Hard Mode: The Outer Space Treaty as a Model for Internet Governance

I mean, who would have thought of it?

Then again, it's not that hard -- look at the Googled image at the right and just replace "SPACE" with "INTERNET."

But politics aside (and you can read more about the new US Cyber Command here), I came across an article that seriously thought about this combo that only hardcore geeks would ever dream of.

Titled "The Space Law Analogy to Internet Governance," by Jeremy Malcolm in the Journal of Law, Information and Science, it starts with the simple premise that Space and the Internet have a lot of things in common.

Space and the Internet share the characteristic of... being shared. By many persons. Across different countries. They are both like a "fourth dimension," transcending physical boundaries, and becoming both the means and the ends in an era of instantaneous communication. Likewise, they are also both scarce resources -- satellites vying for orbits and frequencies, and IPv4 running out of addresses.

And from there, by looking at one (Space), you can teach the other (Internet) a thing or two in terms of how it is regulated. This is where the Outer Space Treaty -- and International Law in general, come in. Entered into force in 1967, the Treaty has effectively prevented the US-Soviet Arms Race from spilling into the Space Race, ensuring that we don't wake up with bomb-laden satellites hanging over our heads.

While there has been no hard treaty signed concerning the use of the Internet as yet, Malcolm still doesn't think that it's enough to solve the main, contentious issues hounding both Space and Internet, like cross-jurisdiction and the US's refusal to cede control over ICANN for example. I also don't think the US would sign a treaty like that.

In the end, it's a case of a bad fit anyway. Comparing the Internet to Space doesn't really yield perfect results (hence the whodathunkit moment at the start). But the IL approach is certainly interesting.

And it's another entry for another day.