Law and the Internet

This volume comprises a review of the legal issues involved with the Internet from intellectual property, electronic commerce (including digital signatures) and defamation to obscenity and other substantive areas of law. It includes a discussion of the contractual issues involved in contracts for the provision of various Internet-related services. This is a rapidly growing and developing area, and the chief distinction of any work in this area is its topicality. This work contains up-to-date legislation and legislative proposals not only from the UK but also from the EC, individual Member States, the USA and other countries. In particular, it covers the EC directive on digital signatures and proposed directives on electronic commerce and on certain aspects of copyright in the information society, the UK's Electronic Communications Act and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and the Digital Copyright Millennium Act and the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act in the USA, as well as international instruments such as the UNCITRAL model law on electronic contracts and the OECD guidelines on encryption.
The book is intended primarily for students seeking an introduction to this area, but should also help practising barristers and solicitors. In addition, the Internet provides a wealth of legal information, and the book offers a necessarily brief guide to the legal resources available on the World Wide Web.