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Cheryl Gracie
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A comment from Cheryl Gracie
Starting points
For those with legal backgrounds
Laws
Journals
Articles of Interest
Other People's Web Sites
Some Basics |
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A comment from Cheryl Gracie.....
The Internet has had a profound effect on our society. It has transformed
the way we communicate with profound effect on our culture and societal
institutions, including our laws.
The traditional legal doctrines that used to apply, no longer work. This
is because of certain fundamental legal principles upon which most of
our law depends have been changed by technology.
First, much of our law is based on geographic concept of a reasonable
parson. Technology, particularly the Internet, has blurred these geographic
distinctions.
Second, we have always relied on the availability of physical space to
separate diverse viewpoints peacefully. This allowed a great deal of diversity
in our society in a national sense. The Internet ignores physical separations.
In all areas of law, the impact of technology on our concepts of a reasonable
person and protections offered by physically separate space is profound.
Thus, cyberlaw isn't really a particular area of law. Instead, it covers
the effect of technologies on many areas of the law. The following distinct
areas have emerged. These are taken from the definition of cyberlaw provided
by the UCLA
Online Institute.
- Jurisdiction
- Freedom of Expression - free speech issues
- Intellectual Property - copyright, patent, trademark,
and trade secret law
- Privacy - arising under constitutional law, federal
and state statutes, and traditional tort case law
- Safety - "cybercrimes"
- Equity - access and education
- Electronic Commerce - electronic banking, digital cash
, electronic contracts, online securities offerings, online gambling,
and taxation.
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Starting points
Findlaw:
CyberSpace |
This is a wonderful, comprehensive, starting
point for anyone wanting to explore all the issues. |
E-Company Resources |
I extracted these sources from E-Company
magazine |
Cyberspace
for Non-Lawyers |
Larry Lessig, David Post, and Eugene Volokh write a wonderfully
comprehensive, even if now somewhat dated, analysis of the law of
cyberspace in terms a lay person can understand. Wonderful examples.
Copyright © 1999 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc
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Bitlaw |
A site devoted to Internet Law with explanations
for the non-attorney |
Cyberspace
Law Center: Findlaw |
This is the findlaw center's comprehensive
site about cyberlaw. |
Cyberspace
Law Subject Index: John Marshall Law School, Chicago |
A comprehensive site that focuses on how
cyberlaw has impacted traditional areas of law. |
Electronic
Commerce and Internet Law Course |
A Basic Online course in Internet Law. It
is over now, but it's syllabus provides many good links to "basic"
materials. |
Search Engines: Law Crawler
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Law Crawler is a search engine specifically
designed for legal research. However, I find that many times I get
better results using a general search engine, (like metacrawler),
or just going to the UCLA Online Institute |
Search
Engine: Metacrawler |
An all purpose search engine that tends
to avoid purely "commercial" sites but this is only my own
observation....no research to back this up. |
The
Law Engine |
Another research engine. I don't have an opinion about it yet.
It also contains a lovely directory.
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'LECTRIC
LAW LIBRARY |
A decent site but not very good for cyber law.
A good place to check for forms
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WWW
Virtual Library—Law |
A pretty decent site maintained by the University of Indiana Law
School.
Their site about multi-media
is particularly useful.
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Court
TV |
Ok....don't sell these people short. Sometimes
they have just what you need in plain English. |
Nolo Press |
Ok....don't sell these people short either. Sometimes
they have just what you need in plain English. |
World
Wide Learn |
A comprehensive site about various topics
of law in lay terms |
American
Legal Sources Online: (Also) |
A good beginning site. |
mycounsel.com |
A good site for lay people on a variety
of topics |
West Identified Resources |
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For Those With Legal Backgrounds
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Laws
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Journals
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Articles of Interest
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Other People's Web Sites
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Some Basics
Evaluating Information Found on the Internet
University
of Iowa Tools & Resources
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Anyone can make information available over the web. Is it worthy
of consideration? Librarians pride themselves in an entire profession
that was devoted to weeding out the garbage....of course....an attorney
might say sorting is sorting and very close to what is meant by
"censorship".
Nonetheless, it's important to understand how you can evaluate
the source of information that you find on the web and that you
do so when working with the information that you find.
The University of Iowa has put together a fine list of tools and
resources. I found the following article particularly interesting.
Evaluating
Information Found on the Internet: Elizabeth E. Kirk, Electronic
and Distance Education Librarian, Johns Hopkins University
Here is a particularly good article from an attorney's perspective.
The Practical
Litigator's 1999 Guide to Internet Research, by Glenn S.
Bacal, J.D., M.B.A.
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Web Searching
University
of Iowa Links to Searching Resources
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Searching for information on the web is very different than searching
in traditional places. First, there is the issue of having to evaluate
the information. Second, there is the need to distinguish "search
engines" from "directories". Finally, the quality
of the results of your search will depend on several factors.
- The relevancy of the information placed in the data base.
- The power of the program to access that information
- The skill of the user in effectively using the search tool
If you want a very good reference, try The Extreme Searcher's
Guide to Web Search Engines, Randolph Hock, ISBN 0--910965-26-9
Here is a particularly good article from an attorney's perspective.
Guide to Internet
Research Bacal's Key Rules To Effective Searching, by Glenn
S. Bacal, JD, MBA
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FedLaw
Site |
This is a comprehensive site of legal information. Includes state
law information as well.
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A
Brief History of the Internet |
One of the best articles I
have found that explains how the Internet grew to what it is now. |
www.lexis.com/law
school |
This is a comprehensive site that contains many "Web Lectures"
concerning many areas of the law. A good beginners site. Two, in
particular, are of interest to cyberlaw
Cyberspace
Law: E-Commerce
Cyberspace
Law: Speech & Privacy
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SSRN
Electronic Library |
A comprehensive site that contains
information on a variety of topics. |
American
Bar Association Site |
From the grandaddy of what
governs us. |
American Law
Institute |
A good layman approach to topics |
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