Regulating the Internet: EU and US perspectives

Although some denizens of the Internet envision – indeed, proclaim – a regulation-free cyberspace, in fact this latest communication technology is governed by the kinds of controls that have long guided other institutions. Regulation, of course, is not just a tool of governments; it can manifest itself as technical requirements, professional conventions, business routines, societal norms and more. The papers published here attest to the rich meanings and many dimensions of regulation. The first two articles remind us of the varied landscapes that must be considered when dealing with the Internet. Shalini Venturelli examines nations’ distinctive social and political traditions that inform their approaches to regulating new media. Jan Servaes and Francois Heinderyckx show how the European new media environment varies considerably from country to country, a situation that both grows out of regulation and a factor that needs to be considered in devising new policies. Johannes M. Bauer, Michel Berne and Carleen F. Maitland document the fundamental consequences of regulatory policies. Comparing regulations in the EU and US, they conclude that policy decisions have a direct bearing on people’s access to the Internet. Whose rules will apply in resolving disputes arising from Internet? Two articles address this question. Looking at the evolution of international commercial law, Ljiljana Biukovic suggests that the individuals and institutions using the latest tool – the Internet – will have a profound impact on the rules recognized across jurisdictions. Volker Leib provides a case study of tensions between the EU andUS in the formation of a key regulatory body, the Internet Corporation for AssignedNames andNumbers. Finally, two articles discuss the EU’s and US’s different approaches to protecting data privacy, a matter affecting Internet commerce and citizen’s rights. Jared Strauss and Ken Rogerson critique the US’s reliance on self-regulation in safeguarding data privacy. They, along with Gerhard Steinke, predict that US businesses will be forced to adopt policies closer to those embodied in the EU’s directive on data privacy. These articles grew out of a conference, ‘‘Regulating the Internet: EU and US Perspectives’’, held at the University of Washington in Seattle on 27–29 April 2000. The conference brought together scholars, lawyers and government officials from several countries on both sides of the Atlantic. The European Union Center of the University of Washington organized the conference. Other key sponsors were the University’s School of Communications, Telematics and Informatics 19 (2002) 67–68 www.elsevier.com/locate/tele