Internet Law Commons^™

Think Twice Before You Type: Blogging Your Way To Unemployment, Scott R. Grubman

Georgia Law Review

Over the last several years, "blogging" has taking the Internet world by storm and is now one of the most popular online activities among Americans. With the rising popularity of the Internet, and the blogging phenomenon in particular, both employees and employers have developed new concerns regarding the activities of employee-bloggers. The concerns emanating from both sides of the equation are quite reasonable given the stakes at issue-for the employee-blogger, his or her job; for the employer, its reputation and bottom line. While there are very few, if any, specific statutes designed to protect the activities of employee-bloggers, there are …

The Online Zoom Lens: Why Internet Street-Level Mapping Technologies Demand Reconsideration Of The Modern-Day Tort Notion Of "Public Privacy", Andrew Lavoie

Georgia Law Review

Internet mapping technologies provide detailed,overhead views of our world and have been in existence for practically a decade. In 2007, however, several private companies expanded the technology and began offering street-level imagery as an extra feature for their online map users. Google, the most notable company to take this step, created "Street View," which allows users to see major cities and metropolitan areas around the world from the still-frame perspective of a car passing by. These images display with considerable clarity, not only skyscrapers, parks, and private homes, but also-and more importantly-vehicles, bicyclists, and people on the streets at the …

No Names, Please: The Virtual Victimization Of Children, Crime Victims, The Mentally Ill, And Others In Appellate Court Opinions, Joel M. Schumm

Georgia Law Review

Google and other search engines allow anyone with Internet access the ability to obtain a wealth of information about their neighbors, acquaintances, employees, or even adversaries. Although easy access to information is generally a positive development, the easy discovery of highly personal and stigmatizing information often is not. It is particularly disconcerting when the information is being purveyed by appellate courts around the nation when they post hundreds of opinions to court websites every day. This Article surveys the use of initials and pseudonyms in appellate opinions for victims of crime, children, the mentally ill, jurors, and others. It discusses …

Bringing An End To Warrantless Cell Phone Searches, Bryan A. Stillwagon

Georgia Law Review

Cell phones keep society connected, and exploring their contents reveals a glimpse into the user's life. As technology develops and these phones advance, this glimpse becomes a more complete picture of the user's life. The Fourth Amendment speaks of a right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures, but this right is threatened when judges permit the few exceptions to the warrant requirement to envelop the general rule. This Note begins with a brief review of the history of both cellphones and warrantless searches, followed by the recent history of warrantless cell phone searches. While focusing on the search- …

Big Entertainment Needs A Sequel To The Highly Anticipated Flop: Mgm V. Grokster, Anuj Desai

Georgia Law Review

The entertainmentindustry's attempts to police copyright infringement by targeting technologies that enable copying of protected works remain unworkable. More than twenty years ago, Hollywood initiated this strategy when it sued Sony, claiming users copied protected broadcast TV shows using Sony's Betamax, thus branding Sony a contributory infringer. The Supreme Court, however, rejected this argument in Sony Corp. of Am. v. Universal City Studios, Inc. and found that Sony was not liable as it had no knowledge of the infringement and its product was capable of substantialnoninfringing uses. The Sony doctrine was revived in the late 1990s when it was successfully …

Protecting Children From The Dark Side Of The Internet, Anne Dupre, John Dayton, Christine Kiracofe

Scholarly Works

This article examines the history of judicial and legislative responses to the issue of consumption of pornography and other harmful materials over the Internet by children. The article begins by giving a brief overview of free speech law in the US. Next, summaries of relevant U.S. legislation and corresponding litigation on Internet free speech are given. Highlighted are: 1) the Communications Decency Act (CDA) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s response in Reno v. ACLU; 2) The Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA) and Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition; 3) the Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and United States v. American …

Data Matching, Data Mining, And Due Process, Daniel J. Steinbock

Georgia Law Review

The Article concerns the governmental use of computerized data matching (comparison of records) and data mining (profiling),which increasingly are aimed at locating potential terrorists. The most striking aspect of virtually all anti-terrorist data matching and data mining decisions is the total absence of even the most rudimentary procedures for notice, hearing, or other opportunities for meaningful participation before, or even after, the deprivation is imposed. The Article evaluates under Fourth Amendment and due process standards a variety of law enforcement activities data matching or data mining might instigate. After reviewing these activities' potential effects on private, governmental, and accuracy interests, …

Video Games As A Protected Form Of Expression, Paul E. Salamanca

Georgia Law Review

Video games, like motion pictures, failed to qualify for First Amendment protection until well after they emerged as a medium. Today, a number of courts have held that such games constitute a form of expression and do not fall into any recognized category of unprotected speech. Nevertheless, a number of commentators have called for limited constitutional protection for video games, predicating their arguments on a variety of grounds, including the alleged deleterious effects of such games on children. This Article responds to these commentators and defends recent decisions extending protection to video games.

Deconstructing The Debate Over State Taxation Of Electronic Commerce, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

Elsewhere on these pages, the distinguished economist Charles McLure begins his contribution to the debate over taxation of electronic commerce by observing that “America is focusing on the wrong issues in debating the taxation of electronic commerce ....” He proceeds to provide a fundamental critique of the states' existing sales tax regimes and he lays out a roadmap for radical reform of the system that would, in the course of curing the basic defects in the existing state sales tax structure, incidentally resolve many of the issues that currently dominate the debate over taxing electronic commerce. I do not disagree …

Liability Issues Facing Online Businesses, David E. Shipley

Scholarly Works

Online businesses are confronted by a wide variety of liability issues covering almost the full range of the standard law school curriculum. The liability problems that face a small business in Vidalia, Georgia, which is selling Vidalia onion products at specialty stores, through print advertising, and by mail, do not go away when the business starts marketing through a Web site. In fact, there might be more exposure doing business online, and there are variations depending upon the nature of the business in question. For example, as discussed below, an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") like America Online has worries that …

State Taxation Of Electronic Commerce: Perspectives On Proposals For Change And Their Constitutionality, Kendall L. Houghton, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

Over the past few years, an enormous amount of attention has been devoted to the problems raised by state taxation of electronic commerce, possible solutions to those problems, and, more recently, the question of whether there is a ‘problem‘ at all. We have both been, and continue to be, deeply involved in the debate over these issues -- a debate that has sometimes generated more heat than light. We view this forum as furnishing us an opportunity to take a step back from the fray and to offer our views not only on the critical issues that are dominating the …

Securities Disclosure Regime - Challenges Posed By The Internet And Technology, Thomas Thomas Thoppil

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis is an effort to evaluate the structural changes that have taken place in the securities market of the United States and its impact on securities disclosure regime mandated by the Federal Securities Act. Part 2 of the thesis discusses the securities disclosure regime and its underlying economic theories. This part also traces the challenges posed by technology and takes a quick look at the argument that the traditional norms are incompatible in dealing with those challenges. Part 3 deals primarily with structural developments in the securities market over the past five years by examining some of the innovative …

Taxing The Reticulum Taxation And Tariff Issues In Electronic Commerce, Neil Lovett Wilkinson

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis will explore, first within a historical context, and second, in a contemporary model, the impact and effect of electronic commerce in both a general and Electronic magazines. The thesis will explore governmental and legal responses, from a taxation and tariff point of view to the challenges posed by commercial transactions initiated and completed via the Internet and the World Wide Web. The broad question is therefore presented: How should governments, primarily American state and local governments, but also governments worldwide, respond to changes in technology that have a direct effect on the way business is conducted within their …

Is The Trips Agreement An Adequate Means To Deal With Unauthorized Copying Of Sound Recordings From The Internet?, Hege Sehested Zakariassen

LLM Theses and Essays

The Internet has expanded vastly in recent years, both in use and utility. It has become one of the most important means of distributors of information in our time. This increasing popularity has also led to "online fraud, theft, piracy, and infringement. The music industry is one of the branches that will experience upheaval in the next few years. The Internet might even change the way music is distributed. Experts believe that the Internet could alter the way music is distributed and undermine the physical distribution of sound recordings. Yet, on the other hand, the Internet could help unknown bands …

The Law Of Sales Taxes In A Cyberspace Economy, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

This article focuses on three questions of state sales’ tax:

(1) What is the basic structure of states’ sales tax laws and how do these laws apply to electronic commerce?

(2) What are the existing federal constitutional restraints on the states’ power to impose sales taxes and how do those restraints limit the states’ ability to apply their laws to electronic commerce?

(3) What are the restraints on Congress – to whom this commission’s recommendations will be directed – in legislating to limit or expand state taxing power, or otherwise enact rules governing taxation of electronic commerce?

State And Local Taxation Of Electronic Commerce: Reflections On The Emerging Issues, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

When Ed Cohen honored me with the invitation to present the principal paper on state and local taxation of electronic commerce for this conference, I was pleased to accept, but with one caveat. Because most of my waking hours over the past year seem to have been consumed by the preparation of papers addressed to state taxation of electronic commerce, I warned Ed that much of what I might have to say would not be new -- at least to me. But a funny thing happened on the way to this forum. When I set about my task to prepare …

Taxing Electronic Commerce: Preliminary Thoughts On Model Uniform Legislation, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

This report on Taxing Electronic Commerce was presented at the symposium on multi-jurisdictional taxation of electronic commerce at Harvard University on April 5, 1997. This report describes the normative principles shared by most serious analyses of the problems raised by state taxation of electronic commerce. It then attempts to translate these principles into legal rules that could provide a model for uniform legislation in this area. Finally it addresses constitutional questions that will likely be encountered in any effort to implement such legislation.

Taxation Of Telecommunications And Electronic Commerce, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

State Taxation Of Electronic Commerce, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The coming of the information age has profound implications for state taxation as it does for just about everything else. The exponential growth and increasing commercialization of the Internet, along with the sweeping technological and regulatory changes that have reconfigured the telecommunications industry, pose a daunting challenge to the states’ traditional approaches to taxing business activity and the telecommunications system that facilitates it. State tax administrators and policymakers, alarmed at the prospect that their tax bases will disappear into cyberspace, are seeking means to accommodate their taxing regimes to the new technological environment. The business community, on the other hand, …

Legal Aspects Of The Internet, Etienne Pichat

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis will explain the legal aspects of the Internet so that users who wish to protect their rights and avoid liability can log on with a better understanding of the rules of the game. This work will be divided into two chapters. The first chapter will focus on existing legal regulation of the Internet to advise users on which law is relevant, and how to solve problems of conflicts of laws in the cyberworld. It will answer the question of whether cyberspace is, or not, a "no laws land", and what kind of regulation would better fit the cyberworld. …