Chapter 18-Internet Law

www World Wide Web-Wild,Wild West? New Global Community has caused many ethical dilemmas Unequal Access increasing wealth gap. Virtual Life? Alienation-- Boy, my arms are getting tired. Moral Decay-- Internet Gambling & Pornography

Jurisdiction All courts must have Subject Matter Jurisdiction & Personal Jurisdiction. Due to the Internet’s unique nature, often parties find themselves litigating against others from all parts of the globe ….so how do you establish the court’s “power” to hear the case? The internet knows no borders--- In Yahoo Case (where Government of France sued Yahoo for violating French Criminal Codes by auctioning off Nazi memerobilia shows how Different “free speech” rights are in various countries and the US courts Refused to “honor” the French court’s ruling against Yahoo!

Commercial Speech Commercial Speech is afforded 1st Amendment protection but on- line communication has been misused. Spam Defamation Misleading sales pitches. Spam

Privacy Since for the most part the government has allowed the Market (Internet) to regulate itself, there is very few “Privacy” controls *Cookies-- *Selling of Addresses *Profiling of Users 1998 COPPA Law Prevents collecting info. From children under 13-- No Expectation in Users Screen names Yum

THE US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PASSED THE COPPA ACT (CHILDREN’S ONLINE PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT) IN 1998 WHICH PREVENTS WEBSITES FROM COLLECTING PRIVATE INFORMATION FROM CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 13 WITHOUT PARENTAL PERMISSION. This law is enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 1998 COPPA Law

Internet Crimes Cyberstalking Virus Attacks Piracy of Copyrighted Materials Fraud Theft of Credit Card Numbers Theft of User’s Identity Mis-information on Stocks

Napster

How It Works--

JUDGE JUDY READY TO RULE---- Case: A & M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., Record companies & artists claim Napster is stealing their intellectual property (songs) through its web service that allows users to copy MP3 files. Napster claims “fair use” defense and that they are not the “copiers”….. Music to my ears---- Napster is merely stealing copyrighted items and should be shut down! Appeals has ordered Napster to stop the pirating of copyrighted materials- February2001

Just a note! “fair use doctrine” allows limited, non- profit use of copyrighted material without permission under some conditions (like classroom teaching) Business plans & strategies can be protected by trade secret laws. The growth potential of the Internet is not likely to be fully realized unless a new international framework arises to provide an environment of legal and commercial consistency.

Internet Commercial Law E-Signature: The 2000 Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (E-SIGN) elevates electronic signatures the same legal level and as traditional handwritten ones for most commercial purposes

Internet Commercial Law Napster Cyber squatting  The 1999 Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act  Protects trademarks from being infringed upon  by the registration of a domain name that is the same or  Substantially similar to cause confusion.  The trademark holder must show a bad faith  intention by the registrant to profit from the registration,  traffic in the name, or use the name.

Internet Commercial Law Shrink-Wrap and Click-Wrap Agreements: Software license terms often say that in opening the shrink-wrap package (shrink-wrap) binds the user to the terms & conditions. When a internet user “clicks” on the “I agree” or “I Accept/consent” button, then a legally binding contract has occurred (Click-wrap) or using the software the buyer agrees to the terms. These types of agreements are Generally enforceable so long as the end user has the ability to return the Package for a full refund before installation or the web user had the Option to select “I disagree” or back out of the web page without going Forward.

Taxing the Internet? The ban on Internet taxes was recently renewed and Extended as of November Is this fair to “favor” one Industry over another when Applying sales taxes? New

Successors/Assigns Clause

Time Out! Break Time!