Establishing Legal Order in the Digital World: Local Laws and Internet Content Regulation

摘要

The need for establishing legal order in cyberspace is growing; the time has come when it is also possible in severaldifferent ways. One of the crucial issues in this respect is the worldwide reach of the global network. Legal rules for humanactivities, including online activities, vary from state to state, and regulation of cyberspace cannot occur in one singlemanner all over the world. The existence of various laws produces far reaching consequences both for users and forregulators. Thus, users might face legal consequences in a foreign state for activities lawful in their home jurisdiction, andstates might not be able to enforce the laws if the offender resides in another state. This paper examines this issue, inparticular the issue of Internet content regulation. The approach proposed here is to focus on the new actors in the online world and the new regulatory choices they offer.