What Is Internet and Information Technology (IT) Law?

Information technology (IT) devices, systems, and network infrastructure technologies whose core function is the processing, recording, modification, and transmission of data in cyberspace existed long before the advent and proliferation of internet technologies. The legal principles governing these technologies similarly materialized prior to internet law under the nomenclature of "information technology law" or "cyber law." Consequently, internet law was initially evaluated within the taxonomy of IT law. However, as technologies anchored in the internet—a global Wide Area Network (WAN)—profoundly penetrated every sphere of human activity, legal systems began distinguishing internet law from IT law, enacting independent norms and codifications specifically targeting internet usage. Thus, it can properly be asserted that internet law today constitutes an autonomous legal discipline. Accordingly, it is appropriate to elucidate internet law and IT law under two distinct heads.

A. Internet Law

Because data traversing the physical wired and wireless internet backbone facilitates meaningful communication between two computing devices, thereby realizing internet communications, internet law maintains an intrinsically inescapable nexus with IT law arising from the nature of things. Internet law further intersects with mass media law. However, because internet technologies facilitate communication not only between human beings but also between machines through the evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, utilizing the concept of "electronic communications law" rather than mass media law is functionally more sound. In this dimension, internet law primarily functions as a branch of law linked to norms governing IT devices/systems per se alongside the broader legal framework of electronic communications law originating with the Electronic Communications Law.

Because internet access constitutes a public service, internet law inherently embodies substantial public law components. The Law on the Establishment of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), the BTK Regulation on Administrative Sanctions, Law No. 5651, and derivative secondary legislation overwhelmingly incorporate administrative remedies, statutory sanctions, and regulatory oversight mechanisms rooted in public law. Nevertheless, despite this deep nexus with public law, internet law is not subsumed entirely within the public law domain. Foremost, provisions of Law No. 5651 concerning personal rights, alongside intellectual and industrial property infringements online, torts, electronic contracts, electronic commerce, and derivative matters falling under consumer and commercial law, constitute the private law dimension of internet law.

Within legal practice, the primary operational domains of internet law comprise:

• Removal, filtering, blocking, and access-restriction of online content

• Rights, obligations, administrative sanctions, and civil damages concerning services offered by ISPs operating in the electronic communications sector

• Activities of natural and legal persons acting as content providers

• Online broadcasting activities falling within the regulatory domain of RTÜK

• Intellectual and industrial property rights in the online environment

• Applications linked to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies

• Cybercrimes and internet-based offenses

• E-commerce activities conducted online

• Legal issues originating from domain names

B. Information Technology (IT) Law

Within formal science, because computing devices and systems occupy a broader conceptual umbrella that subsumes the internet, IT law theoretically encompasses a wider scope than internet law. However, when reduced to legal norms and concrete disputes—setting cybercrimes aside—the statutory and litigation domain governing IT devices, systems, and network structures not directly linked to internet technologies is comparatively narrow.

Network architectures that interconnect computing devices without resembling the internet form the subject matter of IT law rather than internet law. Beyond the non-internet components of electronic communications law, bespoke statutory codifications dedicated exclusively to IT law in this narrow sense remain limited.

The normative infrastructure of IT law in Türkiye consists of legislation governing intellectual and industrial property rights over software and hardware; statutes regulating electronic signatures and trust service providers; technical safety and market presentation regulations for computing hardware and software (e.g., the Law on Product Safety and Technical Regulations); KVKK regulations governing the retention of personal data in cyberspace; specialized financial and banking sector regulations concerning electronic data security; and specific statutory norms governing computing devices/systems to the extent dictated by their nature.

Within legal practice, the primary operational domains of IT law—occurring outside the internet—comprise:

• Cybercrimes

• Legal processes concerning software and hardware, including artificial intelligence technologies (encompassing specialized sub-disciplines such as robotics law, patent law, or import-related international trade law)

• Legal proceedings regarding personal data or non-personally identifiable data residing in cyberspace

• Activities of Registered Electronic Mail (KEP), Electronic Signature, and derivative trust service providers

• Autonomous vehicles and transport systems