ABSTRACT
Regulations and policies sit beneath governance which is about providing, distributing and consequently regulating. Regulations form the subset of governance which focuses on the flow of events and behaviour. They are designed to make people comply and behave in a certain manner. Policies are rules made by organisations to achieve their aims, objectives and goals. During the period covered by this book data protection has been at the forefront of regulatory change. However, many other areas have been addressed through regulation and institutional policy. This wide landscape is the focus of this chapter. The tensions between certain apparently conflicting goals are analysed. For example, around 2000, the UK Government implemented two pieces of legislation, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIP) Act and the Human Rights Act. At the time, there were many who believed that the RIP Act contradicts the objectives of the Human Rights Act. If so then those professionals involved with digital technology are left in a precarious position as legal compliance with both acts may not be feasible.
