Internet Law Commons^™

Envisioning Copyright Law's Digital Future, Peter S. Menell

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Peer-To-Peer Combat: The Entertainment Industry's Arsenal In Its War On Digital Piracy, Matthew C. Mousley

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Toward A Next Generation Regulatory Strategy, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

The FCC is now facing a set of issues that will help shape the future evolution of the Internet and the role of government in its development. In particular, the FCC is in the midst of designing a regulatory regime for broadband platforms. To do so, the FCC must decide both on the appropriate regulatory classification for such platforms and what legal rules (if any) should govern access to such platforms. This Article explains how the FCC, using its "ancillary jurisdiction" authority under Title I of the Communications Act, can develop a reactive regulatory regime that examines allegations of discriminatory …

Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

Communications regulators over the next decade will spend increasing time on conflicts between the private interests of broadband providers and the public's interest in a competitive innovation environment centered on the Internet. As the policy questions this conflict raises are basic to communications policy, they are likely to reappear in many different forms. So far, the first major appearance has come in the "open access" (or "multiple access") debate, over the desirability of allowing vertical integration between Internet Service Providers and cable operators. Proponents of open access see it as a structural remedy to guard against an erosion of the …

Protecting Children From Pornography On The Internet: Freedom Of Speech Is Pitching And Congress May Strike Out, Dawn S. Conrad

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The Internet provides the First Amendment’s “freedom of speech” with a world of opportunity. Any person with access to the Internet may take advantage of a wide variety of information and communication methods. This unique medium, known to its users as cyberspace, is located in no particular geographical location and has no centralized control point, but is available to anyone, anywhere in the world with access." In the past twenty years, the Internet, a network of connected computers, has experienced extraordinary growth. The number of “host” computers, or those that store information and relay communications, increased between the years of …

Copyright And Computer Programs: A Failed Experiment And A Solution To A Dilemma, William F. Patry

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Can Our Current Conception Of Copyright Law Survive The Internet Age?, Edward Samuels

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Beyond Napster, Beyond The United States: The Technological And International Legal Barriers To On-Line Copyright Enforcement, Jeffrey L. Dodes

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

On The Macroeconomic Effects Of Establishing Tradability In Weak Property Rights, Gunnar Eliasson, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

The New Economy is closely associated with computing & communications technology, notably the Internet. We discuss property rights to, and trade in, the difficult-to-define intangible assets increasingly dominating the New Economy, and the possibility of under-investment in these assets. For a realistic analysis we introduce a Schumpeterian market environment (the experimentally organized economy). Weak property rights prevail when the rights to access, use, andtrade in intangible assets cannot be fully exercised. The trade-off between the benefits of open access on the Internet, and the incentive effects of strengthened property rights, depend both on the particular strategy a firm employs to …

Letter From The Editor, John Joseph Meadows

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

On behalf of the Editorial Board and the entire staff, welcome to this second issue of our Ninth Volume for the Richmond Journal of Law & Technology. This issue consists of four pieces and we are excited to present such a wide range of topics.

Designing Deliberative Democracy In Cyberspace: The Role Of The Cyber-Lawyer, Beth Simone Noveck

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

The Silenced Minority: When The Riaa Charges College Radio For Online Broadcasts, Will The Public End Up Paying?, Eleanor Lackman

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Captive Audiences, Children And The Internet, William D. Araiza

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Right To Receive Information, Susan Nevelow Mart

Publications

Ms. Mart examines the legal evolution of the right to receive information, particularly focusing on its application to libraries, beginning with the Supreme Court holding in Board of Education v. Pico, and followed by cases that have considered the meaning of Pico in a variety of library-related contexts.

Regulatory Challenges And Models Of Regulation, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

No abstract provided.

The Internet, Innovation, And Intellectual Property Policy, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

The Internet continues to transform the information industries and challenge intellectual property law to develop a competition policy strategy to regulate networked products. In particular, inventors of "information platforms" that support the viewing of content-be they instant messaging systems, media players, or Web browsers-face a muddled set of legal doctrines that govern the scope of available intellectual property protection. This uncertainty reflects a fundamental debate about what conditions will best facilitate innovation in the information industries--a debate most often played out at the conceptual extremes between the "commons" and "proprietary control" approaches to the Internet and intellectual property policy.

This …

Solutions Are On Track, Beth A. Thomas

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Note discusses the need to solve the copyright problems caused by digital file sharing over peer-to-peer networks and the possible solutions that would be acceptable to both the media industries and the public. While it is likely that the problems caused by file sharing will not decrease significantly by placing post-sales control in the hands of the artists, it is probable that legislative and industry driven technical counter-measures will be able to decrease illegal file sharing in an acceptable way.

Part I outlines copyright in general and how digital technology is pushing at the boundaries of copyright law. Part …

Is There Judicial Recourse To Attack Spammers?, Ashley L. Rogers

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This Note will discuss the issue of non-commercial spam through the prism of a case recently decided by the California Supreme Court, Intel v. Hamidi. Until recently there was no federal regulation for unwanted electronic communication and common law was the only potential solution. Part I of this Note will discuss the nature of spam, focusing on the distinction between commercial e-mail and bulk e-mail and the importance therein. Part II will detail the history and the legal doctrine of trespass as it applies to the Internet. Part III will summarize the case of Intel v. Hamidi as it struggled …

Cross Border E-Commerce And The Gst/Hst: Towards International Consensus Or Divergence?, Keith R. Evans

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In February 2001, the OECD issued a draft report on ‘‘Consumption Tax Aspects of Electronic Commerce’’. The purpose of this report was to seek comments on Working Party No. 9’s conclusions and recommendations in respect of the approach to be taken on the application of consumption taxes to e-commerce in light of the Ottawa Taxation Framework Conditions. The 1998 Conditions called for the taxation principles that applied to traditional commerce to be the guide for the taxation of e-commerce, to ensure non-discriminatory tax treatment of electronic commerce transactions. In November 2001, the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (‘‘CCRA’’) issued its …

Fragmented Copyright, Fragmented Management: Proposals To Defrag Copyright Management, Daniel Gervais, Alana Maurushat

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The collective management of copyright in Canada was conceived as a solution to alleviate the problem of inefficiency of individual rights management. Creators could not license, collect and enforce copyright efficiently on an individual basis. Requiring users to obtain permission from individual copyright holders for the use of a work was equally inefficient. Collectives, therefore, emerged to facilitate the clearance of rights between creators and users. Even with the facilitation of collectives in the process, clearing rights remains an inherently difficult and convoluted process. This is especially so in the age of the Internet where clearing rights for multimedia products …

Does The Children’S Internet Protection Act Induce Public Libraries To Violate The First Amendment?, Susanna Frederick Fischer

Scholarly Articles

The Children's Internet Protection Act contains filtering provisions for public libraries that condition the receipt of federal assistance for Internet access and related services on libraries' operation of technologi­cal measures that block all patrons' access to obscene and pornographic materials and also block minor patrons' access to material that is "harmful to minors." Now the Supreme Court has agreed to review a trial court's decision that enjoined the government from enforcing these filtering provisions on the basis that they are facially invalid under the First Amendment.

Qui Détient Les Droits D'Auteur Sur Les Diverses Productions Des Professeurs D'Université?, René Pépin

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

L’utilisation des nouvelles technologies de l’information et de la communication (NTIC) peut prendre un grand nombre de formes. On peut donner l’exemple, déjà appliqué à certains endroits, où le professeur, en plus de dispenser son enseignement dans un local de cours, place le contenu intégral de son cours sur un serveur de la faculté ou de l’université, avec un genre de babillard électronique dans lequel les étudiants peuvent lui poser des questions, lire ses réponses, ou discuter entre eux de différents sujets. Les étudiants peuvent aussi le contacter par téléphone ou par courriel. La technologie facilite également l’enregistrement des cours …

The Internet Direct Public Offering: Establishing Trust In A Disintermediated Capital Market, Jason Trainor

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Whereas the process of financial intermediation was once human capital and relationship intensive, it is now heavily influenced by technological innovation and consumer demand, factors which have tended to disrupt the monopoly power of financial intermediaries. Technological innovation alone, however, is not sufficient to replace the institutions and actors that previously dominated the market for public offerings; rather, the concept of disintermediation by definition creates a vacuum that must be filled. Law firms and other intermediaries can create additional value for their clients by assuming some or all of the tasks currently apportioned to investment bankers in the public offering …

Reducing Inconsistency In Udrp Cases, David Wotherspoon, Alex Cameron

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The UDRP has proven to be an effective means of resolving domain name disputes. There are, however, a number of shortcomings in the UDRP that affect its legitimacy and fairness. The most glaring of these lies in the failure to delineate the elements outlined in section 4(a) of the UDRP and in the application of Rule 15(a) of the Rules for Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (the ‘‘Rules’’).4 These shortcomings have resulted in inconsistency in the decisions of arbitral panels. As it stands, complainants are unable to ascertain the case they must meet in order to succeed and respondents are …

Modularity, Vertical Integration, And Open Access Policies: Towards A Convergence Of Antitrust And Regulation In The Internet Age, Joseph Farrell, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

Antitrust law and telecommunications regulation have long adopted different stances on whether to mandate open access to information platforms. This article aims to help regulators and commentators incorporate both Chicago School and post-Chicago School arguments in evaluating this basic policy choice, suggesting how they can be integrated in an effective manner. In particular, the authors outline three alternative models that the FCC could adopt to guide its regulation of information platforms and facilitate a true convergence between antitrust and regulatory policy.

Icann And Antitrust, A. Michael Froomkin

Articles

National identification ("ID") cards appear increasingly inevitable. National ID cards have the potential to be repressive and privacy destroying, but it is also possible to design a system that captures more benefits than costs. Because the United States currently lacks a single, reliable credential, private businesses have trouble authenticating their customers and matching data among distributed databases. This Article argues that the desire for reliable ID creates a window of opportunity for the federal government to strike a bargain: offer private businesses the use of a reliable credential in the form of a national ID card, on the condition that …

Commentary: Time To Hug A Bureaucrat, A. Michael Froomkin

Articles

No abstract provided.

When Code Isn't Law, Tim Wu

Faculty Scholarship

When the Supreme Court upheld extended copyright terms in Eldred v. Ascroft, many Internet activists called for renewed political action in the form of appeals to Congress or even a campaign to amend the Constitution. But others suggested a very different course: They argued that it would be wiser to forgo institutions controlled by the powers of the past, and to return instead to the keyboard to write the next generation of "lawbusting" code. In the words of one observer, "tech people are probably better off spending their energy writing code than being part of the political process" because …

Digital Architecture As Crime Control, Neal K. Katyal

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper explains how theories of realspace architecture inform the prevention of computer crime. Despite the prevalence of the metaphor, architects in realspace and cyberspace have not talked to one another. There is a dearth of literature about digital architecture and crime altogether, and the realspace architectural literature on crime prevention is often far too soft for many software engineers. This paper will suggest the broad brushstrokes of potential design solutions to cybercrime, and in the course of so doing, will pose severe criticisms of the White House's recent proposals on cybersecurity.

The paper begins by introducing four concepts of …

States And Internet Enforcement, Joel R. Reidenberg

Faculty Scholarship

This essay addresses the enforcement of decisions through internet instruments. The starting point is a brief justification of internet enforcement as the obligation of democratic states. Next, the essay argues that the movement to re-engineer the internet infrastructure by public and private actions also facilitates state enforcement of legal and policy decisions. The essay maintains that states will increasingly try to use network intermediaries such as payment systems and Internet Service Providers as enforcement instruments. Finally, and most importantly, the essay focuses on ways that states may harness the power of technological instruments such as worms, filters and packet interceptors …