Freedom of expression in distributed networks

This paper proposes the following question: Is it possible to transfer human rights like the freedom of expression – or at least to preserve the formal protections guarding speech acts from arbitrary suppression – in a post-national setting? The question arises as an urgent matter in the context of our global system of connected markets and distributed telecommunications networks – the Internet – since, as many academics and policy makers have noted, the two tend to undermine nationals boundaries, putting into question the power of individual states to continue function as the traditional legal and identity-generating entities of last resort.