Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, Vol. 9 Issue 3, pp. 180-194. DOI 10.1108/14779961111167658 This article is © Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear on http://publications.ceu.hu/ . Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited. The final publication is available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1944204 Regulating the future? Law, ethics, and emerging technologies Ivan Szekely, Mate Daniel Szabo and Beatrix Vissy Abstract The purpose of the paper is to provide an overview of the legal implications which may be relevant to the ethical aspects of emerging technologies, to explore the existing situation in the area of legal regulation at EU level, and to formulate recommendations for the lawmakers. The analysis is based on the premise that the law is supposed to invoke moral principles. Speculative findings are formulated on the basis of analyzing specific emerging technologies; empirical findings are based on a research conducted in the whole legal corpus of the EU. In the area of network-based technologies the already existing and elaborated legal frameworks can be used in an extended manner; artificial intelligence based technologies call for alterations in several branches of law; while interface technologies show the difficulty and complexity of regulating interdisciplinary fields. The legal implications of emerging technologies have attracted only a minimal legislative attention in the competent bodies of the EU. The paper provides a systemic approach towards transmitting ethical norms to the application of emerging technologies through legal regulation, and formulates detailed recommendations in various areas of such technologies. Keywords: Law, Ethics, Emerging technologies, Network-based technologies, Interface technologies, Artificial intelligence 1. Introduction Legal implications which may be relevant to the ethical aspects of emerging technologies call out for exploration and discussion. The driving force behind the research presented in this paper was to provide an overview of the areas where law should play an important role in bridging ethical norms and reality in future applications of such technologies. The specific purpose of the research was to formulate recommendations to be implemented in practice by the competent organs of the European Union, thereby influencing the level of