Service-Oriented Architecture Governance for the Services Driven Enterprise

10.6. GOVERNANCE OF THE INTERNET: THE MAC DADDY OF COMMUNITIES

A useful read is the online work "Why the Internet is Good: Community Governance that Works Well" by Joseph Reagle.^[] This work describes the self-governance model that has been arguably the most successful technology and social governance model ever. The Internet self-governance model recognized that social norms, perceptions, and expectations regulate behavior. When one thinks of the Internet, one thinks of a decentralized, far flung, heterogeneous, and unregulated space. However, there are strongly held social norms that regulate (affect) the behavior of Net users.

^[] Joseph Reagle. "Why the Internet is Good: Community Governance that Works Well." Working draft, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School, March 1999c. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/reagle/regulation-19990326.html.

As pointed out by Lessig in "The Laws of Cyberspace,"^[] there are four "laws" that regulate or govern cyberspace:

^[] Lawrence Lessig, "The Laws of Cyberspace," Draft 3, ©Lessig 1998: This essay was presented at the Taiwan Net'98 conference, in Taipei, March, 1998.

1. Laws (by government sanction and force),

2. Social norms (by expectation, encouragement, or embarrassment),

3. Markets (by price and availability), and

4. Architecture (what the technology permits, favors, dissuades, or prohibits).

The factors of cyberspace governance are eerily similar to those we have discussed in SOA governance. Laws are the equivalent of policies. ...