Cyberspace Law For Non-Lawyers

Cyberspace is a new and exciting frontier, and presents a host of new and difficult legal questions in many areas. The development of legal rules that will govern activity in this new environment is likely to be a complex, and at times a controversial, process.

Copyright In Cyberspace

# Extremely short writings - for instance, several words or shorter - or extremely simple drawings are generally not copyrighted.

# If you simply copy what someone else has done, without adding anything new of your own, your copy is generally not copyrighted.

Electronic Copying Can Infringe A Copyright is like the basic rules of copyright law are pretty much the same in cyberspace as they are in the "real world." Some people have argued that this can't work -- that online copyright rules have to be very different (or perhaps shouldn't exist at all). But for now, there's no indication that either Congress or the courts are about to accept this argument.

# It covers copies of LESS THAN THE WHOLE thing: If you write an article and I make a copy of five pages, that might violate your copyright.

# It covers PARAPHRASES, so long as they're close enough: If I translate your article into a foreign language, or make a movie based on your book, that will probably violate your copyright.

# It covers MANUAL copies as well as mechanical copies: It doesn't matter whether you make an electronic copy of an electronic document, scan in a print document, or hand-enter a document into the computer. All of this is copying.

# It covers PERSONAL copying as well as BUSINESS copying.

But copying the *words* someone uses to express the facts, and often the *selection* and *arrangement*;of the facts, still isn't allowed.
(though in some situations it might violate rights under the *patent* laws). Thus, even if I'm the first person to think about writing a courtroom drama set in a virtual cybercourt, everyone is free to copy this idea.

# Someone sends a personal message to one other person. Reasonable people would generally not assume that the author is allowing the recipient to forward the message to others. NO IMPLIED LICENSE.

# A newspaper posts something on its advertising - supported Web page. Reasonable people probably wouldn't assume that it's allowing readers to forward it to news groups. PROBABLY NO IMPLIED LICENSE.

# Someone sends a message to a discussion list. It's not clear whether reasonable people would assume that they're allowed to forward it to other lists.

personal e-mail

Yes

Yes

America Online

In this section, we discuss the law of privacy. By "privacy," we do not mean the constitutional "right of privacy" that the Supreme Court has held protects the right to abortion, or the right to use contraceptives We are interested in a more narrow, and traditional sense of the term.

# Your local supermarket offers a "No-coupon discount card" for customers who fill out an application. On the application, you list your name, your sex, your income, your employment, and the company gives you a card. Using the card, you then make purchases for the next year. The supermarket then compiles the data about your purchases, and sells it to marketers. You have not been notified that they intend to use the information like this; nor have you explicitly consented to this use.

# Your credit card company has the same information about you -- you supplied it when you got your credit card. Imagine it now collects the data about your purchases, and then sells it to marketers.

# Your local video store keeps data about the videos you rent. It then sells to marketers your name and address, along with list of films that you have rented.

Is stories posted on the bulletin boards by users from across the world.

(in 1928)