The (In)Flexibility of Techno-Regulation and the Case of Purpose-Binding

AbstractCurrent literature on techno-regulation the conscious deployment of technology to regulate people s behaviour briefly touches upon the issue of flexibility. On the one hand, it is suggested that technology-embedded rules tend to be rigid, whereas legal norms are flexible and open to interpretation. On the other hand, technology in principle allows for flexibility through open configurations and the plasticity of software, while law is relatively static. This article analyses the role of open norms and software plasticity in techno-regulation in order to shed more light on the (in)flexibility of techno-regulation. This is done through a case study of the legal norm of purpose-binding in data-protection legislation. The issue of flexibility and interpretation plays at the level of both the legal norm (purpose-binding in the Data Protection Directive) and its application in practice (defining purposes for concrete data processing). Regulating data protection with purpose-binding is...