The times they are a-changin' (every six months): The challenges of regulating developing technologies

For a period of time, the Internet has been seen as a virtually borderless communications medium, making it possible to think of a world not divided by geographical, political, cultural or even linguistic borders. However, the Internet is changing rapidly, continuously and substantially. The Internet of today is radically different to the Internet of five, ten or twenty years ago. Indeed, today, it is getting difficult to view the Internet as borderless. So-called geo-location technologies – technologies making it possible for Internet actors to identify the geographical location of those they come into contact with – challenge the Internet‘s borderless nature. Drawing upon examples taken from the interaction between the law and geo-location technologies, this paper examines the challenges associated with the regulation of rapidly developing technologies. More specifically, focus is placed on such challenges in the context of Internet regulation.