Legal Issues and Policy: Cyberspace and the Law
DISCLAIMER: The files in the directory are not presented as legal advice,
only as informational materials. Files not authored by EFF
do not necessarily represent the views, opinions, or policy of
EFF.
Note:
* = not to be reposted beyond this site w/o author's permission.
** = no commerical/for-profit redistribution w/o author's permission
Files in this Archive
- access_rights_johnson.article
- "Access Rights -- All Power to the
Sysop?", article by David Johnson. Excerpt: "Some enlightened sysops will
create mechanisms by means of which users can participate in making rules
and overseeing their enforcement. Will those sysops prosper in
preference to others who act less accountably? Will the
existence of checks on arbitrary exercises of raw power help to
keep other, external, regulators at bay?"
- anon_juris.article
- "The Coming Jurisdictional Swamp of Global
Internetworking (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Anonymity)",
by Douglas Barnes. Overview of several reasons why anonymity on the Net
is a good idea, and a look at the many ways in which a foreign
jurisdiction can exercise authority over citizens of other countries.
- anonymity_online_johnson.article
- "The Unscrupulous Diner's Dilemma and
Anonymity in Cyberspace", article by David Johnson. Excerpt: "The
ultimate implication, I believe, is that to achieve a civilized form
of cyberspace, we have to limit the use of anonymous communications.
Many early citizens of cyberspace will bitterly oppose any such
development, arguing that anonymous and pseudonymous electronic
communications are vital to preserve electronic freedoms and allow free
expression of human personality. But the problem with that view is that
we all collectively face the diners' dilemma -- we must collaborate in
groups to build a rich social fabric, and we know that the ability to
act anonymously, sporadically, in large groups brings out the worst in
human character." One of Mr. Johnson's more controversial pieces.
- bbs_and_law.paper
- Mike Riddle, "THE ELECTRONIC PAMPHLET--COMPUTER
BULLETIN BOARDS AND THE LAW". A round-up of key
legal aspects of running a BBS. Covered are BBS and
the 1st Amendment, Operation Sun Devil, access
rights to information, sysop liability for defamation
and copyright infringement, etc.
- bbs_defamation_liability.paper
- John R. Kahn, "DEFAMATION LIABILITY OF
COMPUTERIZED BULLETIN BOARD OPERATORS AND PROBLEMS OF PROOF".
The scope of this Comment is to examine issues that arise in
tracing computerized defamation to its true source. Must read for
all SYSOPS and potential SYSOPS concerning your liability
for information posted on your BBS.
- bill_of_rights_online.paper
- Harvey Silverglate, "LEGAL OVERVIEW: THE
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS". Striking balances
properly among freedom of speech, the right to privacy and protection
from unwarranted governmental intrusion will not be easy, but if they
are struck too far in one direction or the other, important social and
legal values surely will be sacrificed.
- comp_crime_cases.list
- Compiled list of computer crimes that have been
tried and appealed.
- comp_crime_cases.summaries
- Summaries of various computer crime
cases that have been tried.
- comp_crime_cases_list.update
- An updated list of computer crimes
tried, updated May 1, 1995.
- comp_crime_laws.list
- List of computer crime related statutes by state
- comp_crime_us_state.laws
- US states' computer crime statutes.
- comp_crime_us_state_laws.readme
- explanatory and introductory notes for
the two files immediately above and below.
- comp_crime_us_state_laws_table.ps
- PostScript file reference table of
information dealing with computer crime in various states.
- comp_law.biblio
- 1991 bibliography of computer-law related materials,
especially on the subject of copyrights and digital media
(computer software, CD-ROM, etc.) for librarianship.Reviewed by
Martin Halbert, from The Public-Access Computer Systems Review.
- comp_privacy_vs_rights.paper
- Michael S. Borella, "COMPUTER PRIVACY VS.
FIRST AND FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS". This paper
discusses cyberspace and its increasing role in the life of
every human being, not just those who actually use a computer,
and explores the legal battles and rights issues regarding
cyberspace.
- comp_security_legal.article
- Simson L. Garfinkel, "An Introduction to
Computer Security For Lawyers". This article attempts to broadly
cover questions of computer security in the small business or law firm.
This article hopes to acquaint the reader with the issues involved
so that the reader may then be able to analyze systems on a
case-by-case basis and recognize when outside assistance is required.
- competition_legal_info.report
- report of the October 25 meeting with DOJ was
written by Professor Carole Hafner dealing with the need for Free
Competition in the Legal Information Field
- content_regulation_johnson.article
- "Taking Cyberspace Seriously:
Dealing with Obnoxious Messages on the Net", David Johnson. Excerpt:
"Territorially-based laws fail us when we confront new phenomena
involving participants whose geographical locations span legal
jurisdictions and have little relationship to the locus of the harms they
might inflict...we can reduce the intensity of the debate, and find some
- cops_net_architecture_johnson.article
- "Law Enforcement and The
Architecture of Cyberspace -- Should the Cops on the Beat Design the
Electronic Street?", article by David Johnson. Excerpt: "The
Administration has made its position clear: it will seek to
encourage the use of the "Clipper Chip" and push for legislation that
will require electronic communications systems to be designed to
facilitate wiretapping and surveillance in real time...So we have a set
of proposals that, in somewhat breath-taking fashion, claim for the
cops not only the right to walk the beat but a privilege to say just
how the street will be designed...But no such origin accounts for
our best public spaces and I can tell you...that putting wiretapping
at the top of the design priority list is a really dumb idea..."
- copyright.faq
- Terry Carroll's misc.legal Copyright FAQ
- copyrt_myths.faq
- A discussion on the facts and myths surrounding copyright law
including computers and the internet. Written by Terry Carroll and contains
all six volumes of the FAQ.
- cyber_barbwire_johnson.article
- "Barbed Wire Fences in Cyberspace: The
Threat Posed by Calls for Ownership of Transactional Information",
article by David Johnson. Excerpt: "Concerned about the threat to
privacy created by such electronic dossiers, some have called for new
laws granting each of us "ownership" of all the transactional
information generated as we move around the network...This may produce
a sort of cattle drive vs. sheep herder battle on the electronic
frontier. Either "information wants to be free" or we can all put
barbed wire around the tracks we leave -- but we can't have both a
free information range and a system of information ownership. The
First Amendment implications of any such privacy regime are staggering."
- cyber_constitution.paper
- Laurence H. Tribe, "The Constitution in
Cyberspace" the keynote address at the First Conference on Computers,
Freedom and Privacy1991
- cyber_first_amend_johnson.article
- "Volume Controls in Cyberspace? --
Hard First Amendment Questions in the Age of Electronic Networking",
article by David Johnson. Excerpt: "Some call for enforcement of the
First Amendment in cyberspace. Some point out that the First
Amendment is a local U.S. ordinance...But no one has yet come to grips
with the hard question of how we will balance the community
interests in imposing some limitations on speech against the
desire to facilitate open communication over the Net...In other
words, if we did have a "First Amendment" in cyberspace, generally
agreed upon as a global balancing tool for the rights of speech and
the protection of other interests, what would it say?"
- cyberjuris_quidproquo_johnson.article
- "Jurisdictional Quid Pro Quo and
the Law of Cyberspace", article by David Johnson. Excerpt: "...both
national and international law doctrines regarding jurisdiction rely
heavily on questions regarding the (1) the extent of the voluntary
"contacts" the relevant person has had with the interested jurisdiction
and (2) the fairness of asserting personal jurisdiction over the acts
of a foreign person. There is a sliding scale, with the importance of
looking to fairness becoming greater as the extent of contacts diminishes.
There may also be a corrollation between a state's assertion of
jurisdiction over a person or matter and its practical ability to
enforce a judgment."
- cyberlaw_bbs_free_market.article
- "Cyberspace, the Free Market and the Free
Marketplace of Ideas: Recognizing Legal Differences in Computer
Bulletin Board Functions" by Eric Schlachter. This article deals with
the emerging BBS technology and the present and future law dealing with
it and information distributed on BBSs.
- cyberlaw_johnson.article
- "Lawmaking and Law Enforcement in Cyberspace",
article by David Johnson. Excerpt: "One way to advance exploration of
the question whether Cyberspace should be self-regulating (or,
perhaps, even "sovereign" within its sphere) is to discuss in concrete
terms how the law of Cyberspace can be made and enforced so as to
achieve both effectiveness and fundamental principles of fairness."
- cyberliberties_kapor.article
- Mitch Kapor, "Civil Liberties in Cyberspace:
When does hacking turn from an exercise of civil liberties into crime?"
- cyberspace_legal_matrix.article
- Lance Rose, "Cyberspace and the Legal
Matrix: Laws or Confusion?" Article on legal aspects of electronic
networks, or "cyberspace". First part is an overview of
the many types of laws that may apply to different network situations.
Second part examines some of the problems and results
arising from clashes between differrent laws and regulations of cyberspace.
- digital_media_and_law.paper
- Oct 1991 paper from Communications of
the ACM, by Pam Samuelson.
- doj_search_seize_epic.analysis
- EPIC Analysis of New Justice Department Draft
Guidelines on Searching and Seizing Computers
- e-law.paper
- David J. Loundy, "E-LAW: LEGAL ISSUES AFFECTING COMPUTER
INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND SYSTEM OPERATOR LIABILITY".
- e-pub_legal.article
- Brian Peretti's Feb 1994 article dealing with
computer publications and the first amendment
- ecfa_91_bill.draft
- draft bill (authored largely by former EFF
boardmember David Johnson), the "Electronic Communications Forwarding
Act", to provide legal protections for system operators. Those whose
systems simply forward or retransmit electronic messages should not
be liable for their contents. Status: Proposed in 1991, never introduced.
- ecpa.law
- the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, with relevant sections
of other laws as modified by the ECPA (these annotations by EFF staff
counsel Mike Godwin and Shari Steele).
- ecpa_laymans_view.article
- Mike Riddle, "THE ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS
PRIVACY ACT OF 1986: A LAYMAN'S VIEW". The paper covers the two main
sections of the act, Interception of Communications and Stored
Communications and Records Access. Plain, clear text about a
complicated issue.
- edgar_grant.announce
- November 1993 announcement that Congressman Edward
Markey (D-MA) announced that the National Science Foundation would fund
a pilot project to place the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC)
Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system
online for users of the Internet.
- elec_rights_ala.papers
- ASCII version of a printed booklet distributed at the
American Library Association conference in July 1991 dealing with
citizen rights and access to electronic information
- electrifying_speech.paper
- Nan Levinson, "ELECTRIFYING SPEECH: New
Communications Technologies and Traditional Civil Liberties". A 1992
paper from Human Rights Watch. Discusses questions and legal
issues arisen from the new communications technologies, and long held
assumptions about individual and communal rights.
- email_priv.biblio
- Stacy Veeder's Jan and December 1991 bibliography of
material relating to privacy and e-mail.
- email_privacy.citations
- Legal case citings relevant to the issue of
privacy in email, divided into two groups: US Constitutional law, and
California law.
- email_subpoenas.note
- September 1994 note from Edupage relating to the
dangers to corporations in stockpiling of e-mail
- epub_contract.principles
- April 1994 treatise by the National Writers
Union stating the principles on contracts bewteen writers and electronic
book publishers.
- export_bitnet_legal.letter
- Feb 1994 note regarding Legal Aspects of
Linking BITNET to Foreign Countries
- export_otpa_legal.letter
- This letter from Bill Clements, Director of
the Office of Technology and Policy Analysis, Commerce Department,
to the BITNET management explains their obligations and their members'
obligations under the export laws, regarding exports of technical data
and/or software over an international network
- fair_use_and_copyright.excerpt
- This is a simple and clear legal
explanation of the doctrine of "fair use" as a defense to charges of
copyright infringement, excerpted from Judge Whyte's decision, Sept. 22,
1995, in RTC & Bridge v. Erlich, Netcom & Klemesrud.
- feds_on_the_net_godwin.article
- "The Feds and the Net: Closing the
Culture Gap" by Mike Godwin (column for _Internet_World_, May 1994 issue).
"It was about halfway through my lecture at the FBI Academy at Quantico
last fall that I began to sense in my audience a rising hostility.
And, let me tell you, I take it very seriously when I'm feeling hostility
from people who are licensed to carry weapons. But in spite of my
nervousness, which I tried to hide from the FBI agents and federal
prosecutors in my audience, I pressed on with my criticisms of federal
law enforcement's investigations and prosecutions of computer-crime
cases. In my experience, I told them, these law-enforcement efforts have
all too often infringed on the rights of presumptively innocent
citizens..."
- future_legal_net_johnson.article
- "The Future of the Net - As It
Pertains to Lawyers", article by David Johnson. Excerpt: "As we
contemplate the inevitable emergence of new disputes and some new
creative opportunities, all of us who are lawyers should look
carefully at the wonderful things that have been accomplished
on the net without any traditional law -- and attempt as best we can,
consistently with the constraints of growth and newbies and commerce
and boundaries, to preserve the spirit of the old net as we try to
help build the new one."
- good_fences_johnson.article
- "Electronic Communications Privacy: Good
Sysops Should Build Good Fences", article by David Johnson. Excerpt:
"Congress was right to make the extent of electronic privacy
protection depend substantially on context-any other approach would have
interfered with open access to communications intended to be publicly
disseminated. But the result of this approach is that every system
operator ("Sysop") of an electronic communications system or remote
computing service bears an added burden-a duty to make clear to all
concerned which types of messages may be disclosed to others and
which may not."
- granularity_cyberlaw_johnson.article
- "Granularity and the Law of
Cyberspace", article by David Johnson. Excerpt: 'With regard to
intellectual property doctrine, the simultaneous bigness and
smallness of intellectual artifacts in cyberspace causes serious
problems. Should we consider each e-mail message a "work"? How can we
use the "proportion taken" factor in a "fair use" analysis when we are
dealing with the copying and forwarding of "whole" e-mail
messages?...The same can be said about many other areas of law. The
large numbers of small bits traversing a network make it nearly
impossible for a sysop to review messages in advance -- and therefore
requires us to rethink the application to sysops of traditional
"publisher" liability for defamation...'
- inet_publishing_legal.article
- "PUBLISHING ON THE INTERNET: SOME LEGAL
PROTECTIONS AND PITFALLS" by Pete Kennedy (attorney for plaintiffs in Steven
Jackson v. USSS). Article submitted for a recent UT CLE seminar, about
on-line publishing, which discusses some issues not usually talked
about in the typical sysop-liability literature.
- lappin_obscen_indecen.article
- Journalist Todd Lappin explains obscenity and
indecency (and the differences between them) in lay terms.
- law_of_the_net_godwin.article
- Mike Godwin, "The Law of the Net:
Problems and Prospects". An article discussing the problems of civil
and criminal law that one encounters when attempting to apply them to
networking environments (incl. libel, intellectual property, etc.)
Originally published in _Internet_World_, Sept./Oct. 1993.
- law_research.faq
- Legal Research FAQ.
- mail_liability.article
- Mike Riddle article, "Sysop Liability for
En-Route (and/or Encrypted) Mail".
- media_and_law.article
- Howard H. Frederick, "Media Performance and
International Law". A short essay on the international covenants and
conventions that govern media behavior in the international arena. How do
governments restrict international information exchange, how much can
they restrict it, and what are the precedents?
- multimedia_ip_primer.paper
- A primer for non-lawyers on the
legal issues in developing online and multimedia products, includes a
description of the legal issues in creating a hypothetical multimedia
work. By J. Dianne Brinson and Mark F. Radcliffe. Revised, 1996.
- nbc_comp_crime.transcript
- Script from the NBC "Almost 2001" computer
crime news report aired May 1994
- net_legal_resources.list
- Erik J. Heels, "The Legal List: Law-Related
Resources on the Internet and Elsewhere" *LARGE* - see next file.
- net_legal_resources.readme
- information on, and table of contents of, the
preceeding file.
- net_libel_godwin.article
- Mike Godwin, "INTERNET LIBEL: IS THE PROVIDER
RESPONSIBLE?" An exploration of some of the many issues
that surround the problem of libel in modern networking.
It's a fear every Internet service provider faces at
least once: How responsible am I going to be if someone
libels someone else on my system? There's no settled
answer about a provider's responsibility. But one
important case suggests what the eventual answer may be,
and that case is good news for service providers. From
_Internet_World_, Nov./Dec. 1993
- net_public_figures_godwin.article
- Mike Godwin's "Libel, Public Figures,
and the Net" article for the June 1994 issue of _Internet_World_.
Discusses the legal protection afforded to critics of public figures,
who might otherwise be liable for defamation if their target were not
a public figure, and how all this relates to cyberspace.
- net_redist_johnson.article
- "Creating Network Redistribution Rights --
Does Electronic Information Really Want to Be Free?", article by David
Johnson. Excerpt: 'For some time, a debate has raged between the high
priests of copyright orthodoxy ("nothing is broken; copyright always
adapts") and a growing group (copypunks?) who say we need a new form
of intellectual property for electronic networks ("it's broken, and
we're glad").'
- new_cyber_caselaw_johnson.article
- "The New Case Law of Cyberspace",
article by David Johnson. Excerpt: "Can we use the net itself to
perform adjudication and to create a[n online equivalent of] "common
law?"...If we want to develop principled consideration and
articulation of widely shared values, rather than mob rule and
lynchings, we need to capture some of the best attributes of the networks
conversation leading to consensus -- in reacting to particular
cases and controversies."
- obscen_virtcom_stds_godwin.article
- "VIRTUAL COMMUNITY STANDARDS: BBS
Obscenity Case Raises New Legal Issues", an article by Mike Godwin
describing the relationship between the laws of various states
regarding pornography and the internet, focusing in particular on the
AABBS case. This 1994 article appeared in the _San_Fransico_Examiner_.
- obscenity_and_indecency_godwin.excerpt
- Selection from Mike Godwin's
forthcoming book, discussing the legal differences between "indecency"
and "obscenity". Though the general public tends to use these terms
interchangably, and the fundamentlist lobbying groups do so on purpose to
sow confusion, they are very different legal regimes.
- obscenity_online_godwin.article
- Mike Godwin's March/April 1994
_Internet_World_ article "SEX AND THE SINGLE SYSADMIN: The risks of
carrying graphic sexual materials." Excerpt: "most of this country's
law-enforcement organizations have only recently become aware of the
extent that [sexually explicit] material is traded and distributed
online--now that they're aware of it, they're aware of the potential
for prosecution. In a recent case, an Oklahoma system operator
was charged under state law for distribution of obscene materials, based
on a CD-ROM of sexual images that he'd purchased through a mainstream BBS
trade magazine. He was startled to find out that something he'd purchased
through normal commercial channels had the potential of leading to serious
criminal liability..."
- online_dispute_resolution_johnson.article
- "Dispute Resolution in
Cyberspace", article by David Johnson. Excerpt: "Should the networks
themselves evolve new and better ways to resolve the disputes that
arise in connection with their use?...Disputes that have arisen over
the networks are, demonstrably, different in character, as well as
subject matter, from more traditional fights...If there were a
special set of rules applicable to the resolution of disputes in
cyberspace, it seems likely that those rules should reflect and respect
the special (and best) characteristics of the territory."
- prosecuting_computer_criminals.article
- Fevruary 1995 article discussing the
ability and extent of using state computer crime statutes.
- reward_online_authors_johnson.article
- "Rewarding Authorship in Cyberspace:
Is Intellectual Property the Answer or the Problem?", article by David
Johnson. Excerpt: "Everywhere we turn, there are stern warnings that
the new ease of making electronic copies will destroy incentives for
the creation of new works -- and, therefore, that the network will
destroy culture as we know it unless strong new measures are taken to
enforce copyright and patent laws...Let me try to make the contrary
case: the case that intellectual property law is creating serious
problems and that we need to find ways to weaken our current
protections dramatically for intellectual property [online]..."
- scda_cracking_investigation.paper
- Presentation by John C. Smith of
the Santa Clara County (CA) District Attorney's Office, "Investigating
and Prosecuting Network Intrusions".
- search_and_seizure.speech
- Harvey A. Sliverglate & Thomas C. Viles,
"CONSTITUTIONAL, LEGAL, AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
FOR DEALING WITH ELECTRONIC FILES IN THE AGE OF
CYBERSPACE", from Federal Enforcement Conference
1991, Washington DC. How far can governments,
companies and individuals go when gaining access to information?
- search_and_seizure_guidelines.eff
- Mitch Kapor & Mike Godwin, "Civil
Liberties Implications of Computer Searches and Seizures: Some Proposed
Guidelines for Magistrates Who Issue Search Warrants".
- sentencing_guidelines.amend
- Proposed amendment to federal sentencing
guidelines for "computer crime", as improved by EFF's and others' input (see
next file).
- sentencing_guidelines.article
- Jack King's article relating to revised
computer crime sentencing guidelines.
- sentencing_guidelines.eff
- EFF statement of opposition to 1993 proposed
sentencing guideline applicable to violations of the Computer Fraud and
Abuse Act of 1988, 18 U.S.C. 1030 (CFAA). See previous file for the
result.
- schlachter_bbs_legal.article
- "Cyberspace, the Free Market and the Free
Marketplace of Ideas: Recognizing Legal Differences in Computer
Bulletin Board Functions", by Eric Schlacter.
- social_computing_pagre.paper
- Paper titled "Computing as a Social
Practice" by Philip Agre, discussing a broad range of theoretical and
practical work over the last decade on the relationship between
computer technology and society. Covers various topics from activism
to research to online social responsibility.
- software_licensing.paper
- October 1994 observations on current and
future trends in software licensing practices. While U.S. issues are
emphasized, some global issues are also addressed because of the trend
toward global computing environments and the importance of
international revenues to the U.S. software industry. By Fred Greguras
& Sandy Wong, 1994. Title: "Software Licensing Flexibility Complements
the Digital Age".
- surveillance_supreme_court.paper
- Mark Morley's December 1993 paper "The
Supreme Court and Electronic Surveillance: A Study of Originalism, the Fourth
Amendment, and the Powers of Law Enforcement."
- telecom_hatecrime_ntia.rfc
- Info on a National Telecommunications
and Information Administration study on "hate crimes" and
telecommunications, including BBSs. This is the NTIA's 1993 Request
for Comments on the issue.
- telecom_hatecrime_paper.eff
- Detailed EFF position paper, sent as an open
letter to NTIA, in response to an NTIA "Request for Comments" on a
government study of "hate crimes" and the online world. EFF's paper
makes it clear to NTIA that BBSs and other online media are protected by
the 1st Amendment, and that focusing on online incidence of hate speech
is wide of the mark when one is trying to reduce hate crimes.
- tempest_legal.draft
- Christopher Seline, "Eavesdropping On
the Electromagnetic Emanations of Digital Equipment: The
Laws of Canada, England and the United States", draft
article. This document explores the legal status of a
surveillance technology known as TEMPEST. Using
TEMPEST the information in any digital device may be
intercepted and reconstructed into useful intelligence
without the operative ever having to come near his
target. The technology is especially useful in the
interception of information stored in computers.
- tn_89_comp_crime.glossary
- The definitions of terms used in the
computer crime statutes of Tennessee (typical of many states'
computer crime laws.).
- virtcom_standards.article
- "Virtual Community Standards" article by Mike
Godwin for _Reason_ magazine, Jan. 1995. Media manipulation, law
enforcement hysteria, the AABBS prosecution, and what this means for
the virtual community, and the notion of online community standards.
- vr_evidence.article
- Jeffrey Dunn's article relating to the use of VR
techniques in the courtroom.
- warnstkr.bbs
- the text of a sticker produced by EFF-Austin. The stickers are
no longer available, but you can make your own sign. It is
intended to be placed on or near a BBS system, and notifies
would-be raiders of your legal rights.
- constitution.us
- United States Constitution (and Amendments) - text
version
- constitution_us.html
- United States Constitution (and Amendments) - HTML
version
Subdirectories in This Archive
- Arbitration/
- Directory of info on ideas about, and projects to establish,
"virtual arbitration" systems of extra-judicial dispute resolution.
- Cases/Bernstein_v_DoS/
- Directory of info on the Bernstein v. US Dept. of
Justice case, challenging US export restrictions on encryption as
unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
- Cases/
- Directory of information relating to various court cases
- Constitutions/
- Directory of important historical documents including
treaties, constitutions, and delcarations of rights
- CyberLaw_Course/
- Directory of lessons from the first online 'Cyberspace
Law for Non-Lawyers' Course (Alan Lewine, principal instructor).
- Foreign_and_local/
- Directory of information of legal issues from other
places
- ISP_liability/
- Directory of information on ISP (and other system
operator) liability for third party content or actions
- Jurisdiction_and_sovereignty/
- Directory of info about jurisdiction and
sovereignty issues in cyberspace.
- SLAPP/
- Directory of information about "strategic lawsuits against
public participation" (SLAPPs) - largely or entirely bogus cases
(or other legal tactics) targeting underfunded critics, whistleblowers
or competitors to expose and silence them.
- Tools/
- Directory of miscellaneous legal tools
Related On-Site Resources
- Freedom of Information Act
Archive
- and similar open-government laws around the world.
- Intellectual Property
Archive
- Directory of information relating to intellectual property
-
Internet address & domain name disputes
- proposals, conflicts, and problems, including legal cases, bills,
and draft standards.
-
Legal Bytes Directory of back issues
- of the Legal Bytes Newsletter.
- Legislation Archive
- Directory of information relating to legislation
-
"No Electronic Theft" Act Archive
- (NET Act), a rather stupid copyright law alteration intended to go
after non-commercial infringers, like kids trading pirated games.
Material includes EFF testimony on the sentencing guidelines for this
new crime, which as drafted were very injust.
- Raids Digest
e-newsletter
- discussions and info regarding computer-related raids,
legal cases involving system operators, etc. Was published by
EFF-Austin which is now merged into EF Texas.
- EFF Legislation
Archive
- EFF Activism &
Govt. Archive
- Computers & Academic Freedom Project
Law Archives
- EFF Mike
Godwin (former EFF Staff Attorney) Publications Archive
Links to Related Off-Site Resources
-
California Appellate Courts Case Information System
- A searchable database. Searches for case information can be
initiated by supplying trial or appellate case number, case caption,
attorney, party, or calendar date. Court calendar information can be
accessed for a date or range of dates. Notifications by e-mail of specific
case activity can be set up by providing a case number and e-mail
address. Case information is updated once an hour throughout
the business day.
-
Information Ethics
- An academic website that explores ethics in the
information age.
-
The Growth & Development of Cyberspace Law
in the United States:
- Highlights of the Past Decade
(UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy)
- CataLaw
- "The most efficient tool for finding law on the Internet."
CATALAW is the
catalog of catalogs of law on the Internet. It speeds research by
arranging hundreds of legal and government indexes into a single,
simple, intuitive metaindex.
- Catalog
of online texts of US State laws
- The WWW Multimedia Law
Site
- The Legal
List: Index of law-related resources
- on the Internet (HTML edition)
- GSU Law College Index
of Law-Related Resources on the World Wide Web
- Brad Cox's
Law, Ethics, and Society on the Information Superhighway
- Archive
-
"Why the Internet is Good:
- Community Governance that Works Well", by Joseph Reagle
Thesis: Mechanisms of Internet governance have resolved most
Internet technical and social problems well. Not only should real
world governments tread lightly upon the Net, but they might learn
something from it.
-
Chicago-Kent Law School's Law Links Page.
-
Law Journal Extra!
-
Book by Barry Krusch:
Would the Real First Amendment Please Stand Up?
-
Legal Bytes Newsletter
-
Cyberspace Law Center
-
"What's in a Name?" Internet Domain Name Disputes Case List
- by Jonathan Agmon, Stacey Halpern and David Pauker. Alphabetical
case lists of domain name dispute legal cases.
- Villanova Law School Center for
Information Law & Policy
- Provides links to virtual arbitration experiment, government info
locators, & other legal resources.
- Cyberspace Law Institute
- studies, and helps to develop, the new
forms of law and law-making required by the growth of global
communications networks and online communities.
- A Short Course
on Sysop Liability
- by the Cyberspace Law Institute
- EF Texas A Texas
statewide
- electronic freedom organization