Perhaps those knowledgeable about cyberspace are right to be dissatisfied with naming this space “virtual.” Why should a space where humans’ presence is real and they have real reactions to real topics be called virtual? Which part of this space is conventional and unreal that we name it virtual space?
Perhaps this very naming as “virtual” has made officials, lawmakers, and policymakers negligent of seriously and precisely organizing this space. In this midst, of course, the speed of expansion of cyberspace and the daily increasing of its influence in humans’ lives has fueled this issue. In any case, whether we recognize this space or not, today governance of cyber space has no less importance than governance of non-cyber space. How many jobs there are that have no connection to the outside world and their entire presence and manifestation is solely in cyber space, and how many humans there are who spend much more time on cyber space than the time they spend on connection and association with humans beside them.
Governance of cyberspace is a concept broader than legislation and setting punishments for illegal behaviors. Governance includes both legislation and policy-making as well as implementation and supervision of laws. Governance even includes methods that guide the user toward acting according to a policy and approach without a law being enacted or a punishment considered for violating it. Governance means all efforts that sovereignty uses to reach its purpose and goals.
In this midst, the knowledge of jurisprudence as a knowledge that expresses the oughts and ought nots of humans’ practical life finds double importance. This very matter caused one of the electronic journals of the Research Institute of Contemporary Jurisprudence Studies to be dedicated to the topic “Jurisprudence of Governance in Cyberspace”; a topic that has been less raised in scholarly circles and its various dimensions less explored.
Jurisprudence of cyberspace is among simple yet impossible concepts; at first it seems so simple that everyone thinks they know its meaning, and when its dimensions become apparent, it seems so difficult that defining it resembles “Leviathan.” The essence and dimensions of jurisprudence of cyberspace is the title of the first chapter of this journal. In this chapter, effort has been made to, besides meaning-making of “jurisprudence of cyberspace,” explore the possibility of including it as a jurisprudential chapter and also its difference with similar jurisprudential chapters like jurisprudence of media, jurisprudence of communications, jurisprudence of art, jurisprudence of culture, and so on.
The second chapter discusses the relation of jurisprudence and governance in cyberspace; that what role and position jurisprudence can have for governance and what its relation with other knowledges is for presenting a desirable version for Islamic governance over cyberspace.
The next chapter addresses the first component of governance over cyberspace, meaning policy-making over this space. Perhaps it can be said that policy-making is the most important part of governance over cyberspace; because laws, implementation methods, and supervision over them must all be set and evaluated in accordance with policies. Jurisprudence’s agency in policy-making has perhaps been less raised until now and the role of jurisprudential knowledge has always been considered as backing the knowledge of law and the arena of legislation.
In the fourth to sixth chapters, the three other components of governance over cyberspace, meaning legislation, implementation of laws, and supervision over implementation of policies and laws, have been addressed.
Anyway, cyberspace still seemed a newly emerged and novel topic when artificial intelligence arrived and changed all calculations and methods of governance. It is clear that governing a space that always had to be manually and individually explored is very different from governing a space that with one “prompt,” not only provides comprehensive information from all virtual pages but also their analysis. In the seventh chapter of this journal, we will discuss the new dimensions that artificial intelligence has added to governance of cyberspace.
Since governance over cyberspace is not just a concern of Iran or even Muslim countries, but all countries and sovereignties are engaged with it, therefore knowing the experiences of other countries in governance over cyberspace will also be valuable. The eighth chapter of the journal seeks to reveal the approach of other countries regarding governance over cyberspace.
The future of jurisprudence of governance over cyberspace is the title of the ninth chapter of this journal which tries to predict the future of this topic and prepare jurisprudential scholars for facing it.
Like other electronic journals of the Institute, the final chapter of this journal is also dedicated to the background of this topic. Index of jurisprudential and legal articles on governance over cyberspace, bibliography of governance over cyberspace, and introduction of the National Center of Cyberspace as the main center of governance over cyberspace in Iran form the sections of this chapter.
It is clear that this journal, with this brief volume, neither claims comprehensive exploration of all dimensions of governance over cyberspace nor aspires to present a model of Islamic governance over cyberspace; rather, it is a meager effort and a first step toward addressing the relation of jurisprudential knowledge and governance of cyber space. Hope that this writing counts as a short step toward development and deepening of contemporary jurisprudence and provides the means for the satisfaction of the Master of the two worlds, the Imam absent from sight (may God hasten his reappearance), Amen.