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RIGHT OF OPINION

The Web has transformed our lives in many evident ways, to be sure. But there are a number of important transformations underway that may not have been felt yet by most people.

Before we lived in a Networked World, the Realm of Daily Concern for the average person centered on home, office and town — geographic locality, in other words. But the advent of the Web has exploded that “realm” dramatically for many people, such that small companies and even self-employed individuals may communicate with other people from all parts of the globe as part of a normal business day.

Another consideration is that the Web (and its constituent technologies, protocols and standards) create many different types of “area” over which the law (in some form or other) should be in force — to protect our rights in much the same ways we enjoy protection offline.

Intellectual Property, a once-esoteric field of law, is suddenly relevant to everyone. Even grandmothers have domain name portfolios these days —

The combined result of these changes is a much larger, much more complex Realm of Daily Concern for many people.

Right of Opinion is a term and concept I am just beginning to socialize. It means simply:

This affects me.

I expect, as Realms of Daily Concern become larger and still more complicated, that Right of Opinion will also grown in importance — in global law, politics and government.

law | politics | government