Electronic trade challenges many of the basic concepts of national sovereignty. Governments like to regulate what comes into their territory. This is an exercise of their legitimate power. It is part of being a nation. It is part of maintaining the central values of their culture and language.
Governments derive revenue from goods shipped into their territory.
With electronic trade, intangible goods and services, worth increasing millions of dollars are being transmitted across nation boundaries without any governments knowing. This is creating substantial political anxiety among political leaders. Most political leaders are recognizing the substantial benefit which a global information economy will mean to their own countries. But they are reacting in a wide variety of ways. Fundamental to the issue of openness to the internet is the technical and economic status of the country's basic telephone system.