 What is the internet? Is it somehow fundamentally different than all other communications technology? I actually think my personal answer is yes and no. I think that in many ways it is like a telephone network or like a postal union and establishing the rules by which communication flows across those networks can be and is being regulated in very similar ways. What makes it different in some sense is that it has this power to bring together and connect people in a way that is fundamentally transformative of societies. So we don't see the same investment in postal regulation because it doesn't have this transformative quality. So right now we have this moment when the International Telecommunications Union is having a meeting regarding its future in some sense and it has been suggested by many that the ITU should assert authority over the internet. This is a very controversial notion for a lot of different reasons. From some people's point of view this would be a very good thing. Welcome because to the extent the internet is governed the dominant entity is this strange non-profit organization called ICANN which is more or less a creature of agreements made with the US government about 14 years ago. It doesn't look the way we think a governmental entity should look. On the other hand there are many people who say it would be a horrible thing to have the ITU step in and govern the internet because of the way in which decisions are made in this UN related body that it would give power to all kinds of oppressive regimes that really want to use this governance as a back door to have more censorship, more control. The reason why this obscure little entity called ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, has such staying power even though there are plenty of people criticizing it, its entire history is that ultimately it works. The reality of global governance is if people, whether they work for governments or companies or non-governmental organizations are confronted with the uncertainty of a rule making body doing stuff which we can't possibly contemplate, that's scary. And the status quo becomes a lot more appealing when juxtaposed with that prospect.