Internet law is a constantly evolving area of law. This is only natural given that the
Internet and the technologies (and services) developed and thriving on it are rapidly
adding up, transforming, amongst others, the way e-commerce is conducted, intellectual
property is created (and utilized) and cyber-crime is committed. These continuous
transformations inevitably translate into new legal challenges for policy
makers, lawyers and judges who often find technological innovations puzzling,
necessitating new breeds of regulation and/or sophisticated application of existing
legal rules. In this respect, Internet law is perhaps the most dynamic area of law
about which, there is always something new to explore, discuss or address. The
European Union (EU) legislator continually adopts new legal frameworks, which
could be judged as a frenetic need of intervention to cope with the technological
progress. Interventions exist in the fields of cybercrime (cyber-attacks, internet
security, online fraud, hate speech, child pornography), e-commerce and online
contracts (with emphasis on the protection of consumer), copyright law, data protection,
banking services, etc. The last notable interventions from the EU legislators
with direct implication to internet law (the General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR) obviously but also the new Directive on Copyright Law in the digital single
market) show that the convergence towards consensus in the field of Internet law
becomes increasingly difficult as the economic and societal interests increase. In the
new Directive on Copyright Law, a clear opposition was visible between the giant
corporations of the internet (sometimes called GAFA), allied to activists militating
against internet regulation (such as eff) and copyright rightholders and content creators.
This opposition could evolve to a war on information.