EVOLUTION OF INTERMEDIARIES AND INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS: AN OUTLINE

Abstract

The Internet's most salient characteristic is that it inserts intermediaries into relationships that could be, and previously would have been, conducted directly in an offline environment. Internet intermediaries contribute to and consequently co-responsible for all kinds of information flow. At the inception of the Internet era, the term “Internet intermediaries” was mainly synonymous with “Internet Service Providers”, referring generally to those telecommunication companies that offered access to the World Wide Web. However, the roles and functions of Internet intermediaries have since evolved and expanded considerably, and the term “Internet intermediaries” today is applicable to a diverse group of entities that are both technically and structurally more different and complex, and which take on more functions, than the traditional network access providers. Internet service provider is an entity that connects people to the Internet and provides other allied services such as Web site building and hosting. The intermediary eco-system in India is still evolving. The liability of an intermediary for its various activities is generally determined by a court of law. Since the legislative provisions are evolving in this field, the extent varies from case to case and circumstance to circumstance.