CyberSpace Law

| Cheryl Gracie | Cyber Law Resource Page Home
| A comment from Cheryl Gracie Starting points For those with legal backgrounds Laws Journals Articles of Interest Other People's Web Sites Some Basics
| 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.
| 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
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 | 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.
'LECTRIC LAW LIBRARY | A decent site but not very good for cyber law. A good place to check for forms
WWW Virtual Library—Law | A pretty decent site maintained by the University of Indiana Law School. Their site about multi-media is particularly useful.
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 |
| For Those With Legal Backgrounds
The UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy | A very useful site from the Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy. The description of its purpose provides a very good definition of the issues affecting us in Cyberspace General Legal Resources are listed. Provides a very good listing of relevant cases with online links when available. Provides a wonderful list of developments over the last decade. There is also a "perspectives" section where legal issues are posed in terms of solutions and/or their impact on our lives. There is also a Internet Law Online Publications Finally, there is a Cyberspace Law Bibliography This is obviously my favorite site.
Electronic Commerce and Internet Law Resource Center: Perkins Coie LLP | An interesting and very legally accurate collection of resources from the law firm of Perkins Coie LLP
The Product Liability Restatement Of Torts Third: What It Means For Illinois © | Although this pertains to Illinois, it is pretty standard and contains much information about the basic law of contracts involving the sale of goods. The growth of e-commerce has a profound impact on this area of law
Cyber-liberties: American Civil Liberties Union | Focus on our freedoms, particularly freedom of speech issues involving censorship and privacy.

Washburns List | Comprehensive site of links to most any legal topic
E-commerce Law Source.com | Comprehensive site containing information of various topics of law involving e-commerce
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society | Harvard's Web Site on Cyberlaw
| Laws
Basic Laws | UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy Title 17 (Copyright) Cornell Law School Site
Federal Legal Resources | Cornell Law School: Federal Legal Resources United States Constitution U.S. Code , (Download version) Recent US Legislation (Thomas) Code of Federal Regulations Downloadable Code
Michigan Legal Resources | Michigan Statutes Online Cornell Law School: Michigan Legal Resources All Law: Michigan Site Also Institute of Continuting Legal Research, (ICLE)
Other State Statutes | State Statutes Online
Legal Information Institute: Cornell Law School | Comprehensive site containing links to all sorts of links to a wide variety of primary sources of law.
Giga Law |
All Law Internet Gateway | A comprehensive selection of laws with links to primary sources.
American Legal Sources Online | A good place to find and search statutes, cases, etc. for federal and state laws.
Uniform Commercial Code, Article 2B (draft) The 2B Guide | The proposed additional article to deal with cyberlaw issues in the Uniform Commercial Code
Other Resources, Cases etc. | Brought to you by the UCLA Online Institute
The Perkins Coie Internet Case Digest | An interesting collection of Internet Cases not found through search engines.
LawCom | Latest in all the news about law
OpenLaw | A resource of collected cases from Berkman at Harvard
RENO, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, et al. v. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION et al. | Unanimous Supreme Court decision striking down the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (June 26, 1997) Recent decisions
| Journals
Journal of Internet Law | Excerpts of the Journal published by attorneys of Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich.
Law News Network | Up to date, breaking news
Sanford Technology Law Review | The Law Review from Sanford....great attorney perspectives.
Washburn School of Law | Comprehensive Site
Harvard Journal of Law and Technology | The Law Review dealing with technology from Harvard....great attorney perspectives.
Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review | A law review from the University of Michigan
Internet Law Online Publications | A list of online cyberlaw journals from Perkins Coie
American Lawyer Media | Web page for the American Lawyer Media organization. Links to the National Law Journal, weekly New York Law Journal Law Technology News
BNA's Electronic Commerce | Comprehensive site with case listings.
SSRN Electronic Library | A comprehensive site with links to various online journals. Lesig chairs one on Cyberlaw
| Articles of Interest
Internet Law Online Publications: Perkins Coie | A list of very interesting articles, current, about the law in this area.
The UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy Perspectives Developments | From my favorite site. See particularly When is a Threat "Truly" a Threat Lacking First Amendment Protection? A Proposed True Threats Test to Safeguard Free Speech Rights in the Age of the Internet Anna S. Andrews May 1999 THE PUBLIC FORUM DOCTRINE AND ITS POSSIBLE APPLICATION TO THE INTERNET Angioletta Sperti, LL.M.*
Practical E-Law Recommendations for Net-worked Employers | An explanation of Internet Law from a distinguished scholar that takes a "practical", but accurate, approach
Developments in the Law: The Law of Cyberspace: Harvard Law Review, May 1999 | A wonderfully comprehensive article that provides and overview.
Copyright Considerations | Carol Ann Hughes, University Libraries, University Libraries, The University of Iowa.
When Works Pass into the Public Domain | A handy reference
Link Controversy | A handy site to various resources on the link controversy
REVISING THE COPYRIGHT LAW FOR ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING | An interesting article by David J. Loundy
| Other People's Web Sites
Peter Suber, Legal Studies, Earlham College | This site doesn't deal specifically with cyberlaw....but it is a good site for the basics.
Steve Sowell's Links Page, disclaimer | Another great links page from an attorney. Steve's homepage
Glenn Bacal's 1999 Guide to Internet Research (with Resource List) | Another good, and very comprehensive site, from an attorney
Learning Cyberlaw in CyberSpace | A basic course
David J Loundy's Web Site | An attorney who writes about Cyberlaw issues.
| Some Basics
Evaluating Information Found on the Internet University of Iowa Tools & Resources | 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.
Web Searching University of Iowa Links to Searching Resources | 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
FedLaw Site | This is a comprehensive site of legal information. Includes state law information as well.
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
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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