Protecting the Internet as a Public Commons

"This issue is concerned with the experience of using the Internet: how its character shapes the user experience and how our collective online participation raises larger societal and political questions. For most of us, the Internet has become indispensable. Whether we are sending email messages or searching the Web, it is a part of our daily lives. It seems to bring powerful benefits, and thus we use it, but it also appears to bring risks, limitations, and frustrations, causing some to react with mixed emotions. People fear loss of privacy and misuse of personal information; they fear the corruption of their computers by malicious software (malware); they fear the possible loss of precious information now stored online; and they resent the complexity of using all this technology. Some people refuse to use computers and the Internet for exactly these reasons, leading us to ask, why is the Internet what it is? What, or who, shapes its character? Are there technical factors that define what can and cannot be done on the Internet? How do the motivations of designers influence the character of the Internet? Are we “locked in” to a constrained set of capabilities, or is the future of the Internet open to many possibilities? Through a variety of essays, this issue explores that set of questions."