Regime formation and consequence: The case of internet security in the East-Asia ‘Four Tigers’

The purpose of this article is to identify the process in which each nation appropriates a new technological force challenging regulatory regimes. Departing from regime theory, this paper critically assesses the interaction between Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation and the East-Asia ‘Four Tigers’ in formulating Internet security policy. A particular concern is about the formation of global information policy regime that arbitrates the tension between citizens' right to privacy and free information flow. This paper argues that the potential of the greater protection of information privacy are curtailed as market incentives of information flow dominate over the region's policy effort. A 2003 Bangkok meeting epitomizes such policy formulation in the interaction between international and national regimes that are particular to the region's regulatory legacies. Implications are discussed in terms of the function of industrial legacies in new information policy.