Ethics, law and technology: a case study in computer-mediated communication

The Internet poses particular challenges to traditional legal methods of regulating online behavior. Some theorists argue that the Internet is capable of collective self-regulation that provides reasonable protection to activities occurring on the global net. Others respond that while the social norms that create the basis of collective self-regulation do provide real constraint in cyberspace, software code, not social norms, will provide the most efficient means of regulating on-line behavior. CMC research suggests that virtual communities are capable of limited forms of self-regulation through emerging systems of social dynamics. This paper explicates this debate by weighting the merits of community self-regulation and technological regulation through an examination of the development and use of interactive behavioral mechanisms to regulate interaction at an adult-oriented web site.