What is Stewardship in Cyberspace?

Cyberspace – the global domain of digital electronic telecommunications – is nearing a turning point. Pressure is building towards a “constitutional moment”. Major governments have begun to debate what should be the “rules of the road” for cyberspace, but agreement appears far off. A mixed transnational common pool resource that cuts across political jurisdictions and the public and private sectors, cyberspace has become the operating system for global communications and commerce almost by a series of accidents. Cyberspace functions and arguably functions very well, in spite of no grand blueprint or central organizing structure. Yet the pressures around the existing system are growing, the demands for some kind of alternative design are mounting, armed forces are debating offensive operations in cyberspace, and competing strategies are being developed rapidly that will impact on the future of cyberspace.