New information and communications technologies engender many new social problems, particularly with respect to the protection of privacy. They lead to a surveillance-society and add to the means of social control. In transforming law and legal practice, they may aggravate the inequalities before the law. Regulations are not sufficient to contain the uncontrolled accumulation and divulgation of personal information. They must be complemented by contractual arrangements and non-legal initiatives involving the participation of managers and citizen, and they should lead to a redefinition of social relations between individuals, corporations, and the state.