Digital border controls

• Author: Walther Michl
• Pages: 118-130

FRONTIERS OF LAW IN CHINA

VOL. 13 SEPTEMBER 2018 NO. 3

DOI 10.3868/s050-007-018-0032-4

SPECIAL ISSUE

PARADIGMS OF INTERNET REGULATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND CHINA

DIGITAL BORDER CONTROLS

Walther Michl∗

Abstract The article examines to what extent territory plays a role in internet

regulation, especially whether an equivalent to physical border controls for cyberspace

already exists in Germany, i.e. digital border controls. To that end, both the abstract

relevance of the territorial principle and specific examples of legal commands that cause

the free flow of data to be interrupted or modified along state boundaries are scrutinized.

Keywords internet, territory, regulation, blocking, take-down

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 429

I. TERRITORY AS A FACTOR FOR INTERNET REGULATION............................................ 429

A. Territory as a Basis of Statehood....................................................................... 429

B. The Territorial Principle of Jurisdiction ........................................................... 430

II. ENFORCEMENT STRATEGIES................................................................................... 432

A. Use of Force...................................................................................................... 433

B. Denial of Infrastructure.....................................................................................433

C. Content-Related Blocking and Take-Down .......................................................434

III. REGULATED AREAS IN GERMANY......................................................................... 434

A. Private-Law Claims........................................................................................... 434

1. Copyright Enforcement ................................................................................. 434

2. Privacy Protection.......................................................................................... 436

B. Public Interests.................................................................................................. 437

1. Preventing Criminal Web Content................................................................. 437

2. Preventing Illegal Speech in Social Networks............................................... 438

3. Cyber-Defense ............................................................................................... 439

CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................ 440

∗ Walther Michl, Dr. jur., Faculty of Law, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany; LL.M., School of Law,

King’s College London, London, UK; Postdoc. (Akademischer Rat a.Z.), Faculty of Law, LMU Munich,

Munich 80539, Germany. Contact: michl@jura.uni-muenchen.de