Slashdot Mirror
Internet Law Journal Launched
deborah writes: "I came across an interesting blurb in my CWRU alumni magazine today. It's for a new journal focused entirely on Internet Law. As far as I know this is the first journal to focus specifically on Internet topics and it's surprisingly readable. Sample headlines include 'The Law on Hackers and Crackers' and 'The Legal Risks of Trademarks as Internet Search Terms'."
The trademark-related article is even more bullshit if other examples are considered -- all kinds of advertisement that mention competitors (positively or negatively). Not to mention that search keywords (in meta tags or somewhere else) may be automatically generated, and something as innocent as "Gnutella is a competitor to Napster" or "Ghostscript interprets Postscript files" in the title of the page will be used by search engines -- and rightfully so because person who asks for Postsctipt interpreters most likely will benefit from the knowledge of Ghostscript despite the fact that Ghostscript competes with that elusive Postscript interpreter from Adobe that isn't even ported for most of platforms.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
On the terms of use point, they've got this squirrelled away and almost completely invisible - I couldn't see it linked to from anywhere but the homepage and it's easily missed, so I don't know who they think is going to be bound by it.
Or, for that matter, how they think the provision of something freely distributed before sight of terms amounts to consideration, but they clearly know NY law better than I do.
Hey ho. Let 'em go ahead, sue me in NY. See if I care. Because they excluded the jurisdiction of the UK court they'd have to enforce the judgment in...
(And that, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly why any journal claiming to be for the internet as a whole has to look outside the US. Nothing further, your honour.)
-- AndrewD
A Maze of Twisty Little Laws, All Different.
great post, thanks.
Here's some good reading (if you missed it)
This is an interesting thread, finally some of you snakes have slithered out, j/k. I was actually talking with my family the other day about going to law school specifically for IP. Any suggestions?
And I do think that geeks might join lawyers, and doctors as one of the "smart asshole" professions, if we haven't already.
--
+&x
Yeah.. moderation points in politics and the law... I like that idea!
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seumas.com
And what do you call the New York Times cyberlaw section? First? Hrmph.
- The Harvard Journal of Law and Technology,
That have been around quire a bit longer providing leading articles on the intersection of law and cyberspace (along with many others).The Journal of Online Law,
The Virginia Journal of Law and Technology,
The Berkeley Journal of Law and Technology,
The Stanford Technology Law Review, and
The Berkman Center for Internet & Technology
-Alex
The rest of the article talks about all the legal hassles that you have to do to get the domain you want, but alludes to nothing more on searching for alternate domains.
As it should -- it's *not* a technical article, or an internet culture article; it's a *legal* article. It's intended to talk about what your options are, with respect to the legal system, once you have decided there is a conflict between your desire and someone else's.
Indeed - and if they had called it something that was closer to it's actual implimentation - the All-states internet law site, or the American Internet Law site - then it would be a noble goal.
However, they are claiming a bigger view than they actually intend to give - many Non-americans have gone and will go to the site hoping to find information that applies to them, and instead will find out american legal information - I am questioning labelling, not content.
England is currently on the verge of the biggest invasion of personal privacy ever envisioned by a democratic government; Companies are making contingency plans to move management and major servers out of the country, and various authorities, from Law Enforcement though the intelligence services down to Tax, Excise and Health and Safety inspectors are eagerly awaiting the right to intercept web comms without a warrant, read email without the owner's knowledge or consent, and slap gagging orders with no termination clause on anyone who might protest.
So, in the midst of all this, what is the only european story to feature? the fact that an ecommerce plan may make it easier for US firms to sell in europe. Even if I was an american shareholder in a american company with a UK branch, I would want to know this - but the website is silent.
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-=DaveHowe=-
Something like this has been needed for quite some time now. The subject of internet laws is to most people uninteresting and boring, I actually found some of the laws in The Internet Law Journal quite interesting, so not many people know what is ok and what isn't.
/. posted yesterday about a man's company being audited and getting a hell of a beating (http://slashdot.org /article.pl>?sid=00/06/21/228218&mode=thread), and he, or his company, could have avoided all the hassle if they just knew the law's before they started their business.
There is a another topic here on
I hope more people find this Internet Law Joinal and avoid a mess of trouble.
It has been infused with pork bacon juices.
Although I didn't see anything like DeCSS
nope it gets a sidebar but is behind-the-times and consists almost entirely of links to other site's opinions of the matter.
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-=DaveHowe=-
Actually, this brings up a good point. This law-journal is mainly just commentary on issues that, for the most part, are old news. How about a website that keeps track of the court status of all the pending legal matters that we read about here on Slashdot?
= -=-=-=-=-=-=-
Example...when CT or someone posts an article about a Internet-related legal matter, an entry is created that say something like "ABC vs XYZ, trial to begin 7/8/2000". Then on 7/8/2000 someone could make a point to find out if the trial was going or had been postposed, submit that information, and have the entry updated.
I think it would be most useful because generally speaking there is a lot of posting when cases are filed and then you really never heard about them again. Or at least, that's just my general impression.
Short of an area on Slashdot, could someone else create a site to help keep us all up-to-date on these kinds of issues? I actually looked up "Streambox AND trial" in several search engines and was surprised that the most recent information I could find was dated January 17th. How does one go about finding trial information if you only know the name of a plantiff or a defendant?
- JoeShmoe
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-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
When are we going to get "internet" sites that notice the rest of the world?"
</whine>
When the rest of the world gets off its ass and does it itself.
If you want something, build it yourself.
Why do people expect someone else to do everything and then bitch and moan about how it does not make every single person in the world happy?
Crybabies.
-- A Human Being is nothing more than mobile CO2 factory. Bow to the plants.
Also, here's a snippet that made me blink twice in the article about securing and defending your domain name:
Odds are, however, someone prior in time had a similar idea and the domain name you want is already registered by that person. Under these circumstances, three options exist: (1) try to handle the matter amicably and directly with the registrant; (2) file a law suit; or (3) arbitrate.
Um, where's option number 4: Find another domain name? The rest of the article talks about all the legal hassles that you have to do to get the domain you want, but alludes to nothing more on searching for alternate domains. This is NOT the way that domain names were supposed to work, and given that this journal is proporting the 'new' way, I raise a few doubts about it.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
When the rest of the world gets off its ass and does it itself.
I can live with that - I know of uk sites that cover uk law, and australian sites that cover australian law. however, we aren't talking about a US site that covers US law here, we are talking about one that broadly claims to cover the entire internet - but can't look outside the US border unless it can see a reason US readers would be interested.
Your post is as much a part of the "it's our Internet and you foreigners should be happy we let you play" attitude as that website is - a US-centric site is fine; once they start claiming the Global view, it seems reasonable for them to back it up by actually having a Global vision.
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-=DaveHowe=-
I don't know if I buy this crap about meta tags.
If I want to search for cola sodas and I type in Coke, I think I'd like to see all the cola soda sites out there, not just Coke.
So if this meta tag crap is legal, why can't I sue my competitor for appearing next to my add in the Yellow Pages. That's a search, right? Maybe Coke should sue Pepsi b/c Pepsi appears right next to Coke in the grocery store. That's a search too. Hell, why can't Coke sue me for saying Pepsi in the same sentence, I'm probably not treating their trademark with proper respect and obedience.
Ahhhh! I hate lawyers and American law. It's so NOT about truth and justice.
The truth lies somewhere between 'Famous Potatoes' and 'Live Free Or Die'. (George Carlin paraphrased).
P.S., For all those about to point out the Yellow Pages argument flaw, pretend it's the white pages and the company names are "Al's Tires" and "Amy's Tires". If you don't like Al and Amy, contrive your own names such that they're close together in the alphabet. That's not the point.
--- Karl Evander Kaufeld
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
hey, all I have to go on is your own words: Feel free to tell me how I am misinterpreting...
I do not believe the internet belongs to the US, nor do I feel I have the superior attitude of "feel lucky you can play with it"
If you haven't, you are doing a good job of giving that impression. if it looks like a duck, moves like a duck and quacks like a duck....
I just did not(and still don't) see where this new site claims to be the end-all for all internet laws everywhere.
Lets see:
Name of site: The Internet Law Journal
Byline: The internet law journal: where the Internet and the Law converge
Section byline: Here you will find the lastest breaking headline news concerning Internet Law.
Ok, so there's the internet bit. lets look for bits that state or even imply it is a US-centric site...
still looking..
nope. It's the internet law site, for breaking news in internet law, and it's where the internet and law converge.
You claimed it was, and was lacking in non-US content. If it does claim to be the end all for all Internet law, you would be right, but again, I dont see this attitude on the site.
Probably the problem is with your vision, not the site - you see nothing wrong with a site being US centric without actually having "US law" or even "US" anywhere on it.
Am I wrong?
yes.
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-=DaveHowe=-
As it happens, I did. I they haven't even bothered to reply as of yet....
It says you can right on the website (guess you must have missed that)!!!
Nope, saw it, copied down the email address (not for submissions you notice, just a contact in case they are interested)
It's been over a week now, and they haven't gotten back to me. OTOH, the most recent of their "breaking news" is June 08 - perhaps they have moved on to Texas to do "The cattle law website, for breaking news on cattle; where cattle and the law converge"
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-=DaveHowe=-
I think from now on, everyone who writes "IANAL" should link that phrase to this site.
<grin>
(Spudley Strikes Again!)
While not an academic journal, TechLawJournal is a news site that focuses on legal developments that will effect the technological community. It is a great resource that is constantly updated.
ByteMyCode.com: A Web 2.0 code sharing community.
What I find humourous about this is that these "Internet Laws" are or will be made up by corporate and professional legals who have little or no techno-experience. I'd be willing to bet that they probably have never heard of the terms: "open source", "Linux-driven server", "OpenVMS", and the list continues. What they should do if they really feel a need for these laws is gather together a type of consortium consisting of a multi-national group of mature "techno-geeks" who would moderate and ensure fair and properly written bindings. Hopefully that came out ok, My mind works much faster than my fingers can keep up....
Well, IAAFL, and I specialise in this sort of technically- and technologically oriented work.
For the record, I know what those terms mean, and the meaning of many, many others. For the ones I don't know, I know where to look and/or who to ask. In any event, the criticism is about as meaningful in this context as my upbraiding C++ programmers generally for not knowing about LPR Corrosion Rate Measurement techniques, mitochondrial DNA or structural mechanics: these things are unnecessary to someone selling their services as a code-writer unless and until it impacts on the task at hand.
As for the need for "such laws", it's there, no matter what field of human endeavour you consider. I regret very much to inform you of this, but human beings are, from just below the average on down, at least one and usually more of: venal, corrupt, greedy, mendacious and stupid.
This means that just under half the people you'll ever deal with are, frankly, shitheels. It is for this reason that you need - when dealing with anyone whose bona fides you are not absolutely sure of - the protection of a legal system that will enforce contracts and punish/compensate for wrongs done. Unless and until the human race cleans up its act, laws will be needed.
People being what they are, laws tend to end up being extensive and, while usually simple in detail, complex in their overall effect. Just like, in fact, high-level programming languages. A modern and developed legal system, necessary for the reasons outlined above, creates a need for professional lawyers in exactly the same way as a modern and developed technology of computing creates a need for computer programmers.
I mean, in theory, if I needed a small application written and there was nothing out there that did precisely what I wanted, I could get a few books on appropriate programming languages and set to with a compiler and hope in my heart (occasionally, I do, for small things - I happen to enjoy doing it).
In practice, I'd go see someone with the appropriate expertise and get them do it for me.
It's the same with lawyers. There's nothing to keep you from drafting your own contracts and suing people in your own name. In practice, it's easier - and, if you're in business and you can use your time to make money - more cost-effective to hire someone with the expertise who has already, at his own expense, acquired the necessary skills and knowledge to do the job and do it more effectively and efficiently than an absolute beginner.
As for the proposal of a consurtium of geeks to write the laws relating to technology, it's not a bad idea as far as it goes. As a practical matter, the consortium should include a few lawyers simply to supply the necessary expertise in how best to frame laws and make them workable.
Don't hold your breath for this to happen any time soon, though. The politicians have gotten themselves a near-total monopoly on making laws, and don't look likely to give up on it any time soon.
-- AndrewD
A Maze of Twisty Little Laws, All Different.
If YANAL, you will remain NAFL after reading this. The use of the word "Journal" is completely fucken pretentious for what is most definitely a newsletter -- I counted no academic contributors, plus damnably few citations of statute or case law. This is not a serious legal journal -- it's aimed at the non-legal community, to allow law firms to tout for business. Clearly it has to make its own reputation, but its starting credibility with me is low.
-- the most controversial site on the Web
Hmm. it seems to suffer from the usual blight of "internet" websites - it assumes the US is the only country whose laws matter (the only major article on the EEC is one that describes the advantages to American businesses of the new EEC ecommerce initiative - no mention of the eec anti-hacking and english RIP measures being fast-tracked through their respective processes; there is also a sidebar commment on the new english Healthservice-online self-diagnosis helpsite, that wouldn't overflow a standard slashdot header box. When are we going to get "internet" sites that notice the rest of the world?
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-=DaveHowe=-
It seems like it's time to start my online legal service. I think I'll call it e-legal.com :)
OK you lawyers who want to make money off the Internet, come read this this journal. That's right, stand a little closer together, come on, there's room for everyone. Now don't move for a second....
....there, I think I got 'em all.
KABOOM
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Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
Even if it is a troll, it's frightening, how many people in US sincerely believe in it.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.