In the 1990s, the early Internet was defined by a series of landmark laws from the U.S. Congress (e.g., Telecom Act of 1996 [Section 230], DMCA, COPPA) which created a legal framework for the Internet and, in parallel, multi-stakeholder processes, (e.g. ICANN) were embraced to address nascent issues relevant for the development of the Internet ecosystem. Today, tech diplomats from the world's largest corporations will be negotiating as quasi-sovereign entities with governments over rules for AI, blockchain, green tech, and other areas that will define public interest technology. What lessons can stakeholders learn from the early Internet era to inform policy frameworks in the age of AI?
