Product Description
Back in the early 1990s, in its infancy, the Internet was said by many to be incapable of being regulated and that it should stay that way. This book shows why the Internet needs regulating and how it has been and can be done. It takes empirical evidence from real-life cases and uses them to explain regulatory approaches and paradigms.
The book adopts an expansive view of regulation, including the deployment of technology, the use of market forces, the formulation of industry self-regulation as well as legislation. It shows the possibilities and limits of the regulatory approaches and why policy makers should take a light-handed approach to regulation attempting alternative regulatory means and letting technology before passing legislation. Policy makers, particularly from developing countries, and students of policy should find the book useful in understanding how judicious regulation can help the Internet grow to fulfil its promise.
About the Author
Peng Hwa Ang is Dean of the School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. A lawyer by training, Dr. Ang worked as a journalist before obtaining his Ph.D. in mass media at Michigan State University. His work on Internet regulation has been presented before government and private bodies in Singapore as well as development agencies such as the United Nations Development Program. He is a board member of the Internet Content Rating Association, which is working to create an internationally accepted seal of self-rating. In 2004, he was nominated a member of the United Nations¿ Working Group on Internet Governance.
