Is Democracy Possible in the Internet?

Jenny Shearer (Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Hermann Maurer (Institute for Information Systems and Computer Media Graz University of Technology, Austria)

Abstract: Concepts of democracy have been developed and refined since Aristotle's time. However it is not until the new millennium that a unique set of circumstances, social, technical, and economic, have enabled a realistic plan of an e-democratic world to emerge. It is the lot of the internet generation to carry this vision through a maze of regulatory and commercial obstacles. The most important development on the internet in terms of its impact is e-commerce and the flow of support from governments and the market. It may appear that social and political aspirations for the internet have been eclipsed. However, on the contrary, global online commerce is providing opportunities for e-democracy to meet ethical and strategic challenges. The ultimate goal is to create peaceful change in key areas of global governance. We investigate some of those aspects in this paper.

Keywords: Cyber Ethics, Freedom of Speech, Internet Legislation, e-Democracy

Categories: K.4, K.5, K.7