Internet service providers as law enforcers and adjudicators. A public role of private actors

Private actors have become increasingly involved in the law enforcement process in recent years, taking up more proactive roles and being increasingly engaged in choices between conflicting rights and freedoms. The development and spread of information and communication technology (ICT) created a set of conditions in which the participation of private actors (service providers in this case) appears to be a necessity. These conditions include, for example, a lack of physical borders for ICT technologies, the speed and width of the spread of information on the Internet, as well as the growth of technological behemoths. The resulting reaction can be seen in various sectors, such as combatting illicit content online or gathering digital evidence. While executing these roles they may be compelled – de jure or de facto – to make value judgments which traditionally belong to the public authorities. At the same time the legal framework is either lacking or it does not fully cover the consequences of this fundamental paradigm shift, to the detriment of the authorities, private actors and persons concerned.

The objective of this article is to examine the most important features of these developments and analyse resulting key legal problems. The author demonstrates that the legal landscape of cooperation between law enforcement and service providers must be rethought and offers a direction for this reflection.