Regulators in Cyberia: A Whitepaper from the Regulatory Transparency Project

April 7th, 2018|Categories: HB Risk Notes|Tags: , , , |

  "The Internet’s pioneers hardly envisioned the dramatic growth and transformation that characterize today’s Internet. A relative lack of regulation accelerated early digital innovation," wrote Jamil N. Jaffer and Megan Stifel for the Lawfare Blog. "[The Regulatory Transparency Project's Cyber & Privacy Working Group's paper titled Regulators in Cyberia] highlights five examples that illustrate the hazards that can result when regulations predating the Internet revolution make first contact with the economic and social opportunities unleashed by interconnected technologies. Among other things, they demonstrate that the impact of Moore’s Law—the doubling of computer processing power every 18-24 months—makes regulation a particularly weak tool to achieve policy objectives, including privacy and security, arguing instead that in a rapidly changing technological environment, these goals can often be most effectively met through the use of market incentives. In recent years, the specter of regulation has threatened the viability of the sharing economy and the broad availability and export of cybersecurity products and could hamper the rapid innovation that currently characterizes the evolution of the so-called 'Internet of Things.'" Jaffer holds a number of positions, including Adjunct Professor of Law and Director of the Homeland and National Security Law Program at the George Mason University School of Law. He is VP Strategy & Business Development with IronNet Cybersecurity. Stifel is a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Cyber Statecraft [...]