Code is the written framework from which the digital universe is constructed -- from the way that software is made to the way hardware controlled -- that in turn dictates how, if at all, we interact on digital networks.  In his book Code Is Law, Lawrence Lessig compares the code of computers to the laws of man, and that code reflects the values instilled into it.

From Code Is Law:

"In real space, we recognize how laws regulate—through constitutions, statutes, and other legal codes. In cyberspace we must understand how a different “code” regulates—how the software and hardware (i.e., the “code” of cyberspace) that make cyberspace what it is also regulate cyberspace as it is...[Code] present[s] the greatest threat to both liberal and libertarian ideals, as well as their greatest promise. We can build, or architect, or code cyberspace to protect values that we believe are fundamental. Or we can build, or architect, or code cyberspace to allow those values to disappear. There is no middle ground. There is no choice that does not include some kind of building. Code is never found; it is only ever made, and only ever made by us. As Mark Stefik puts it, “Different versions of [cyberspace] support different kinds of dreams. We choose, wisely or not. ” Or again, code “determines which people can access which digital objects . . . How such programming regulates human interactions . . . depends on the choices made. ” Or, more precisely, a code of cyberspace, defining the freedoms and controls of cyberspace, will be built. About that there can be no debate. But by whom, and with what values? That is the only choice we have left to make."