Cyber law - Definition and Overview

Cyber law encompasses a wide variety of political and legal issues related to the Internet and other communications technology, including intellectual property, privacy, freedom of expression, and jurisdiction.

The intersection of technology and law is controversial. Some think the Internet should not (or can not) be regulated. Technologies like anonymity and cryptography make traditional kinds of regulation extremely difficult. And the fundamental end to end nature of the Internet means that even if one mode of communication is shut down, another method can be used. In the words of John Gilmore, "the Internet treats censorship as damage and routes around it."

Controversial laws

• Communications Decency Act - the controversial pornography regulation law, later partly struck down as unconstitutional. § 230 of the CDA is still used by internet service providers to shield them from liabilities of activities of users.
• Digital Millennium Copyright Act - the epidemic law that outlaws not only software piracy but also the activities that help it.
• Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act technically a part of the DMCA but distinct from it.
• Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act
• Can Spam Act of 2003
• EU Directive on the Patentability of Computer-Implemented Inventions
• Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (U.K.)
• PATRIOT Act

See also: Gutnick v. Dow Jones, Carafano v. Metrosplash.com, Computer crime

Proposed laws

• Public Domain Enhancement Act

Further Reading

• ASCL Cyber Law Library (http://www.asianlaws.org/cyberlaw/library/index.htm)
• The Future of Ideas and Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig
• Intellectual Property and the Internet by Rodney D. Ryder; Lexis Nexis Butterworths, 2002
• Cyberlaw for Non-Lawyers (http://www.eff.org/Legal/CyberLaw_Course/) - an archive of articles on cyberlaw compiled by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

External link

• Asian School of Cyber Laws (http://www.asianlaws.org)
• Standford Law School Cyberlaw Clinic (http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/about/cases/)
• Netlitigation: Internet Law (http://www.netlitigation.com)