Regulation by design is an increasingly common approach in the governance of digital technologies. Under this approach, the developers of digital systems must adopt technical measures that implement the specific requirements mandated by law in their software. Some jurisdictions, notably the European Union (EU), have turned to regulation by design as a mechanism to automatically enforce legal requirements, but this article argues that such an approach can have important implications for long-term governance. Drawing from examples of regulation by design in EU law, it shows that by-design provisions delegate rule-making power to software designers, whose interpretations of the law become entrenched in digital systems. This delegation process suffers from legitimacy deficits, which are compounded whenever digital systems continue to enforce the designer-made rules as they operate for years and, sometimes, decades. Yet, these legitimacy deficits are not unavoidable, as regulation by design can be used to force designers to adopt technical and organisational practices that mitigate the risks of rule entrenchment to future generations. By mapping the long-term risks of regulation by design and potential solutions to them, this article provides a first step towards approaches to regulation by design that do not sacrifice the future for present interests.

通过设计进行监管是数字技术治理中越来越常见的方法。在这种方法下，数字系统的开发人员必须采取技术措施，在其软件中实现法律规定的特定要求。一些司法管辖区，特别是欧盟 (EU)，已转向通过设计监管作为自动执行法律要求的机制，但本文认为，这种方法可能对长期治理产生重要影响。借鉴欧盟法律中设计监管的例子，它表明设计条款将规则制定权委托给软件设计者，他们对法律的解释在数字系统中根深蒂固。这种授权过程存在合法性缺陷，每当数字系统在运行数年甚至数十年的过程中继续执行设计者制定的规则时，合法性缺陷就会变得更加复杂。然而，这些合法性缺陷并非不可避免，因为设计监管可以迫使设计者采取技术和组织实践，以减轻子孙后代的规则巩固风险。通过描绘设计监管的长期风险以及潜在的解决方案，本文为实现设计监管方法迈出了第一步，这种方法不会为了当前利益而牺牲未来。