Law Commons^™

Minimum Contacts In A Borderless World: Voice Over Internet Protocol And The Coming Implosion Of Personal Jurisdiction Theory, Danielle Keats Citron

Faculty Scholarship

Modern personal jurisdiction theory rests on the twin pillars of state sovereignty and due process. A nonresident’s “minimum contacts” with a forum state are treated as the equivalent of her territorial presence in the state and hence justify a state’s exercise of sovereignty over her. At the same time, the nonresident’s “purposeful availment” of opportunities within the state is seen as implying her agreement to that state’s jurisdiction in exchange for the protection of its laws. This theory presumes that a nonresident directs voice communications to known places by dialing a telephone number’s area code. Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) …