European digital sovereignty

Abstract

The emergence and development of the internet has been linked to expectations of deterritorialization, generating in some cases euphoria and in others unease, under the impetus of a cyberlibertarian culture or sparking debate about the most appropriate sphere for its proper regulation. As a global architecture, the internet has challenged political regulation and left little room for state intervention. The text that best expresses the deterritorialization of digital space was John Perry Barlow’s (1996) “Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”, which proclaims the arrival of a world that is everywhere and nowhere, and addresses a very strong message to those who aspire to any form of control: “You have not sovereignty where we gather”.