The Judges and the European Web
HOW TO BALANCE FREEDOM AND REGULATION OF THE INTERNET, IN A BOOK BY ORESTE POLLICINO AND GRAZIELLA ROMEOInternet should not be considered as an anarchic medium, lacking any regulation. On the other hand, it should not be overregulated, as happens in totalitarian regimes. It is therefore up to the judges to seek a balance. This is one of the topics explored in The Internet and Constitutional Law. The book, edited by Oreste Pollicino and Graziella Romeo, collects contributions discussed in the international conference “Internet Law, Fundamental Rights and Constitutional Adjudication” held in October 2014 at Bocconi University.
The basic statement behind the book, Pollicino says, is that internet studies should address the European supranational internet regulation, focusing on the way judges make decisions. “We see if the level of fundamental rights protection is connected to the constitutional model established in the country. There may be a single court with a monopoly on constitutional adjudication, such as in Italy or Germany, or a system where the function is widespread, as in the case of the United States. Judges may not make sense of new technology and they may end up applying traditional legal categories without any adjustment, causing some problems”.
The authors analyze the differences between European and American courts. Are fundamental rights in the digital world protected in similar ways in different judicial frames? “The expansion of individual freedoms, especially the freedom of speech, is of the utmost importance for American judges. European courts, on the other hand, are focused on the potentially negative impact of internet on fundamental rights such as privacy and reputation. They look for a more symmetric balance between freedom of speech and other rights”.
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by Claudio Todesco
