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Cyberspace Law
David Post has a comprehensive outline of the legal
issues affecting cyberspace, many of which are addressed
by cypherpunks, at:
http://www.cli.org/cyberspace/index.html
It's very much worth reading, pondering and learning
from.
Here are excerpts:
-----
Law of Cyberspace Seminar
Fall 1996
Prof. David G. Post ([email protected])
Introduction
The emergence of the global network -- the "Internet" and
its constituent networks -- and the associated "digital
revolution" -- the ability to access, store, and transmit
vast amounts of information in digital form (computer
software, videogames, music, text, etc.) -- presents an
array of new problems and opportunities for lawyers
preparing to practice in the 21st Century. It is
becoming increasingly evident that the process of
"mapping" existing legal concepts and tools into this new
domain is not going to be straightforward, and that a
number of familiar legal concepts will need to be
rethought before they can be efficiently applied in the
new environment.
The goal of this course is threefold:
First, to introduce you, by means of a series of specific
case studies chosen to illustrate the clash between
existing legal regimes and new technologies, to a
reasonably comprehensive subset of the legal problems
that will need to be addressed in this new environment;
Second, to help you, through fairly intensive work on
your research papers, to prepare publishable quality
written work; and
Third, to help you become comfortable with the
information-retrieval and transmission capabilities of
this new medium, both because no discussion of the "law
of cyberspace" can be very fruitful without some basic
understanding of the special characteristics of the new
domain, and because lawyers will increasingly be called
upon to demonstrate some familiarity with Internet
navigation as businesses (including law firms)
increasingly utilize the global network as a means of
delivering their services.
[Big snip of bountiful thoughts and links to information
sites]
Appendix 3: Possible Paper Topics
This list is just designed to get you started thinking
about possible paper topics. It is by no means
exhaustive; feel free to choose a topic not mentioned
below.
Protection of employee electronic mail.
Are new rules required regarding online sexual
harassment?
Trademarks and Internet domain names -- can they be
reconciled?
Intermediary (system operator) liability for subscribers'
copyright or trademark infringements or other "wrongful"
conduct.
Does Web browsing, or the caching of World Wide Web
pages, constitute copyright infringement?
Analysis of electronic shrinkwraps: Are online
disclaimers enforceable? What procedural steps can be
used to enhance enforceability?
Jurisdiction and choice of law in cyberspace.
Dispute resolution in cyberspace.
Should true anonymity be allowed in online contexts? Who
will bear the responsibilities of anonymous actions?
Taxation in cyberspace (e.g., application of foreign
states' sales tax laws to online transactions).
Dataveillance. The use of online data profiles in
marketing research.
Compilation copyrights for collective online activities.
Legality of online gambling.
"Moral rights" in cyberspace.
Analysis of legal issues regarding programs that extract
information from a user's hard drive and communicate back
to a central server (Windows 95, Netscape Navigator).
Data authentication, the use of computer-generated
evidence and computer-generated signatures in contracts.
Content regulation in cyberspace: Obscenity, indecency,
and false advertising
Licensing and professional liability (e.g. the
application of licensing schemes and other regulatory
provisions to professional practice of lawyers, doctors,
or others on the net).
Internet self-regulation: cyber-democracy, frontier
justice, and other regulatory models in cyberspace.
The control of online defamation.
Product liability for on-line products.
Clipper, encryption and decryption.
Net commerce: Digital money and other solutions.
Net commerce: Copyright management systems and other
schemes for charging by the byte.
Do we need new rules regarding enforcement of the
antitrust laws in cyberspace?
-----
Thanks to David Post for this IP lift lift.