Abstract
Access to the Internet and participation in discourse through the medium of the Internet have become integral parts of our democratic life. Facilitation of this democratic potential critically relies on a governance structure supportive of the right to freedom of expression. In western democracies, governance is largely the preserve of the private sphere. This is because of two reasons. First, the communication technologies that enable or disable participation in discourse online are privately-owned. In order to find information, we use search engines. In order to sort through the clutter, we use portals. In order to access the Internet, we need to use Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Thus we inevitably rely on these companies to participate in discourse online and they thereby become gatekeepers to our digital democratic experience.
