Internet and the question of legitimacy

Workshop organisé par le GDR TICS à l'Ecole des Mines, Paris les 27 et 28 mai 2005As Internet history goes on, developing more complex levels of communication and organization, the question of Internet governance implies more and more actors and commentators. As all sort of activities rely on the network, social, political, financial stakes are higher and regulation becomes critical. The discussions on this topic were always technical ; but the technical dimension changed with time : from Jon Postel's first organization of DNS to highly complex plans of reorganization of ICANN structure, the topic is still highly technical but differently. In these conditions, actors implied in the process show a tendency to evaluate the question under the sole aspect of efficency : how institutions, processes, rules of Internet governance could be more efficient, more reactive, and if possible costless ? The question should not be discarded, but it should also be linked with another aspect that always interfered with efficiency concern : legitimacy