• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.143-174
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• 2010

How can a regulatory policy to address potential hazards be made legitimate in the face of scientific uncertainty? The precautionary principle has been gradually regarded as the most persuasive answer to this intricate question in Europe since the 1970s and generally recognized as a guiding principle in international environmental law. This principle, however, has often been subject to diverse concerns and criticisms due to its vague definition. This article tries to elaborate the precautionary principle while reviewing both the validity and unreasonableness of these criticisms over this principle. Then, this article explores the policy relevance of this principle by applying this elaborated definition to the concrete case of risk governance such as the risk assesment of food safety. In the end, this paper emphasizes the fact that the precautionary principle can be applied in the field of risk governance, refuting the argument that the precautionary principle is only a moral attitude or a political position.

• Review of Korean Society for Internet Information
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.63-76
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• 2013

This short report introduces the general background why Brazil conference is being prepared and what topics would be undertaken and what goals are being taken into account. It overviews what differences from traditional telecommunication governance, internet governance has had in its historical development and how such differences had been formed from its technological differences and the regulatory policy shift from common carrier regulation to privatization. Moreover, the fact that open, voluntary, bottom-up, diverse stakeholder's participation had evolved throughout the historical development of the internet, had established the present multistakeholder governance model from technological standardization to addressing scheme policies. ICANN, which has governed internet addressing schemes since the earlier 2000s, had developed address policies including IANA function from Jon Postel and technical community's legacy management system into contract based formation between ICANN and gTLD, ccTLD registries. And it made dispute resolution policies responding to trademark disputes and resolved gTLD monopoly issue by introducing new TLD generation and the separation of registry and registar. However, there had been challenges on the legitimacy of ICANN due to its dependency on the Federal Government of the U.S. particularly in its oversight role over ICANN and IANA contract. WSIS raised up internet governance issues including addressing governance, and set up IGF as a discussion platform for multistakeholders to discuss and share all views on other internet related public policies. IGF's loose and non-binding discussion once frustrated governments and other stakeholders, but more focused discussion and visible outcomes have consolidated its unique role for internet governance discourses. Particularly, IGF addressed many emerging internet related issues like cybersecurity, privacy, net neuratlity, development related issues. WTPF of 2013, after WCIT debate on whether traditional telecommunication regulation could be applied to internet infrastructure, suggested other governance issues such as the transition to ipv6, IXP coordination etc. How to make sure the legitimacy of internet addressing governance and how and where other internet related public policies could be undertaken are fundamental tasks for internet governance. Brazil conference, which has been motivated by the breakdown of trust in internet governance from NSA mass surveillance revealed by Snowden, faces these questions and try to make consensus on principles, institutions and roadmap for internet governance in multistakeholder participation way.