The Internet and the Persistence of Law

Abstract

Since legal commentators first confronted cyberspace, three broad stories have emerged to describe the interrelation of law and the Internet: the "no-law Internet,' the "Internet as a eparate jurisdiction,"and Internet law as "translation" of familiar legal concepts. This Article reviews these stories, focusing on how ongoing "translation" is giving way to a growing convergence in Internet law. The Article makes the case for convergence among legal responses to cyberspace and proposes a basic taxonomy for different models of convergence. With this taxonomy, the Article examines the ways in which convergence is occurring, as well as its effects on both Internet law and traditional. national legal norms. The Article concludes that the common legal norms being forged will affect national legal systems more deeply than traditional "international" or "transnational" law, and that the conversation on this affect has only just begun.