Cyberlaw

The area of legal practice concerned with the Internet and applications of computer technology. Cyberlaw is a broad area of the law covering commerce on the World Wide Web, as well as the uses, abuses, and ownership rights of computer technology. Cyberlaw is a rapidly growing area of practice because traditional legal specialties such as contracts, intellectual property, trademarks, and copyrights are limited in their ability to deal with Internet commerce and computer storage and transmission. Recent technological innovations have extended Web access to cell phones and television receivers, further broadening and complicating this area of law.

Although cyberlaw can encompass everything from domain name protection to the digital distribution of music and other intellectual property, most cases involve commercial transactions negotiated through the Internet. Issues such as jurisdiction and enforcement are central to this aspect of cyberlaw practice. Say, for example, that the buyer of an item sold on the Web resides in New York, the seller resides in California, and the company that operates the Web site is located in Missouri—which state's laws govern the transaction? In what court would the case be heard if one of the parties reneged on his or her part of the contract? New York, California, or Missouri? What liability does the Web site, for example, have in the successful completion of the contract negotiated at that site?

Litigation is another fast-growing area of cyberlaw practice. Cases surrounding securities fraud (stocks and other financial instruments sold on the Web) and the uses and abuses of software are among the most common types of cases. For example, if a software company sells a product developed for a specific use to another company and that other company then finds additional uses for the software or adapts it for other purposes, is the software company entitled to additional compensation? Does the company that adapted the software own the new product?

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC, the federal government has focused more intensely on Internet and e-mail traffic as a source of communications for terrorist groups. Provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act passed after the attacks allow the government greater access to personal information stored on computer networks and servers in pursuit of possible terror investigations. Civil libertarians have challenged these provisions as violations of the constitutional right to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. However, given the generally ambiguous legal atmosphere surrounding the Internet, defining what is permissible and what is not remains a difficult proposition.