域名治理中的网络主权之争

Cyber Sovereignty in the Domain Name System

全球互联网治理的制度框架取决于人们对于互联网的基本观念,其核心问题是主权概念是否适用于网络空间。从互联网诞生以来,两种观念一直相互对立:一种认为互联网是不受主权管治的独立空间;另一种认为互联网治理仍从属于主权。前者是一直在国际社会流行的观念。对根域名治理史的梳理显示,主权国家一直未离开互联网,因为单一主权国家一直实际控制根域名治理权,且采取了以特定公司为授权主体进行治理的私有化模式。在此模式于近年来受到国际质疑后,根域名控制权争夺已进入传统国际法和国际政治范围内。未来互联网治理取决于两种互联网观念的相互调合,在于平衡个人信息自由和公共安全秩序。

The institutional framework of global Internet governance depends upon the conception of the Internet,the cardinal question of which is whether traditional conception of sovereignty applies in cyberspace. Since the Internet’s birth, two conceptions have been colliding: one holds that the Internet creates an independent space separate from sovereign states;the other holds that Internet governance still follows the logic of state sovereignty. While the former conception is popular,the history of DNS governance suggests otherwise. A single state as the de facto sovereign controls the root of DNS by privatizing the power of managing domain names and addresses. As this model has been criticized heavily in recent years,the struggle for ruling the root has entered the domain of traditional international law and politics. Global Internet governance,then,needs to reconcile the two conceptions of the Internet and balance information freedom and public order.