Being Unexceptionalist Or Exceptionalist – That Is The Question
Authors
F. Willem Grosheide
* Professor Emeritus of private law and intellectual property law, Utrecht University, and a practising lawyer at the Van Doorne law firm in Amsterdam.
This article considers whether it is desirable and, if so, will be possible to regulate Cyberspace. It departs from the Goldsmith/Post-debate, dating back already to the 1990s, which introduced the juxtaposition of what became known as the Unexceptionalists (opting for some form of adapted real world regulation) and the Exceptionalists (opting for, if any, a specific form of regulation). With reference to societal developments which illustrate that through the ages it has appeared possible to invent new legal models for the regulation of no man’s lands, the high seas, and international transborder trade, this article takes the Unexceptionalists-view, arguing that Cyberspace is best understood as a networked space, connected to the real world space and inhabited by natural persons as its users and understandable by experience. Albeit, that in doing so, it is desirable to follow a tailor-made approach.
