules can only come about through an ethical consensus-seeking process. Regulation and ethics must join forces to give the digital universe a framework of rules responding to a double imperative: to protect the rights and liberties of individuals and ensure the security of goods, without creating new abuses which themselves are destructive of freedom and dangerous for the security of people. Instituting an International Internet Committee or an equivalent body at the global level can be the means of achieving such a reform and important changes in present-day geopolitical and legal structures. Defining rules of such a planetary nature means asking ourselves questions about the shape of an international society and the form such a global governance could take. Clearly, the question implies major upheavals as the present balances are fragile, being based on excessively great inequalities. The coming of the information society could, in fact, cause these inequalities to increase even further. For the network of networks is a luxury which only a privileged minority of the population of the world can afford. This last point will certainly be one of the upcoming major issues of information technologies. The democratization of the Internet, by means of generalized facilitated access, could no doubt provide an element of reconciliation for the societies of the globe, many of which do not even know of the existence of these networks. The Internet therefore cannot continued to be thought of today as a simple means of communication to be added to the others. Using and regulating the Internet to include rather than just exclude a little more would also make it possible for cultural, philosophical and religious traditions to understand each other while continuing to be different, and to participate in the construction of a more equitable global society.
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