Major Legal Trends in the Digital Economy. The Approach of the EU, the US, and China

The book intends to observe and analyze the major trends in the digital economy at the international level, with particular attention to the rules applicable between Europe, the United States and China. After an initial overview of the current technological and geopolitical scenario, the first part of the volume deals with the matter of Governance of the Internet: in particular, it discusses the role played by law in the context of international e-commerce and which level of legislation (national or supranational) is best suited to regulate the commercial relationships arising from it. The first part of the book concludes with the identification of some regulatory and political objectives that it would be desirable for the rules on e-commerce to address, suggesting policies, especially on a cross-border level. The core part of the book makes an accurate comparison between the European, US and Chinese regulatory frameworks on e-commerce, electronic signatures, privacy and intellectual property, with particular attention to the recent Chinese discipline on e-commerce. The last part of the book is aimed at analyzing how the new challenges posed by the most recent developments in the field of information and technology are addressed in the international legal landscape, with specific reference to the problems (and opportunities) arising from the issues of digital identity, smart contracts, artificial intelligence and blockchain structures.