Internet Freedom and Copyright Maximalism: Contradictory Hypocrisy or Complementary Policies?
Haggart, Blayne, Michael Jablonski. The Information Society 33, no. 3 (2017): 103-118.
U.S. advocacy for increased international intellectual property protection and a free and open Internet has been criticized as being inconsistent at best and hypocritical at worst. Placing U.S. copyright and Internet policy in a historical context and using Susan Strange's concepts of structural power and knowledge structures, we argue that copyright and Internet policies cannot be analyzed in isolation, but are intimately and inextricably linked forms of knowledge regulation. All knowledge regulation policies involve balancing access and restriction. Our analysis suggests that the current U.S. policy of Internet freedom and strong copyright protection represents a particular, historically situated strategy designed to exert structural power in the global information economy: Free flow of information creates markets by exposure to intellectual properties, while copyright secures economic benefit to copyright holders from the flow. We argue that a full and honest debate over issues of information access requires acknowledgment of contemporary and conflicting values, with the realization that different societies and interests will weigh access and dissemination differently. Recognizing as legitimate and incorporating these different perspectives into the global governance structures of the Internet comprise the key challenge facing those who favor truly democratic global Internet governance.
Keywords: Knowledge; Internet Governance; Theory; Structural Power, Power
Contributor(s): Blayne Haggart and Michael Jablonski Keywords: Knowledge, Internet Governance, Theory, Structural Power, Power, Strange-Influenced Works, 2010's Source and Medium: Journal Article
Year of Publication: 2017