Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace：And Other Laws of Cyberspace

There’sacommonbeliefthatcyberspacecannotberegulated—thatitis，initsveryessence，immunefromthegovernment’s(oranyoneelse’s)control.Codearguesthatthisbeliefiswrong.Itisnotinthenatureofcyberspacetobeunregulable;cyberspacehasno“nature.”Itonlyhascode—thesoftwareandhardwarethatmakecyberspacewhatitis.Thatcodecancreateaplaceoffreedom—astheoriginalarchitectureoftheNetdid—oraplaceofexquisitelyoppressivecontrol.Ifwemissthispoint，thenwewillmisshowcyberspaceischanging.Undertheinfluenceofcommerce，cyberpsaceisbecomingahighlyregulablespace，whereourbehaviorismuchmoretightlycontrolledthaninrealspace.Butthat’snotinevitableeither.Wecan—wemust—choosewhatkindofcyberspacewewantandwhatfreedomswewillguarantee.Thesechoicesareallaboutarchitecture：aboutwhatkindofcodewillgoverncyberspace，andwhowillcontrolit.Inthisrealm，codeisthemostsignificantformoflaw，anditisuptolawyers，policymakers，andespeciallycitizenstodecidewhatvaluesthatcodeembodies.