Legislation in Cyberspace from the Prospect of International Law and the Iranian Law

Since the advent of cyberspace in human life, the issues of legislation and recognition of competent legislative power have been two controversial matters. The method of legislation for cyberspace is based on two hypotheses about governance in cyberspace. The first theory is based on States’ monopoly in governance on cyberspace and the second theory which is inspired of the doctrine of Common Heritage of Mankind is contrary with exclusive competence of States to this field. Each of these two approaches causes different methods of legislation for cyberspace. The methods of national, international and self-regulation legislation are in the category of legislative methods for cyberspace. Although resort to each of legislative methods will face with difficulties in execution stage, it is possible to adopt a balanced and mixed approach capable of resolving the defects of all methods and also providing mutual understanding between states and active groups in fields of cyberspace. The Islamic Republic of Iran approach is fundamentally based on the method of national legislation in cyberspace, but the activity of Iran in international community and in particular International Telecommunication Union indicates acceptance of mixed method in legislation for cyberspace.