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Full-Text Articles in Law

State Criminal Laws In Cyberspace: Reconciling Freedom For Users With Effective Law Enforcement, Sean M. Thornton Jan 1997

State Criminal Laws In Cyberspace: Reconciling Freedom For Users With Effective Law Enforcement, Sean M. Thornton

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

With the proliferation of online activities in recent years, legal thinkers and the criminal justice system have faced new questions concerning the conflict of state criminal laws. These new questions have old answers; the doctrine of constructive presence has established a state's authority to prescribe an out-of-state activity that has in-state effects. Beyond the mechanical application of jurisdictional rules, however, there lie deeper policy questions concerning the fairness of subjecting computer users to multiple, inconsistent bodies of law. Cyberspace exists in all jurisdictions, and in no particular jurisdiction, at once. There is an apparent tension between the free flow of …


Online Law: The Spa's Legal Guide To Doing Business On The Internet, Thomas J. Smedinghoff, Tom W. Bell Jan 1997

Online Law: The Spa's Legal Guide To Doing Business On The Internet, Thomas J. Smedinghoff, Tom W. Bell

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Attorneys and academics have of late benefitted from a surge in the number of texts discussing the emerging law of the Internet. Online Law: The SPA's Legal Guide To Doing Business On The Internet, edited by Thomas J. Smedinghoff and published by the Software Publishers Association, represents a particularly welcome contribution. It achieves its limited goals about as well as any paper-bound book could--and does so at a nicely limited price.


Free Speech & The Internet: The Inevitable Move Toward Government Regulation, James J. Black Jan 1997

Free Speech & The Internet: The Inevitable Move Toward Government Regulation, James J. Black

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The explosive growth in the number of people communicating from computers around the world via the Internet ("Net") has led to the proliferation of another type of speech, namely, scholarly articles on virtually every aspect of the Net and its many influences on life in America. One topic that has received a great deal of attention is the extent to which laws applicable within the geographical territory of the United States may be applied to the freewheeling world of Cyberspace, which knows virtually no geographical limitations. Many commentators in the United States have followed one of two streams of argument: …


Copyright On The Www: Linking And Liability, Edward A. Cavazos, Coe F. Miles Jan 1997

Copyright On The Www: Linking And Liability, Edward A. Cavazos, Coe F. Miles

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The World Wide Web (WWW) is so often used as a way of interacting with the Internet that many people mistakenly confuse the two, referring to the Internet as the "Web" and vice versa. Of course, the Internet and its native applications predate the development of the WWW protocols by decades. Still, given the overwhelming amount of available Internet bandwidth now devoted to the transmission of web pages, there is no doubt that the WWW is the interface of choice for most users of the world's most pervasive computer network. The WWW is not the Internet, but there can be …


Religious Technology Center V. Netcom On-Line Communications Services, Inc.: The Knowledge Standard For Contributory Copyright Infringement And The Fair Use Doctrine, Eugene A. Burcher, Anna M. Hughes Jan 1997

Religious Technology Center V. Netcom On-Line Communications Services, Inc.: The Knowledge Standard For Contributory Copyright Infringement And The Fair Use Doctrine, Eugene A. Burcher, Anna M. Hughes

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

With 30 million people connected worldwide and the ability to rapidly transfer large amounts of data, the Internet poses a great threat to owners of intellectual property. The Internet's rapid growth has led to substantial speculation about how courts will apply intellectual property law concepts to conduct in cyberspace. On November 21, 1995, U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte ruled that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) could be liable for contributory copyright infringement when a subscribing member directly infringes a copyright.


Net Law: How Lawyers Use The Internet, G. Wingate Grant Jan 1997

Net Law: How Lawyers Use The Internet, G. Wingate Grant

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

We have all had experiences where we listened to a preacher or maybe a law professor use a story to illustrate a point. Weeks later, we might not recall the point, but we remember the story. That was my feeling after reading through NET LAW: HOW LAWYERS USE THE INTERNET. This book might be considered a dictionary, a marketing book, or a computer book. Most significantly, it is an anthology of actual accounts of lawyers and their staffs successfully using the Internet to make their practices more efficient and, in some cases, lucrative. Now that I have your attention, let …


Federal Broadband Law, John Thorne, Michael K. Kellog, Peter W. Huber, Jeffrey A. Wolfson Jan 1996

Federal Broadband Law, John Thorne, Michael K. Kellog, Peter W. Huber, Jeffrey A. Wolfson

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The authors of this book have brought together a vast and varied array of experience. Mr. Thorne is the Vice President & Associate General Counsel for Bell Atlantic; Mr. Huber is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research; and Mr. Kellogg is a Partner at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen & Todd. A reader will find the occasional use of technical jargon, such as "domsats" (domestic satellites), "coax" (coaxial cable), and "syndex" rules (syndicated exclusivity rules to protect syndicated, non-network programming) to be somewhat confusing. "Telcos" and "cablecos" are telephone and cable companies, respectively. Overall, however, technical jargon is …


The National Conference On Legal Information Issues: Selected Essays, Timothy L. Coggins Jan 1996

The National Conference On Legal Information Issues: Selected Essays, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

During the past decade, information technology developments have the dissemination and use of legal and legal-related In 1995, the American Association of Law Libraries, a organization with more than 5,000 members, convened the first "National Conference on Legal Information Issues" in conjunction with its eighty-eighth meeting. National Conference provided a forum for members of the legal and information communities to discuss the challenging problems and issues arising from the dynamic technological changes that have impacted the creation, dissemination and use of legal information. The National Conference assembled more than 2,500 librarians, law faculty and deans, judges court administrators, practicing attorneys …


Letter From The Editor, Richard P. Klau Jan 1996

Letter From The Editor, Richard P. Klau

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

What a year! While it has only been ten months since we published our first issue, the progress made in the electronic publication of legal information has been incredible. When we published in April of 1995, many wondered whether or not we would have much company in cyberspace. There were those who scoffed at our efforts, saying that using the Internet as a publication medium was little more than a gimmick.


Self Incrimination And Cryptographic Keys, Greg S. Sergienko Jan 1996

Self Incrimination And Cryptographic Keys, Greg S. Sergienko

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The Fifth Amendment commands that no person "shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." However, extending current judicial interpretations of the Fourth and Fifth Amendments too far may allow the government easy access even to private documents, making one's diary and other documents accessible and admissible in court against their author. What the Court has taken away, technology has given. Modern cryptography can make it virtually impossible to decipher documents without the cryptographic key, thus making the availability of the contents of those documents depend on the availability of the key. This article examines …


Accidents On The Information Superhighway: On-Line Liability And Regulation, Marc L. Caden, Stephanie E. Lucas Jan 1996

Accidents On The Information Superhighway: On-Line Liability And Regulation, Marc L. Caden, Stephanie E. Lucas

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

In one way or another, the Internet has affected or will affect our lives in a profound fashion. The Internet has fundamentally changed the way society works and plays by providing an inexpensive medium to obtain information and communicate with others. The current generation of children will be educated through computer communication, rather than from the confines of a dusty library with outdated books. However, the benefits of rapid Internet development have also opened a Pandora's box of legal issues and concerns which merit careful consideration. With roots in over 160 countries, and without a centralized authority, many now consider …


Contracts, Copyright And Preemption In A Digital World, I Trotter Hardy Jan 1995

Contracts, Copyright And Preemption In A Digital World, I Trotter Hardy

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Copyright is designed to provide some form of protection against unauthorized use of original informational materials. The rapid shift of information production and distribution to electronic form, with its corresponding ease of copying, naturally makes copyright-dependent industries nervous. Much talk in the news and on the "net" these days is about the future of copyright law, a law developed in an age of print and now perhaps too tied to that medium to have ready application to today's information technology.


Letter From The Editor, Richard P. Klau Jan 1995

Letter From The Editor, Richard P. Klau

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Over the last eight months, several people have asked why we decided to publish The Journal exclusively online. These concerns are not insignificant -- any embrace of a new technology should be made without blinders on. We were excited by the possibilities of publishing online, but the fears that we would not be taken seriously were very real. These fears have, however, been overcome by the enthusiasm which has greeted The Journal.


Overreaching Provisions In Software License Agreements, Michael Liberman Jan 1995

Overreaching Provisions In Software License Agreements, Michael Liberman

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Historically, software license agreements emerged as the most popular means of protection of proprietary rights in computer software. As a common form of contract and trade secret protection, software licenses coexist with other forms of intellectual property rights such as patent and copyright. The importance of these forms of protection has recently increased. Where the licensor fails to consider the implications of the relation between these forms of protection, the licensor's attempts to maximize contractual protection while restricting the licensee's activities regarding the licensed software may result in overreaching. Under these circumstances, a court may invalidate the license agreement in …


Apple V. Microsoft: Virtual Identity In The Gui Wars, Joseph Myers Jan 1995

Apple V. Microsoft: Virtual Identity In The Gui Wars, Joseph Myers

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The company that controls the interface of the next major operating system will have the ability to set the standards for application software. It was not surprising that Apple Corporation began its fight to stop Windows from being that major operating system after Microsoft Corporation introduced the various versions of its Windows software and announced plans for this program to replace the already widely selling DOS operating system. Unfortunately, Apple chose to conduct this war on the complex and often confusing battleground of copyright law, which ultimately proved to be its downfall.


Welcome To The Journal, David R. Johnson Jan 1995

Welcome To The Journal, David R. Johnson

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

I applaud your decision to visit the Richmond Journal of Law & Technology. If you are a newbie, Welcome to Cyberspace! If a seasoned net surfer, then you fully appreciate that the number and complexity of the legal issues facing the net is growing every day.


Lawfutures, Or, Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, When I'M Sixty Four?, Stephen T. Maher Jan 1995

Lawfutures, Or, Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, When I'M Sixty Four?, Stephen T. Maher

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

I cannot imagine what it was like to practice law without a photocopy machine. In the first years of my practice, I received a few briefs typed the old fashioned way, on onion-skin paper with five sets of carbons in between. But since then, we have witnessed a continuing march of progress in information processing. From the mag card, to the memory typewriter, to the System 6, to the dedicated word processor, to the personal computer and now to the computer network, we have seen technology, when working correctly, providing tremendous assistance in meeting the demands of our busy lives. …


Trademarks Along The Infobahn: A First Look At The Emerging Law Of Cybermarks, Dan L. Burk Jan 1995

Trademarks Along The Infobahn: A First Look At The Emerging Law Of Cybermarks, Dan L. Burk

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Use of the global Internet computer network is rising exponentially. As Internet subscription increases disagreements between users are expected to arise, just as where any sizeable number of human beings interact, disagreements may be expected to arise. To date, on-line disputes have been primarily dealt with via informal solutions, such as the polite conventions of "netiquette" shared by Internet users. However, as the community of Internet users grows increasingly diverse, formal dispute resolution mechanisms, embodied as law and legal institutions, may be called upon by the parties to resolve disagreements. For example, several acrimonious disputes have already arisen over the …