Free and Open Source Software Communities, Democracy and ICT Law and Policy

This article discusses how and why the locus of the tensions brought about by new information and communications technology ("ICT") in the global inter-networked society have gone beyond territory, sovereignty and law and why this shift changes the focus of the discussion initially from government to governance, and then ultimately to participation. Free and open source software ("FOSS") developer communities are used both as case studies and as a critique of existing regulatory approaches to ICT. By showing the profound and sometimes disruptive impact hybrid active subjects like FOSS communities have had on matters relating to regulation, governance and culture, this article explains why there is a need to expand what democracy means and entails in the digital networked environment.