Hans Akkermans - The Internet as a Global Commons and the Design of TechnoSociality

There is widespread agreement that something is wrong with “the Internet” such that it is now far from original ideals of democracy and equality in communication and knowledge sharing. Some attribute this sorry state to naive (“hippie”) underlying notions of unfettered digital freedom gone wrong. This idea goes back to Hardin’s well-known article “The Tragedy of the Commons” published in (note: the hippie year) 1968. I argue that indeed the Internet is usefully viewed as a Commons. Vast recent literature on the Commons has however disproved Hardin’s views both theoretically and empirically. It has produced a set of Design Principles for successful Commons governance arrangements that are also highly relevant to the Internet.