Unification of cyber-jurisdiction rules: just how close are the EU and the US?

Abstract

The evolution of Internet law has been following the path already seen in the development of lex mercatoria, which has long sought to harmonize commercial law at the international level to avoid uncertainties arising from conflicting legal frameworks. Cyber law, and lex mercatoria before it, started with protocols devised by industry, progressed to state legislation, and then became the subject of international treaties and agreements. By the time that governments became interested in regulating the Internet, a system of regulation had already been devised by online users and was proving capable of independent operation. Difficulties related to fitting e-commerce into the framework of existing legal systems are evident in the regulatory regimes of the EU and the US. Although the EU and US have been taking different paths in regulating online commerce, the approaches will increasingly be harmonized.