Public sphere or private asset? The nature of digital commons in China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since its introduction into China, the Internet is said to bring in a robust force of commons in cyberspace. Under the ideology of ‘sharing’ and ‘free flow of information’, the Internet is making good use of users' free labor and their personal data. The unique business model has become the foundation of digital commons in China. Furthermore, we could figure out the rise of the Internet in China has been following the similar ‘illegal’ model all the time, thus causing copyright infringement and other disputes accordingly. This paper traces the early ages of cyberspace in China, trying to figure out how the private-public mixed nature of the digital commons came into being and discusses relavant legal issues during the process, shedding a light on the unique relationship between mode of production tranformation and legal regime.