The troubling rise of Internet borders

[Commentary] Something is rotten at the core of our conception of Internet governance. Almost unnoticed, nations are trying to impose – often successfully – sovereign borders and legal demands on a digital realm that is inherently borderless.

Left unchecked, this instinct to create sovereign barriers risks fracturing the Web in ways that will jeopardize its economic, political, and social utility. We're facing an inflection point. Inevitably, the authoritarian nations whose life-blood is citizen control will continue to diverge from the small “l” liberal nature of the digital domain. Western democracies need to offer a better alternative – to reinvigorate the freedom of the network, eschew too great a role for governments, and unite to present the uncommitted world in the middle (South America, Africa, much of Asia and the Middle East) with a more attractive option. Authoritarian countries such as China and Iran are unlikely to participate – but at a minimum we can reduce, or eliminate, the conflict between Western democracies, and agree on rules that will keep the network open and free. Our governments owe their citizens nothing less.

[Rosenzweig is a senior adviser to The Chertoff Group]