Internet Governance
and Time Warner aimed at combining telecommunication with media/ entertainment. Now, AOL/Time Warner has gathered ISPs, television, music, and software development under one corporate umbrella. The need for a legal framework The legal system was the slowest to adjust to the changes caused by technological and economic convergence. Each segment – telecommunication, broadcasting, and information delivery – has its own special regulatory framework. This convergence opens up several governance and regulatory questions: What is going to happen to the existing national and international regimes in such fields as telephony and broadcasting?
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Will new regimes be developed that focus mainly on the Internet?
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Should the regulation of convergence be carried out by public authorities (states and international organisations) or through self-regulation?
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Some countries, like Malaysia and Switzerland, as well as the EU, have started providing answers to these questions. Malaysia adopted the Communications and Multimedia Act in 1998, establishing a general framework for the regulation of convergence. The EU’s regulatory framework for electronic communications, transposed into national laws, is also a step in this direction, as are the Swiss telecommunication laws and regulations. The risk of convergence: the merger of cable operators and ISPs In many countries, broadband Internet has been introduced via cable networks. This is especially true in the USA, where cable Internet is much more prevalent than ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line), the other main Internet broadband option. What are the risks associated with this convergence? Some parties argue that the cable operators’ buffering between users and the Internet could challenge the net neutrality principle. The main difference between ADSL and cable is that cable is not regulated by so-called common carrier rules which apply to the telephony system and specify that access should be non-discriminatory. Cable operators are not subject to these rules, giving them complete control over their subscribers’ Internet access. They can block the use of certain applications and control the access to certain materials. Surveillance possibilities and consequently the ability to violate privacy are much greater with the cable Internet since access is controlled through a system 66