Virtual Arbitration & Online Dispute Resolution

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?"

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?"

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."

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."

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."

virtual_magistrate.announce

Press release about Virtual Magistrate, an online arbitration pilot program.

Links to Related Off-Site Resources