Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning Chapter 8 Cyber Law Its Legal, Ethical, and Global Environment MARIANNE M. JENNINGS 7 th Ed.

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 2 Overview Cyber law is traditional law applied to disputes in the on-line venue. –Tort Issues. –Contract Issues. –Intellectual Property Issues. –Criminal Violations. –Constitutional Restraints, and –Securities Law Issues.

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 3 Jurisdiction Case 8.1 In the Matter of Maxine Allen (2003). –Ms. Allen lived in Florida but did her work on the Reuters computer in New York. –What factors influenced the court in making its decision?

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 4 Tort Issues in Cyber Law Privacy Issues. – and Worker Privacy. 90 Million Americans send 2.8 billion s per day. exists as an electronic record not only between sender and receiver but across the network as well. Do the parties have an expectation to privacy? –Generally, Employers do have the right to access an employee’s .

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 5 Case 8.2 Garrity v. John Hancock Mut. Life Ins. Co. (2002). –What type of did the employees send to one another? –What was Hancock’s policy on its access to ? –What liability does Hancock have for monitoring ? and the Law

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 6 Case 8.3 Doe v. 2TheMart.com, Inc. (2001). –What type of information was posted to the website? –Why do the shareholders, officers, and directors want the identity of NoGuano revealed? Case 8.4 U.S. v. Bailey (2004). –Did the Defendant have an expectation of privacy on his work computer? and the Law

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 7 Privacy and Statutory Protections. –Electronic Communications Privacy Act (1986) prohibits the interception of “live” communications. –What about the information collected by online e-tailers in their ‘cookies’? and the Law

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 8 Appropriation in Cyberspace. –Making an image or likeness and then using it for commercial advantage. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. –Case 8.5 RIAA v. Verizon (2003). –Is an ISP liable for the acts of its subscribers? Cyber Torts

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 9 Cyber Torts Trespass in Cyberspace. –Are cookies trespassing? –What about ‘spiders’ from search engines? –Case 8.6 Intel Corp v. Hamidi (2003). Defamation in Cyberspace. –Elements of traditional defamation are the same. –What about chat room defamation?

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 10 Contract Law in Cyberspace Formation Issues. –Online contracts formed between businesses (B2B) and business and consumers (B2C). –Is there an offer and acceptance? –Is there a writing? –Is the contract enforceable?

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 11 Contract Law in Cyber Space E-SIGN, federal law on Electronic Contracts and Signatures. UETA, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, adopted in 18 states, including Texas. These laws provide a framework for enforcing online contracts.

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 12 Federal Trade Commission is actively involved in shutting down illegal online activity. Identity Theft occurs when hackers find social security numbers and personal information. Cyber Fraud

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 13 E-Intellectual Property Issues I.P. law has not changed, even though the internet allows the easy exchange of documents, pictures and music. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, patented the ‘one-click’ process. Free Music (Napster) vs. Royalties.

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 14 Copyright Infringement and Technology –Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides ‘safe harbors’ for ISP’s. Protecting Domain Names. –ICANN. –UDRP: domain name disputes. Trademarks in Cyberspace. –Federal Trademark Dilution Act provides private cause of action. E-Intellectual Property Issues

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 15 E-Criminal Law Issues Most cyber crime is ordinary crime carried out by a computer. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Economic Espionage Act (see Ch.9).

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 16 Constitutional Restraints The First Amendment in Cyberspace. –Speech on the internet enjoys the same protections as ‘real space’ speech. –Cyber Promotions v. AOL (1996) –Child Pornography Prevention Act was ruled unconstitutional in U.S. v. Hilton (1999) and Free Speech Coalition v. Reno (1999).

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 17 Commerce Clause in Cyberspace. –Constitutional requires some “nexus” between taxing authority and business paying tax. Due Process in Cyberspace. –When does an out-of-state, online company have sufficient presence to be hailed into local court? Constitutional Restraints

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 18 E-Securities Law Issues ‘Pump and Dump’ occurs when online traders post information on the web to make gains on their stock. SEC and FTC still monitor and prosecute on-line security offerings and scams. Any disclosures made to the public must apply same principles to real-space companies.

Copyright ©2006 by West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 19 Cyber-International Law Traditional notions of American jurisdiction do not always fit on the web. Case 8.7 Yahoo! v. La Ligue Contre le Racisme (2001). –Yahoo! appealed French court order and U.S. Court held France had no jurisdiction over Yahoo!.