Internet Law Commons^™

Internet Entrepreneurs, New Traffic Patterns, And Policy Issues, Michael S. Baram, Marv Goldschmitt, Richard J. Testa, Thomas C. Siekman, Peter Marx, Steven Bauer

Faculty Scholarship

Welcome to the first session of the Internet Law Symposium co-sponsored by the Center for Law and Technologyat Boston University School of Law and the law firm of Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault.This session will focus on a variety of Internet law and public policy issues and their implications for business.

The Invisible Barbecue, Eben Moglen

Faculty Scholarship

Past legislation subsidizing the development of infrastructural technology has borne the mark of political corruption. The subject matter of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 falls within the same category of legislation that has fallen prey to this process in the past. In an effort to discern whether such forces are at work today, Professor Moglen undertakes a critical examination of the metaphors that pervade the current scholarly discourse on the subject of telecommunications law. Terms such as "Superhighway," "Broadcasting," and "Market for Eyeballs" reveal a great deal about the implicit assumptions at work behind the current scholarship and legislation, and …

Lex Informatica: The Formulation Of Information Policy Rules Through Technology , Joel R. Reidenberg

Faculty Scholarship

Historically, law and government regulation have established default rules for information policy, including constitutional rules on freedom of expression and statutory rights of ownership of information. This Article will show that for network environments and the Information Society, however, law and government regulation are not the only source of rule-making. Technological capabilities and system design choices impose rules on participants. The creation and implementation of information policy are embedded in network designs and standards as well as in system configurations. Even user preferences and technical choices create overarching, local default rules. This Article argues, in essence, that the set of …

Cyberspace Sovereignty? – The Internet And The International System, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of the Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.

By linking with the Internet, we don't mean absolute freedom of information. I think there is a general understanding about this. If you go through customs, you have to show your passport. It's the same with management of information. There is no contradiction at all between the development of telecommunications …

Governing Networks And Rule-Making In Cyberspace, Joel R. Reidenberg

Faculty Scholarship

The global network environment defies traditional regulatory theories and policymaking practices. At present, policymakers and private sector organizations are searching for appropriate regulatory strategies to encourage and channel the global information infrastructure (“GII”). Most attempts to define new rules for the development of the GII rely on disintegrating concepts of territory and sector, while ignoring the new network and technological borders that transcend national boundaries. The GII creates new models and sources for rules. Policy leadership requires a fresh approach to the governance of global networks. Instead of foundering on old concepts, the GII requires a new paradigm for governance …

Copyright Liability Of Bulletin Board Operators For Infringement By Subscribers, Maureen A. O'Rourke

Faculty Scholarship

As people move onto the Information superhighway in increasing numbers, novel legal Issues arise that challenge the adequacy of existing common law and statutory authority to address new uses of Information technologies. In particular, legal actions involving the liability of electronic bulletin board system operators for acts of their subscribers have begun to proliferate.

Putting Cars On The "Information Superhighway": Authors, Exploiters, And Copyright In Cyberspace, Jane C. Ginsburg

Faculty Scholarship

The advent of the "Information Superhighway" has sparked much speculation about the roles of authorship, of readership, and of literary property in the vast system of interlinked computer networks that has come to be known as "cyberspace." Through computers linked to a digital network, users can access and add to vast quantities of material. At least in theory, every computer user can become his, or her own publisher, and every terminal can become a library, bookstore, or audio and video jukebox.

The prospect of pervasive audience access to and ability to copy and further disseminate works of authorship challenges the …

Setting Standards For Fair Information Practice In The U.S. Private Sector, Joel R. Reidenberg

Faculty Scholarship

The confluence of plans for an Information Superhighway, actual industry self-regulatory practices, and international pressure dictate renewed consideration of standard setting for fair information practices in the U.S. private sector. The legal rules, industry norms, and business practices that regulate the treatment of personal information in the United States are organized in a wide and dispersed manner. This Article analyzes how these standards are established in the U.S. private sector. Part I argues that the U.S. standards derive from the influence of American political philosophy on legal rule making and a preference for dispersed sources of information standards. Part II …

Rules Of The Road For Global Electronic Highways: Merging The Trade And Technical Paradigms, Joel R. Reidenberg

Faculty Scholarship

International efforts to define fair information practices for global networks derive from two distinct paradigms. Traditionally, regulatory standards have been cast in trade terms. The trade perspective seeks to promote free flows of information and define standards that balance free flows against human rights values. Fair information practices also draw on another rarely emphasized technical paradigm. This approach seeks to eliminate any technological obstacles to free flows of information by defining standards for system integrity and interoperability. Nevertheless, these technical standards are set in ways that also define fair information practices. While each paradigm provides a basis to establish rules …