Prospects Of Informational And Legal Regulation Of The Internet

Abstract

The article analyzes one of the constituent elements of legal relations under civil law within the virtual space of the Internet – a legal subject under civil law. Although the concept of a legal subject under civil law has been sufficiently elaborated, an analysis of this institution with reference to the Internet will enable the features of its legal regulation to be set out. The main legal challenge associated with the concept of a legal subject under civil law on the Internet is fact that it cannot be personified within virtual space. Relations in the virtual space of the Internet are based on civil law contracts incorporating features of the virtual space created by the Internet. Within this context, the relationship between legal subjects under civil law within the virtual space of the Internet is not regulated specifically by legal norms, but by special agreements between these subjects. By virtue of this convention, the parties which establish legal relations on the Internet initially follow certain contractual settings based on the assumption that the counterparty entering into legal relations within virtual space is first and foremost a person with full legal capacity. Secondly, the subjects must act with the conscious intention to frame their actions in legal terms (inter alia by contractual agreement) even though no visible document is drawn up, as is required for relations between persons in the real world (not on the Internet).