Web and Internet Law

IT and online law advice

So much of people’s lives takes place online these days, it is no surprise that internet law should be a topic of ever-increasing importance. Since many of the opportunities and possibilities presented by the internet are absolutely unprecedented, the law constantly has to adapt to this digital frontier in order to fairly judge the legality of things which are done online. However, while web law may seem like a complicated topic, the principles at work are generally the same as in the legal regulations which came before the internet.

In fact, it may surprise you to learn that there is not really any such thing as internet law. Laws are designed in such a way as to allow for interpretation in a wide variety of situations, intended to be used for legal issues which could not even be imagined when the original legislation was codified. Therefore, internet law as a discipline is more the practice of establishing how previously written laws can be applied to activities on the web, and how the frequently unforeseen issues which arise on the web can be dealt with using legal precedent and pre-existing legislation and rules.

Internet law, therefore, generally ends up covering issues which rise to prominence due to the frequency with which they come up online. A study of web law which covered every possibility would essentially be a complete listing of every law on the books, but the freedom, anonymity and detachment of the web give rise to certain common behaviours which are in many cases abusive or otherwise problematic. Many cases over the years have demonstrated that, despite what a lot of people think, these situations do have effects and repercussions in the real world and can often be dealt with before the law.

Commonly encountered internet law topics include:

• Copyright infringement – including filesharing
• Privacy issues
• Defamation and libel
• E-commerce and online selling regulations