For any state that aspiresto respect the rule of law, there is no question that freedom of expression is of major importance. Freedom of expression is recognised in many human rights instruments, like in Article19 of the Universal Covenanton Civil and Political Rights1 and Article10 of the European Convention on Human Rights

(ECHR)2. Not only is it an important human right but it is furthermore a prerequisite for the exercise of many other rights and freedoms. There is an interrelationship between freedom to communicate and express oneself and the rule of law in that free expression through free communication is important for the functioning of the rule of law, and rule of law must prevail for communication to play such a role.3 In the legislative drafting area, topics like media law and law on information and communications technologies (ICT) are the primary legal areas where freedom of expression takes a concrete form.

Media has a recognised role in building national identity, involving citizens and making corruption and other negative occurrences a political good that must be counted with. Other forms of communication contribute to building identity and not least to economic viability of states.5 However, freedom of expression is a freedom that to a greater extent than some other fundamental freedoms need to be accompanied by rules in order to be effective and in order for it not to conflict with other rights. This is not in itself anything new, but what is new is the rapid change to how rules should look in practice in order to take into consideration the technological changes in the communications area. New technologies are constantly changing the communications landscape, but the change has been especially rapid and encompassing in recent years. In this sphere we see a clear illustration to the complicated question what should come first: law or technology?