This document discusses the regulation of technology and its impact on democracy and society. It explores how laws have struggled to keep up with rapid technological changes and the rise of new communication platforms. While technologies were initially seen as liberating forces, issues around privacy, misinformation, hate speech, and data control have highlighted the need for governance and rules to guide digital spaces. However, regulating new technologies also risks limiting freedom of expression. The document examines these tensions and debates around how social rules and laws can best adapt to technological changes.

1. Regulating the network
Mathias Klang @klang67

2. Regulation of technology is the regulation
of democracy

3. It cannot be helped, it is as it should be, that
the law is behind the times. Oliver Wendell Holmes

4. Rights of citizen & Man (1789)

5. Killer app 1789

6. Universal declaration of human rights (1948)

7. Killer app 1948

8. Laying out the
conflict

9. Law and Borders - The Rise of Law in
Cyberspace Johnson & Post (1996)

10. Governments of the Industrial World, you
weary giants of flesh and steel, I come
from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind.
On behalf of the future, I ask you of the
past to leave us alone. You are not
welcome among us. You have no
sovereignty where we gather.
Barlow (1996)

11. Law is a system of
rules and guidelines
which are enforced…
to govern behavior,
wherever possible. It
shapes … and serves
as a social mediator
of relations
between people.

12. Technology
changing society,
but social rules
slow to evolve…

13. Cyberlawyers argue: New technology,
new rules & New field

14. Law of the horse
Frank H. Easterbrook (1996)

15. Cyberlaw = establishment

16. Lessig (1999)
Code is law

17. Nothing new under the sun?

18. Does technology influence law?

19. Only technology
(spot the ethical dilemma?)

20. Control in
digital world
Law
Contextual &
programmed social
rules
Architecture
Control in
analogue world

21. How is social media
different?

22. Blogger 1999
Google 1999
End of communications monopoly

23. Theoretical rights
become inevitable
practice

24. We have moved on

25. We the people…

26. Goodbye Sister
María Jesús Galán

27. Marketplace of ideas: free or racist
speech?

28. "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've
got a week and a bit to get your shit together
otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!"

29. Uni student bomb threat

31. Post, like, share?

32. Norwegian politician

33. Medical staff

34. Patient and other privacy

35. Parents!

36. Why?

37. Eula trumps rights
Is a defense…

38. You know you want to…
The design effect

39. The
network
effect

40. If you’re not the customer you’re the
product

41. Why no action?
Protect us from ourselves

42. Neutral tools…
Its only technology…

43. Free will  we are supposed to know stuff…
autonomy

44. Being stupid is not illegal

45. Unpopular decisions require
courage…

46. Courage is a mean with regard to fear and
confidence
Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics

47. Controversial only means this will lose you
votes, courageous means this will lose you
the election.
Sir Humphrey in Yes Minister

48. Law pushes on technology
- the return of law?

49. Europe asks facebook questions

50. “Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold
content from users in a specific country”
Twitter

51. (1) we will attempt to let the user
know,
(2) we will clearly mark when the
content has been withheld.
(3) As part of that transparency,
we’ve expanded our
partnership with Chilling Effects
when we are required to withhold a Tweet in a
specific country

52. Regulation by proxy

53. Did you read before you agreed?

54. Morosov is critical to the “technology brings
democracy” approach and is concerned that we are
“amusing ourselves to death” (Postman 1985)

55. Social media creates silos & do not allow
users to port data from one site to another.

56. Where to now… ? Seduction of technology

57. Control in
digital world
Law
Contextual &
programmed social
rules
Architecture
Control in
analogue world

59. Academia
is
needed

60. Thank you.

61. Mathias Klang
klang@ituniv.se or @klang67
www.digital-rights.net
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