The Control Narrative of the Internet

This article examines how mediation and control operate in cyberspace through a control narrative, or actors' awareness and expectation that symbolic meanings may be monitored and used by diverse audiences for various purposes. A control narrative is implicated in numerous attempts and logics to monitor and regulate Internet use. The control narrative is more explicit as fear and control are reflexively joined to virtual communication. The focus is on recent developments in surveillance, deception, and entrapment in “Internet stings” by formal agents of social control in the name of protecting children from predators and pedophiles and U.S. citizens from terrorism. Several implications of the control narrative for communication are offered, along with questions for further research.