The capacity to freely cross physical and virtual frontiers on the Internet does not mean that they do not exist. In other terms, cyberspace is a cross-border space rather than a borderless one. However, as online activities often involve actors and intermediaries in multiple physical locations, diverse sets of potentially incompatible laws and rules overlap and frequently are in conflict. Virtual frontiers do not map one-on-one the boundaries of national territories.
The mere extension of national physical frontiers onto cyberspace - like sovereignty extends to territorial waters or overlaying aerial space - is not a sufficient approach to manage these commons. The Internet is a complex interwoven system of physical (cables, servers), logical (DNS and IP addresses) and application (platforms and services) layers. In that context, the workshop will explore the geography of cyberspace and scrutinize how it reflects - and differs from - the physical geography of nation states.

Given that the Internet is an entirely man-designed infrastructure, the workshop will also discuss how this geography could be used to address pressing issues regarding privacy, freedom of expression, intellectual property and security, while preserving the universality of the network.

Workshop Moderator:

Bertrand de LA CHAPELLE, Director of the Internet & Jurisdiction Project

Speakers:

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