Net Neutrality, State Neutrality, and Neutralization

This chapter focuses on the conceptual background and historical premise of the digital sovereignty discourse: the often-naturalized notion of neutral and free cyberspace. The chapter outlines how post-Cold War US policies, hacker culture, and tech companies constructed the neutrality of cyberspace, which is connected with concepts of ‘net neutrality’ and ‘platform neutrality’ and with the reification of liberalism based on the internet’s specific technological affordances (Sects. 4.1 and 4.2). This ideological technological complex is linked to the asymmetrical aspect of global networks, ranging from historical colonialism to internet backbone, root server system, and ICANN (Sect. 4.3). The concept of neutralization as a counterpart to reified neutrality is introduced (Sect. 4.4). The vital importance of this debate to liberalism in general is emphasized by discussing typically liberal concepts of state neutrality, including technological neutrality, non-discrimination, and monetary neutrality, and the challenges these concepts face in the digital age (Sect. 4.5).