Cyber law encompasses a wide variety of political and legal issues related to the Internet and other communications technology, including intellectual property, privacy, freedom of expression, and jurisdiction.
The intersection of technology and law is controversial. Some think the Internet should not (or can not) be regulated. Technologies like anonymity and cryptography make traditional kinds of regulation extremely difficult. And the fundamental end to end nature of the Internet means that even if one mode of communication is shut down, another method can be used. In the words of John Gilmore, "the Internet treats censorship as damage and routes around it."
A recent book by Ahmad Kamal entitled "The Law of Cyber-Space", published by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, argues in favor of starting global negotiations on comprehensive and harmonized laws in this domain.
The unique structure of the Internet has raised several judicial concerns. While grounded in physical computers and other electronic devices, the Internet is independent of any geographic location. While real individuals connect to the Internet and interact with others, it is possible for them to withhold personal information and make their real identities anonymous. If there are laws that could govern the Internet, then it appears that such laws would be fundamentally different than laws that geographic nations use today.
In their essay "Law and Borders - The Rise of Law in Cyberspace", David Johnson and David Post offer a solution to the problem of Internet governance. Given the Internet's unique situation, with respect to geography and identity, Johnson and Post believe that it becomes necessary for the Internet to govern itself. Instead of obeying the laws of a particular country, Internet citizens will obey the laws of electronic entities like service providers. Instead of identifying as a physical person, Internet citizens will be known by their usernames or email addresses. Since the Internet defies geographical boundaries, national laws will no longer apply. Instead, an entirely new set of laws will be created to address concerns like intellectual property and individual rights. In effect, the Internet will exist as its own sovereign nation.
Even if the Internet represents a legal paradigm shift, Johnson and Post do not make clear exactly who or how the Internet will be enforced. Instead, the authors see market mechanisms, like those that Medieval merchants used, guiding Internet citizens' actions like Adam Smith's invisible hand. Yet, as more physical locations go online, the greater the potential for physical manifestation of electronic misdeeds. What do we do when someone electronically turns off the hospital lights?
- Communications Decency Act - the controversial pornography regulation law, later partly struck down as unconstitutional. ?230 of the CDA is still used by internet service providers to shield them from liabilities of activities of users.
- Digital Millennium Copyright Act - the epidemic law that outlaws not only software piracy but also the activities that help it.
- Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act technically a part of the DMCA but distinct from it.
- Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act
- Can Spam Act of 2003
- Proposed EU Directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions
- Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (U.K.)
- PATRIOT Act