Internet Law


Internet Law - Guide to Cyberspace Law


Internet Law covers a wide range of legal issues which deal with privacy, censorship and sale of goods on the Internet. Additional legal resources and information can be found in our Computer Law, Data Protection, Information Technology Law, Privacy Law and Telecommunications Law Guides.

E-Commerce Law covers legislation regarding the use of Internet by businesses.

Criminal laws dealing with the misuse of the Internet can be found in our Computer Crime and Cyberspace Crime Law Guides.


Internet Law - US

  • Electronic Communications Privacy Act

    The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA Pub. L. 99-508, Oct. 21, 1986, 100 Stat. 1848, 18 U.S.C. § 2510)[2] was enacted by the United States Congress to extend government restrictions on wire taps from telephone calls to include transmissions of electronic data by computer. Specifically, ECPA was an amendment to Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (the Wiretap Statute), which was primarily designed to prevent unauthorized government access to private electronic communications.

  • Limitations on Liability Relating to Material Online

    A service provider shall not be liable for monetary relief, or, except as provided in subsection (j), for injunctive or other equitable relief, for infringement of copyright by reason of the provider’s transmitting, routing, or providing connections for, material through a system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider, or by reason of the intermediate and transient storage of that material in the course of such transmitting, routing, or providing connections.

  • Protection for Piivate Blocking and Screening of Offensive Material

    The rapidly developing array of Internet and other interactive computer services available to individual Americans represent an extraordinary advance in the availability of educational and informational resources to our citizens.

  • Unlawful Access to Stored Communications

    Offense - Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section whoever: (1) intentionally accesses without authorization a facility through which an electronic communication service is provided; or (2) intentionally exceeds an authorization to access that facility; and thereby obtains, alters, or prevents authorized access to a wire or electronic communication while it is in electronic storage in such system shall be punished as provided in subsection (b) of this section.

Organizations Related to Internet Law

  • Adult Internet Law

    The primary goal of AdultInternetLaw.com is to provide you with the legal advice you need. We want to make sure you are positioned to maximize the potential of your adult business while guarding against unnecessary risk. To accomplish this, you need to avoid many of the pitfalls that come with inexperience. We help you with this in a number of ways.

  • Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

    From the Internet to the iPod, technologies are transforming our society and empowering us as speakers, citizens, creators, and consumers. When our freedoms in the networked world come under attack, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense. EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990 — well before the Internet was on most people's radar — and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights.

  • Internet Society (ISOC)

    The Internet Society (ISOC) is a nonprofit organisation founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education and policy. We are dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world.

Publications Related to Internet Law

  • ACLU - Internet Censorship

    The ACLU's vision of an uncensored Internet was clearly shared by the U.S. Supreme Court when it declared, in Reno v. ACLU, the Internet to be a free speech zone, deserving at least as much First Amendment protection as that afforded to books, newspapers and magazines. The government, the court said, can no more restrict a person's access to words or images on the Internet than it could be allowed to snatch a book out of a reader's hands in the library, or cover over a statue of a nude in a museum.

  • BitLaw - Internet Law and Intellectual Property Rights

    Courts around the world are creating Internet law right now--a process that is both exciting and frightening to watch. Unlike other areas of commerce that can turn to historical traditions to help settle disputes and guide the development of the law, the law of the Internet has no history to fall back on. "Cyber law" is instead being developed by judges who must do their best to fit legal disputes on the Internet into preexisting legal frameworks. As a result, the legal principles governing conduct and commerce in cyberspace are still in a state of flux. Claims of trademark and copyright infringement have become common place items on the World Wide Web.

  • Internet Governance Forum

    This is the official Web site of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), run by the IGF Secretariat. Its purpose is to support the United Nations Secretary-General in carrying out the mandate from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) with regard to convening a new forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue - the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). The site provides an interactive, collaborative space where all stakeholders can air their views and exchange ideas.

Articles on HG.org Related to Internet Law