It is ultimately people who we must rely on and the social conventions they follow. These conventions have been developing on the Internet for many years. I have been experiencing and confronting them for the last four years. You will note that I have not mentioned the law so far. There are few laws applicable in this field.
Laws tend to follow far behind the arrival of the technology.
In any case the law will be unenforceable if people do not believe it is applicable. We do not need to wait for parliamentarians or judges to make the law for networking, we can do it ourselves. In fact, as IT professionals we are obliged to do this. As IT professionals, it is also our job to help make laws. One example is the ACS Code of Ethics.