How does the ‘on-line’ world relate to the ‘off-line’ world? Is it different, separate, or even unique compared to the off-line world, or just a part thereof? And when do we need to regulate it, and how? These have become important, but complex questions for legislators, policy-makers, regulators, and politicians who design regulatory frameworks to address fast-moving technologies that change society in intricate ways.

Over the course of time, governments and international organizations have developed regulatory ‘starting points’, in order to consistently and effectively deal with ICT and Internet regulation. These offer policy one-liners such as ‘what holds off-line, must hold on-line’ and ‘regulation should be technology-neutral’. This book questions these regulatory starting points in detail and systematically explores their application, meaning and value for international e-regulation. It digs deeper than existing literature in trying to find out in which cases the starting points merit attention, and how we should really use them.

This volume is the product of close collaboration and debate between scholars working at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT), to which international colleagues have added valuable reactions and reflections. The contributions in this volume have been written by TILT researchers Simone van der Hof, Bert-Jaap Koops, Miriam Lips, Sjaak Nouwt, Corien Prins, Maurice Schellekens. and Kees Stuurman, and by guest authors Dan Burk (University of Minnesota), Herbert Burkert (University of St. Gallen), and Yves Poullet (Facultés universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix, Namur).