discussions

Week 1 discussion
DQ1 Jurisdiction over Websites
Read Yahoo v. La Lique and Mink v. AAAA Development LLC
(Baumer, pp. 44–46), and then discuss the factors that were used to determine
whether each court had jurisdiction over non-resident website operators. What
business factors should enter into development of commercial websites and
decisions about whether to subject a company to long-arm jurisdiction?

DQ2 Impact of Technology on the Law
All websites are equally accessible on the Internet, no matter
where a site’s business sponsor is located. Consequently, foreign websites are
accessible to people cruising the Internet.
Suppose a foreign website sells drugs that are not approved
by regulatory agencies for sale to citizens of another country. Do you think
that website has a duty to be familiar with drug laws throughout the world? Why
or why not? In addition, do you think the owners of the website have committed
a crime? Why or why not?

Week 2 discussion
DQ1 To Spam or not to Spam
You have just graduated and decide that you want to start an
Internet business. You have limited capital but need to market your product.
Someone suggests that you can purchase 500,000 Internet addresses at an
extremely low cost. You have always hated spam but realize that this is a great
way to reach a half a million potential customers both quickly and cheaply. You
recognize that many, if not most, of the recipients will find your spam message
a nuisance. Focusing on the legal issues that you believe affect your actions,
discuss what you would do.
Read the excerpts of the CAN-SPAM Act, attached.

DQ2 Conflicts of Law and the Internet
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the
government from blocking any form of freedom of expression that not does not
involve child pornography, terrorism, or other forms that themselves involve a
crime. Many foreign states place restrictions on expression in the name of a
greater good. In France, it is a crime to incite racial hatred. Yahoo provides
an auction site on the Internet and among the items it has offered were Nazi
memorabilia, which are illegal in France. French authorities took Yahoo to
court and filed criminal charges against the company. Several organizations,
such as the League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism and the League of Jewish
Students, successfully sued Yahoo in France and obtained a judgment. A U.S.
federal district court judge, however, refused to enforce the judgment and says
Yahoo is not bound by French law.
Should the speech laws of one country effectively censor
what appears on a website owned by citizens of another country? Should a
company such as Yahoo that does business in foreign markets be sensitive to the
laws and culture of the countries in which it chooses to do business?

Week 3 discussion
DQ1 Shrink-wrap. Box-top, and Click-wrap Agreements
Shrink-wrap, box-top, and click-wrap agreements are inherent
to e-commerce. How you feel about them often depends on whether you are the
vendor or purchaser. What are the best practices to assure shrink-wrap,
box-top, and click-wrap agreements are legal? What are the best ethical
practices that the e-commerce industry should adopt?

DQ2 Attribution in an E-Commerce World
In a world of one-click acceptance, vendors face real
challenges in determining whether the clicker is in fact the offeree to whom
the offer is made. What are some steps or procedures vendors can adopt to
establish attribution? What happens if a consumer clicks on the wrong button or
did not intend to click at all? What legal and ethical defenses should be
available to e-commerce customers?

Week 4 discussion
DQ1 Eminent Domain—Good or Bad?
In June, 2005, the United States Supreme Court in Kelo v.
City of New London held that although the city of New London could not take
private land simply to confer a private benefit on a particular private party,
the takings could be executed pursuant to a carefully considered development
plan. The Supreme Court rejected any literal requirement that condemned
property be put into use for the public. Rather, it embraced the broader and
more natural interpretation of public use as “public purpose.”
Given the rapid growth of cyber business, is this expansion
of eminent domain good or bad? Could the takings be used to help develop
high-technology development parks? Or, should we be more concerned with the
threat to personal freedom that expanded eminent domain could entail? Does the
Supreme Court’s interpretation give greater opportunity for misconduct
(bribery)?

DQ2 Invasions of Privacy in Cyberspace
Americans have a high regard for privacy. This regard is
codified in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects
against unreasonable search and seizure.
Is the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986
sufficient to guarantee our rights to privacy in Internet and other electronic
communications?
Or, in the aftermath of 9/11 and the war on terror, should
we reasonably expect government inroads into privacy and the use of snooping
tools such as Carnivore?

Week 5 discussion
DQ1 Intellectual Property in an Internet Age
The Internet revolution brought with it a flood of
intellectual property issues. We all know about the rise and fall of Napster
and the efforts of next-generation file-sharing programs to build pure
person-to-person networks. Our text discusses DeCSS software that can defeat
anticopying protections on DVDs. Internationally, the problem has exploded,
with knock-off software programs available throughout China and much of the Far
East.
What can intellectual property owners, particularly the
creators of music and movie entertainment, do to protect their copyrights?
Are international trade agreements likely to be effective in
protecting copyright holders?

DQ2 “Suck Sites,” Free Speech, and Metatags
The Internet is the new soapbox anyone can use to voice an
opinion. With that being the case, can a website that is critical of a business
use the trademarked name of the business?
Can those critical of the commercial practices of a business
use the business’s name and also employ metatags to draw browsers of those who
input the business’s name in the search engine?
Which value should receive the highest weight—the right of a
company to protect its trademark or the right of unfettered free speech in the
marketplace?

Week 6 discussion
DQ1 Ethical Hacker
Your CEO reads an article that a German firewall company,
Securepoint, has hired the author of the Sasser worm. She also reads articles
from security experts who are in support of or against the hiring. She
concludes that it would be a good idea for your company to hire a local hacker
to work for your company. She asks you, the company’s Chief Information
Security Officer, for your opinion. Please advise whether you agree or disagree
with the CEO, specifically addressing the ethical issues involved. (suggested
reading: Baumer, pp. 725–726)

DQ2 Cyberethics
Using the Internet, locate a website devoted to cyber
ethics. Provide the URL and a summary of the ethical principles promoted by the
website.

Week 7 discussion
DQ1 Computer Viruses
Computer viruses can cause havoc when the infection hinders
or disables personal or business computers. Naturally, the cost of dealing with
viruses impacts major companies whenever an infection occurs and is high in
both monetary and manpower expenditures. But even the small businessperson or
casual user can experience major inconvenience, anguish, and expense when
infected. Does the law deal severely enough with those who spread viruses? Is
there anything more that the government could do to protect citizens and
businesses that use the Internet that would not be viewed as an invasion of
citizens’ rights? Now imagine that the next time you went to your personal
computer it was useless because of a virus and had to be replaced, or that the
next time you went to the computer lab on campus you found that a virus had
disabled all computers on your campus for 6 months. Would your answer be
different?

DQ2 The Internet, Porn, and Free Speech
The attempt to regulate pornography and to develop
definitions that do not run afoul of the First Amendment is expanding as the
Internet becomes the number-one source for the dissemination of pornography.
Attempts to regulate online pornography through the Communication Decency Act
of 1996 and the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 have been struck down by
the Supreme Court. What legal solutions are available to combat pornography?
Are site-blocking tools an effective way to monitor the usage of the Internet
by children?