Casarosa, Federica --- "Transnational Private Regulation of the Internet: Different Models of Enforcement" [2012] ELECD 498; in Cafaggi, Fabrizio (ed), "Enforcement of Transnational Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Enforcement of Transnational Regulation

Editor(s): Cafaggi, Fabrizio

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781781003725

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Transnational Private Regulation of the Internet: Different Models of Enforcement

Author(s): Casarosa, Federica

Number of pages: 23

Extract:

10. Transnational private regulation of
the Internet: different models of
enforcement
Federica Casarosa


1. INTERNET REGULATION: THREE LEVELS OF
ANALYSIS

When we speak about `the Internet' we all understand the overall concept,
thinking of the global communication network that is accessed mainly
through computers, and more recently through many other different
devices, such as mobiles, games consoles, and the like. However, such
common understanding does not always take into account all the different
facets that characterize the large and complex concept of the Internet
communication network.
To begin with, the Internet is a global network of interconnected packet-
switched networks, based on a shared communication protocol (the
so-called TCP/IP) that allows servers and computers to interact and com-
municate among themselves (Abbate, 1999; Leiner et al., 2003). The soft-
ware application that is most commonly associated with the Internet
platform is the World Wide Web, but these are not synonymous, as the
latter is only one of the applications that the technical infrastructure of the
Internet can host, which include, for instance email, file transfer protocol,
and a variety of peer-to-peer file sharing programs. Thus, it is possible to
affirm that the Internet includes different structural levels, comprising the
technical infrastructure of hardware and software, the applications running
on such technical infrastructure, and the content that is communicated or
generated using those applications (Solum, 2008: 49).
This distinction is very important in the framework of this chapter
because it clarifies that, in order to define Internet ...