Giurisdizione e rete: effettività versus legalità?

The central question of this paper is how code (or ‘Lex informatica’) relates to the competence debate: is it a governance solution separate and outside any competence model? Code is an expression referring to technical choices that impose certain behaviours upon web users. It includes both the establishment of specific rules for the flow of digital information upon the Web, and the possibility to impose procedural limitations upon said flow. The Web becomes simultaneously centralized and decentralized, it adapts and repolarizes itself in infinite variations, eluding territories, structuring immaterial confines within global space. The expression “Code is law” denotes that technological architectures of the internet contain self-organizing codes and regulatory languages that establish and control the rules of access to the digital content of the Web. Code, unlike traditional regulation, does not presuppose or require transparency: it can be effective, whether or not those subject to it are aware of it. This question has from very early on attracted attention in the various legal contexts and resurfaces throughout this paper.