Code and Law: the Next Generation
Code and Law: the Next Generation
Lilian Edwards
Law School
University of Edinburgh
Ever since Lessig’s Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace was published, we have been absorbing the insight that "code" in the form of computer code is as much a regulatory mechanism as the more familiar modalities of law, norms and markets. Part of the "code" revolution has been theassumption that "code" is often a *more* effective form of regulation than law in cyberspace – eg, DRM systems usually protect the copyright in the work protected rather more adequately than law alone. Yet often code alone is an ineffective protector of rights : P3P , the Platform for PrivacyPreferences, for example, is arguably a failed attempt to protect consumer privacy rights on line. Taking another example from the privacy domain, however, consumers’ rights to be free from spam often seem better met by technology than law, norms or markets. Taking an off line example which still involves digital technology as a threat, CCTV cameras threaten privacy far more effectively than DP laws can seem to protect it. The challenge now for scholars in the field of Internet law is to move beyond a simplistic recognition that "code regulates" or even "code trumps law", to an understanding of how code and law interact and what each can do for the other in meeting policy goals; and to look more closely at whose rights "code" typically protects.
Click here to view Power Point Presentation
