National sovereignty applies to cyberspace

In A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, a document that has been widely distributed since 1996, the author, John Perry Barlow, a founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, declared that the internet is free, open and equal, and called on governments to leave it alone.

Doubtlessly, the free nature of the internet prompted innovation in its early development. However, the virtual world is not independent of the real world, and the challenges of the virtual world originate in the real world.

It is a consensus of the international community that what applies offline, also applies online.