Controlling the net: European approaches to content and access regulation

Organizations, national governments and supranational bodies have all been active in formulating measures to regulate access to internet content. This paper reports the findings of a documentary analysis of such measures adopted over a 10-year period by the European Union. The investigation took place from a perspective of concern for the potential impact of such initiatives on freedom of expression and freedom of enquiry. On a theoretical level, the study adopted Lessig’s models of direct and indirect regulation as an analytical framework. The Habermasian concept of the erosion of the Public Sphere was used as an analogy for the issues posed by the regulation of speech on the internet. It is argued that the findings of the study suggest that the democratizing potential of the internet is indeed being constrained by measures imposed in an attempt to control the perceived dangers posed by the medium.