  The extraction of the photodissociation cross sections of $^8B$ from Coulomb
dissociation experiments is investigated. A careful study is done on the
contributions of the E1, E2 and M1 multipolarities to the breakup. A comparison
with the data of a recent experiment is performed. It is shown that the
extraction of the radiative capture cross sections $^7Be(p,\ \gamma)^8B$ which
are relevant for the solar neutrino problem is not affected appreciably by
Coulomb reacceleration. A non-perturbative model is used for the purpose.
Emphasis is put on the perspectives for future experiments which are planned at
the University of Notre Dame, RIKEN (Japan), and GSI (Germany). An analysis of
the total yields of ``photon-point" processes in inelastic electron scattering
is also done.
