BUSINESS LAW Twomey Jennings 1 st Ed Twomey
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Twomey & Jennings BUSINESS LAW Chapter 11 Cyberlaw © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Introduction to Cyberlaw • Cyberlaw is not a new body of laws. • Cyberlaw is the application of existing laws and legal precedent to new problems presented with the technology of the Internet. • Cyberlaw issues include: Torts Contracts Intellectual Property Criminal Law Constitutional Restraints and Protections Securities Law © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 2
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Tort Issues in Cyberspace • Privacy: – E-mail sent over an employer’s network is not guaranteed private. – E-mail sent over a home-use network may be intercepted; this issue is still developing. Smyth v Pillsbury Co. (1996) Did the Employee have a Right to Privacy? © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 3
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Tort Issues in Cyberspace • Privacy: – Web sites routinely collect information about their customers; this information may be sold to other businesses. – Identity theft, or the use of someone else’s identity to purchase or obtain credit, is a growing problem. Most web merchants minimize this problem by providing a secure mode of transmitting personal information. © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 4
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Tort Issues in Cyberlaw • Appropriation (the unauthorized use of someone’s image) is illegal both on the Internet and elsewhere. • Defamation. Doe v 2 The. Mart. com Inc. (2001) You’ve Got Mail, but Only the ISP Knows Who It’s From. © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 5
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Contract Issues in Cyberlaw • Though most contract issues have not changed with the Internet, a few new questions have arisen. – At what point is the contract formed? – Is an electronic signature valid? • Misrepresentation and Fraud. – Fraud is the most reported crime committed via the Internet. This is in part due to the high volume of sales transactions over the Internet. © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 6
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Intellectual Property Issues • The Internet has not actually changed intellectual property rights, but has facilitated the illegal copying of copyrighted material. – The best known case dealing with intellectual property via the Internet is the suit against Napster, the web site which facilitated the free downloading of copyrighted songs. © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 7
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Criminal Law Issues • A computer may be the target of the crime, as when someone “hacks” into a bank’s computer records. • Sometimes the computer is the tool of the crime, as in the transporting of pornography across state lines. United States v Czubinski (1997) Surfing the Net for Tax Info: Criminal or Curious? © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 8
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Criminal Procedure and Rights • The fourth amendment protects against unlawful search and seizures. • Applies to search of homes, offices and computers. Kyllo v United States (2001) Is thermal imaging a “search” under the Fourth Amendment? © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 9
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Constitutional Restraints • First Amendment Rights – Internet free speech is protected as it is anywhere. – Violations outside the First Amendment protection are common on the Internet due to ease of communication and anonymity. • Commerce Clause issues. – Nexus for Taxes. Where is the office? © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 10
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Constitutional Restraints • Due Process Issues. – What about fairness and minimum contacts in interstate commerce? – When should an internet company be required to defend itself in another state? Bensusan Restaurant Corp. v King (1997) Jurisdiction Hits a Blue Note. © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 11
BUSINESS LAW Twomey • Jennings 1 st. Ed. Securities Law Issues • The Internet has facilitated new methods of securities trading, including day trading and minute-by-minute tracking of stock performances. • Abuses have arisen from the use of the Internet; most notably the practice of “pump and dump. ” This is where a trader spreads false information about a stock to quickly raise its price, then selling existing shares at an inflated price. © 2004 West Legal Studies in Business A Division of Thomson Learning 12
- Slides: 12