For lawyers, the speed of innovation in this sector is quite a headache. In order to avoid being left behind by events, legislators must always maintain a neutrality that is not limited to one technology in particular. If this were not the case, the law would only apply to a single, quickly superseded case, which is what happened in the Yukon: a bill was tabled, but became obsolete before it was even passed into law!

To address these challenges, traditional law is slowly adapting to new uses of technology. "Some laws are amended, such as the admissibility of electronic evidence. But sometimes one is facing a legal gap," explains Sophie Rompré, a lawyer specializing in technology law.

In such cases, lawyers will search for an analogy to provide a comparative framework. With the arrival of the automobile, for instance, there was no specific applicable law, but the laws in effect for transportation by horse were adapted.

Moreover, technological complexity is an additional issue: technologies are much more difficult to regulate when we don't have a handle on them, as is the case for nanotechnology in particular. "No one yet knows how they will be deployed. Nanotechnology enables so many things. . . What are the issues and risks involved? It's very difficult to predict," says Pierre Trudel, professor at the Law faculty of the Université de Montréal.