Challenges facing legislators in the digital age - BE

Difficulties

It is hard for legislators to make decisions regarding the laws on computing, as often the ways data is used is subjective, and no factual decisions can be made regarding it. One of these issues is down to the fact that data can be used by companies without the consent of the user. Such companies often have intentions which only benefit themselves, but data can also be used in ways which benefit the user, or even vast amounts of people in the cases of disease tracking. Whether this kind of data usage should be banned is a hard decision for legislators, as the positive uses of the data can be beneficial to mankind, but this is drowned out by the selfish uses of the data by corporations.

Adding to the difficulty of legislation creation, country differences can cause issues, as some countries and cultures have different laws and opinions on the way data should be used. This means deciding who gets the final say in the matter is near impossible due to personal bias.

In addition, because companies are able to track your every move online, peoples' personal privacy is shrunk to almost nothing. This is considered by legislators to be an ethical problem, which is not easily solved through law.