My goal for this course was to get a better knowledge of the legal aspects, on the web, concerning intellectual property, copyrights, trademarks, domain names, and the First Amendment. I expected to gain the confidence to create content and do business on the web without the worries of infringing or violating any pertaining laws.
In week one, our discussion assignment was on jurisdiction. We were given a scenario that we created a website, while living in Virginia, about an instructor we were dissatisfied with. The fictitious site was Ihatechristy.com. On the site we were to refer to the instructor as an "overstuffed capon" and a "dunderheaded milksop" to boot.
The instructor, who lived in Florida, found out about the site, and decided to sue for defamation. Our task here was to determine if Florida had jurisdiction in the case. In determining if Florida had jurisdiction, we looked at two tests, the Zippo test, and the Effects test, that are used in finding jurisdiction.
The Zippo test establishes jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant based on the degree of interactivity between the website and the forum”. Under this test, a passive website is insufficient in establishing jurisdiction (Bidgoli, 2006).
The Effects test determines jurisdiction when a non-resident, who has no physical contact with a city, state, or country, takes purposeful or intentional actions that directly causes harm to the plaintiff (Bidgoli, 2006).
For our assignment in week one, we were instructed to choose a person or group who had an interest in the outcome of the music/video downloading and peer-to-peer file sharing, research their opinions, then create a podcast to persuade the instructor to adopt our position of the person or group. In the podcast, we had to address the following:
1. Who we represented and our mission.
2. Our opinion on the current state of copyright law regarding music/video downloading and peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing.
3. The changes we would recommend to the law and the reasons for such changes.
4. The benefits of our approach over alternative approaches.
In our week two discussions, we looked at issues surrounding cybercrime and discussed our opinions on stiffer penalties. We discussed the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act, which provides mandatory sentencing to identity thieves, giving our thoughts rather we felt it to be strict enough.
Our assignment for week two was on spam. We were instructed to create a keynote to educate the instructor on spam, and then convince her that email spam would be an effective marketing strategy for our product or service. In the keynote, we were instructed to also discuss the CAN-SPAM Act, the First Amendment, rather criminal liability is ever appropriate for spam, and finally explain what our marketing strategy would look like for it to be legal, ethical, and profitable.
Week three in our discussion, we looked at privacy in the workplace, giving our opinions on the extinct to which companies should take employee monitoring and rather the employer should inform employees they will be monitored.
For our week three assignment, we were instructed to create a privacy policy for our company and explain each element of the privacy policy. Because privacy policies are lengthy, in depth, and usually require an attorney’s assistance, we were instructed to use ideas from other companies on the web to create a policy around the theme of our company.
For our week four discussion, we will be diving into defamation. We will look at how blogging has allowed those with grievances an effective method to share their massage to an unlimited audience, be it legitimate expressions or expressions from defamers. In this discussion, we will address rather we think bloggers should be liable for the defamation they post, rather ISPs should be liable for defamation being posted on their platforms, rather it should matter if websites solicits defamation, and should websites be required to reveal blogger information. In addition we will discuss what recourse bloggers should have if they are harassed or wrongly sued, and finally, we will discuss if a blogger just compiles defamatory comments posted elsewhere, should they still be liable for defamation.
Our week four assignment will consist of Terms of Use. In this assignment, we will have the scenario that we are hired by William Shatner to evaluate, and perhaps, overhaul Priceline.com’s Terms and Conditions. We are to submit this assignment in video form as we speak in front of the camera. Sounds like it will be fun.
After completing this course it will have left me with much insight on laws as they pertain to the Internet. The assignments were thought out to give us the quality learning experience that I expected. This course has met my expectations. Lessons learned here will allow me a heads up as I move through phases, continuing my career in Internet Marketing.
Bidgoli (2006). Handbook of Information Security
http://ce.safaribooksonline.com/9780471648314/ch021_sec002_html#X2ludGVybmFsX0h0bWxWaWV3P3htbGlkPTk3ODA0NzE2NDgzMTQlMkZjaDAyMV9zZWMwMDJfaHRtbCZxdWVyeT0=
