ABSTRACT
The Meeting of Experts on Cyberspace Law convened by the UNESCO Director-General in 1998 underlines the importance of the fundamental right of every person to privacy, including the right to communicate confidentially using certain techniques such as cryptographic systems and pseudonyms. Technology comes to rescue the law. It is in this context that one can explain the tendency to develop labelling techniques, just as for conventional consumer products and, building on this, to introduce filter systems such as Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) and even negotiating systems like Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P). Technology can serve to regulate behaviour on the information superhighway. However, there are some regulatory models with which the law may even maintain a dialogue. This chapter identifies the different regulatory techniques applicable to Internet or to information superhighways in general. It analyses various responses in state and supranational law to these different regulatory techniques and envisage some criteria for the legitimization of non-state regulatory systems.
