The Impact of Social Issues on Internet Policy Making

The advantages that Internet as a new technology offers to business and individuals can’t be fully exploited without taking under consideration a number of social issues that related with its use. Its global nature makes Internet policy making a challenging task, creating new responsibilities for policy makers world-wide. Apart from the technical (e.g. security, network availability, speed) and regulatory (e.g. legal frameworks and standardization) challenges that need to be tackled there are a number of social concerns that require special concern. It is important for policy makers to see Internet use as a social as well as a technical phenomenon. In this paper we examine how social concerns such as trust and digital democracy pertain all levels of Internet policy, posing dilemmas and influencing the construction of an effective and socially responsible strategy for the Internet.