Global Technology and Legal Theory

Book excerpt: The rise and spread of the Internet has accelerated the global flows of money, technology and information that are increasingly perceived as a challenge to the traditional regulatory powers of nation states and the effectiveness of their constitutions. The acceleration of these flows poses new legal and political problems to their regulation and control, as shown by recent conflicts between Google and the European Union (EU). This book investigates the transnational constitutional dimension of recent conflicts between Google and the EU in the areas of competition, taxation and human rights. More than a simple case study, it explores how the new conflicts originating from the worldwide expansion of the Internet economy are being dealt with by the institutional mechanisms available at the European level. The analysis of these conflicts exposes the tensions and contradictions between, on the one hand, legal and political systems that are limited by territory, and, on the other hand, the inherently global functioning of the Internet. The EU's promising initiatives to extend the protection of privacy in cyberspace set the stage for a broader dialogue on constitutional problems related to the enforcement of fundamental rights and the legitimate exercise of power that are common to different legal orders of world society. Nevertheless, the different ways of dealing with the competition and fiscal aspects of the conflicts with Google also indicate the same limits that are generally attributed to the very project of European integration, showing that the constitutionalization of the economy tends to outpace the constitutionalization of politics. Providing a detailed account of the unfolding of these conflicts, and their wider consequences to the future of the Internet, this book will appeal to scholars working in EU law, international law and constitutional law, as well as those in the fields of political science and sociology.