Legal aspects

Based on

Law in the Internet Age

Sharon K. Black

Overview

• Intellectual property law– Trade Secrets

– Copyrights and Patents

• Trade restrictions and Encouragements– Crypto export restrictions

– The key escrow debate

– Tariffs, GATT, etc.

Overview (Continued)

• Privacy laws

• Cyberlaw– Antihacking

– Consumer privacy

– Content • Defamation and Obscenity

• ISP and operator liability

• State laws on signature, etc.

Intellectual property law

• Trade Secrets– Information whose commercial value is secrecy

• Difference between friends and strangers

– Some protection under the electronic espionage act

• Copyrights– Copyrights cover “works of authorship”

– Only the unique expression is covered, not the underlying facts

Intellectual property law (more on copyrights)

– Exceptions• Limited use by owner• Public access• Fair use (news and education, decompilation for interoperability)• Software must be copied to be used

– What constitutes infringement• Similarity• Access (did it occur)• Evaluation of fair use• Was reverse engineering used

– The DMCA• Can’t undo copying controls• Limited liability for ISP’s• Current arguments

– Napster– Photographs– Software– Text

Intellectual property law (patents)

• Patents– Patent gives exclusive use of an invention (make, use, and sell)

– Must be new and useful process, machine, manufacture, etc.

– Computers and programs often fail the nonobvious test –

– Patent process is difficult, copyright is easy

• Remedies and penalties– Remedies

• Injunctive relief (stop doing it)

• Civil damages (actual and statutory)

• Seizure

• Criminal penalties

– License agreement can be more restrictive but not all are legal

Privacy and Content Issues

• Privacy isn’t in the Bill of Rights (in PR eavesdropping is)– Tort law covers it in a limited way– Unreasonable intrusion– Unreasonable disclosure– False light and appropriation – Commercial privacy is a current topic

• Hollings bill weakens protections• Some other new proposals are ambiguous• Examples

– Medical data (insurance vs damage due to disclosure)– Financial data (buying habits)– Financial data (credit and tax assessment)

– Zones of privacy (marriage and associations)• Exceptions based on commercial use (marketing applications)

Privacy and communications

• Interception is illegal– Federal communications act, etc.

– Court-ordered wiretaps are controlled (less after 9-11)

– Employers have near-exclusive rights

– Public records (Freedom of information act)

– Bank secrecy and fair credit reporting