A Hybrid Model of Self-Regulation and Governmental Regulation of Electronic Commerce

The world is rapidly moving towards an age of ubiquitous globally networked communications; not just communications between and among persons, but also between the electronic devices that serve them; not just between particular government leaders, but among the vast databases and other sources of information upon which regulatory regimes depend; and not just between parties to a transaction, but among the instruments of entire economies.Eventually, terms such as "e-commerce" will become meaningless distinctions-just as we would not today refer to business conducted over the telephone as "telephone commerce."As communications and commerce and inter-governmental regulatory and law enforcement efforts conducted over networks become commonplace, the notion that government has no role to play will begin to fade.Just as the "Wild, Wild, West" of 19 th century America eventually needed a sheriff to establish order, secure the people's safety, and foster predictability for business, so too will the idea of a "lawless" Internet-upon which the networked communications at issue here are currently and may always be based-seem in retrospect a shortsighted and naive concept.