The distributed nature of Internet infrastructure and relatively malleable user engagement with content can misleadingly create the impression that the Internet is not governed. At technologically concealed layers, coordinated and sometimes centralized governance of the Internet’s technical architecture is necessary to keep the network operational, secure and universally accessible. This paper, the second in the Internet Governance Paper Series, explains how the Internet’s core technical architecture is governed and how global public policy decisions are co-produced within this framework. Several open governance issues are raised, including proposed changes in interconnection agreements and architectural changes agonistic to universal interoperability.
