Cyber law

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."

Controversial laws

• Communications Decency Act - the controversial pornography regulation law, later struck down as unconstitutional
• Digital Millennium Copyright Act - the epidemic law that outlaws not only software piracy but also the activities that help it.

See also: Gutnick v. Dow Jones.

Further Reading

• The Future of Ideas by Lawrence Lessig
• Intellectual Property and the Internet by Rodney D. Ryder; Lexis Nexis Butterworths, 2002

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