Who Rules the Net? Internet Governance and Jurisdiction

The Internet has no territorial boundaries. To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, as far as the Internet is concerned, not only is there perhaps ‘no there there,’ the ‘there’ is everywhere where there is Internet access. ¹

Judge Nancy Gertner, Digital Equipment Corp. v. Altavista Technology, Inc., 1997

We order the company YAHOO! Inc. to take all measures to dissuade and make impossible any access via Yahoo.com to the auction service for Nazi objects and to any other site or service that may be construed as constituting an apology for Nazism or contesting the reality of Nazi crimes.… ²

Judge Jean-Jacques Gomez, UEJF et LICRA v. Yahoo! Inc. et Yahoo France, May 2000

As business gravitated to the Internet in the late 1990s, concern over the legal risks of operating online quickly moved to the fore, as legal issues inherent in selling products, providing customer service, or simply maintaining an information-oriented Web site began to emerge. ³ Certain legal risks, such as selling defective products or inaccurate information disclosure, were already well-known to business, as these risks are encountered and addressed daily in the offline world. ⁴

The unique challenge presented by the Internet is that compliance with local laws is rarely sufficient to assure a business that it has limited its exposure to legal risk. Since Web sites are instantly accessible worldwide, the prospect that a Web site owner might be haled

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