Submission Statement: In many ways, the borderless nature of the internet is essential to its functioning as a global communications channel. The fact that a hypertext link can point to anything that exists anywhere in cyberspace is something that has long been taken for granted. Yet, in other ways, the open and unrestricted internet is more of an illusion than reality. On multiple levels, the net is fragmenting into separate domains that are no longer able or willing to connect. This fragmentation – sometimes referred to as the ‘Splinternet’– is happening along geopolitical lines, pointing to a potential future where ‘global connectivity’ is not so global anymore, but separated by digital iron curtains set up by rivalling great powers – with the US, the EU, China, and Russia being the primary actors.

This article was first published in FARSIGHT - Futures Reviewed. A quarterly futures publication by Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies.