Category: Cyber Law

As strange and shocking as it may sound yes there are certain laws that are set out by the government designed to keep us safe…from the internet? Amongst the many laws about the internet that here is a look at the top 4 strangest internet laws. In no particular order here is the first one.

Upsetting the entertainment industry

It is made up mostly by penalties for people who upset the entertainment industry through actions such as downloading and sharing content illegally. The penalties also include the three strikes rule which allows for your family to be cut off completely from the internet if anyone single member of the household is accused of copyright infringement. The worst part about this is that this can happen without needing any sort of proof or evidence or even a trial. There is also a newer rating system for the gaming industry making more games easily rated not suitable for children or peoples under 16 or 18.

There is also a fine of up to £50,000 if someone is accused of file sharing in your household. A duty is placed on the Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) to spy on all their existing customers to look out for anything that would help the entertainment industry sue them. To make sure the ISP’s carry out this duty any who refuse can be fined up to £250,000.

Wiping out porn all together

The second worst internet law was made in the form of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) 1996. It was the American governments first attempt to regulate internet content. The purpose of the CDA was to keep children away from internet porn. The reason they did this was as a reaction to an article in 1995 called the Rimm Report and it claimed that the internet was full of porn. But after experts examined the article the found many errors to the conclusion meaning that the government’s overreaction was based on bad social science. Furthermore the government mistakenly believed that it would be easy to segregate non-porn content and so developed a tagging system that would allow browsers to block off porn websites from the browsers. The problem here was that such a tagging system did not exist and the browsers were not under any duty to honour this tagging system. The government even threatened with sever punishments such as jail time for breaking this law. They really wanted to get rid of porn from the internet permanently but chose a mean a ridiculous way of doing so.

Having internet access can get you imprisoned

In Burma just having a modem alone even if you were not going to go on the internet and you just had it lying around due to the fact that having the internet is illegal there you would get imprisoned for the possession of a modem alone.

Cyber fraud a bit too extreme?

The final strange law of the cyber world is on the cyber crime of fraud and its punishment compared to fraud in the real world.

In the real world the maximum sentence for the offence of fraud is 3 – 5 years imprisonment. This sounds very strict however for fraud as a cyber crime the maximum punishment is goes up to ten years and a minimum range of 4 – 6 years for altering information on another persons computer even if it is something like the date or some pointless data.

Since taking over YouTube, Google appears to be on a mission to turn the internet into a multimedia medium and so are the other major search engines. It is believed that Google uses positive discrimination in order to encourage the use of video on the internet and as a result, it gives priority to video results which contain the searched keywords as well as to web pages which contain videos.

This means that online videos could be used as an explosive weapon by those who wish to harm your online reputation. Online videos can be optimized to obtain good placements without the search engines in exactly the same way that optimisation is done for a web page. In fact, some argue it is much easier to obtain high places in the search engines with videos than with web pages. At the moment, online videos remain a major reputational weakness for many businesses. But this weakness can be turned into strength very quickly.

As a tool to protect your online reputation against defamatory videos, if you make an early use of online videos, having at least 4 or 5 short ones, you will soon find that your business is found also on YouTube and on other websites which pick up videos from YouTube, but more importantly you will have created an important, yet simple and relatively inexpensive defence shield, which would make it more difficult for anyone else to penetrate. There are production companies out there which would create a series of 4-5 60 or 90 second videos for you from as little as £500.

If you don’t want to spend any time on this, they can use images to create the videos or they can even speak to your customers and create a compilation of testimonials. For our purposes, having the videos out quickly is the most important thing. Later on, when you are ready to put together a more robust online video marketing campaign, you will be able to add to or even replace your initial videos with your latest Oscar Nominated production. The general rule is: “the more and the quicker, is the better.”

Cyber bullies and stalkers get bolder all the time and many will now create full blown blogs and web sites to harass their victims. They’ll use anonymous blogger formats like WordPress.com or blogger.com to create use as a platform for their Internet terrorism. They may also create a web site using any anonymous domain proxy service to attack someone. They use these anonymous or proxy services in order to conceal their identity from their victims. But are they really untouchable? Is it impossible to locate or identify a cyber bully just because they use an anonymous proxy domain registration service or use a free anonymous blog service?

The simple answer is no. Anyone can be located or identified with a thorough enough investigation and with enough time and money anyone can be found. But you probably won’t have any luck trying to do it on your own. You’re going to need help from someone that has the training and experience to do this kind of investigation and unfortunately you’re not going to find that kind of private investigator in the yellow pages. You’re going to need a private investigator that specializes in Internet investigation and computer crimes. This kind of PI can take an email and trace it back to the owner. They can contact the web owner and obtain identifying information beyond the proxy registration. They can even contact anonymous blog sites and identify those bloggers.

The cyber bully may think they’re clever and covering their tracks but the fact is that the more clever they think they are the more likely they are to be caught. A trained experienced investigator knows how to take advantage of the cyber bullies obsessive personality and use it against them. Setting up traps for the stalker to fall into and reveal themselves.

Once the private investigator has them identified the cyber bully he can document his findings in a report. That report can then be presented to your local police for further investigation and even an arrest if they feel the stalker has broken the laws. If the police feel that it is a civil matter you can hire a lawyer to send a cease and desist letter to the home of the stalker. Many times this will snap them back into reality when they see you know their real name and address and have taken serious steps to confront them in real life. However if that is not effective you can go to court and petition for a restraining order against your bully restraining them from contacting you over the Internet. If you can demonstrate they have violated that order the police will arrest them.Thus putting a stop to the cyber bully.

As happy as one is when they are getting married, it’s ten times more depressing when the same marriage falls apart. It is not only stressful for the parties involved but there are a number of legal formalities that only increase once the case engages children as well. However, with the breakdown of a home the financial position of the partners are also affected. In this regard, one of the parties that are most affected financially due to the divorce are give the latitude to apply for spousal support that is also known as alimony. This article will enlighten you with all the important things you need to know before hiring an Albany attorney.

Spousal Support or alimony are monthly payments that one spouse is supposed to give to another one who is in a financially inferior position. The payments are court-ordered and the payments continue until the other party finds a stable job to support their household or their remarriage can also end the support. The laws regarding spousal support may vary according to the State and in order to gain the prior knowledge regarding the paperwork and documentation it is always best to reach an Albany Spousal Support Lawyer or an Albany attorney.

Once the parties are through with the dissolution of their marriage, it is very normal for the legal professionals to discuss the dynamics of alimony. Many legal experts sort this out by discussing some of the important questions such as the amount that both parties must agree on to, the length of support, the method through which the amount will be collected and finally if any changes to the agreement are to be made is usually discussed with both parties and then the paperwork is done accordingly.

There are some implications in the matter that every individual must understand. When it comes to alimony the legal expert first assess the length of time the marriage lasted and the assets that were acquired during this period. The financial assets of both parties are then evaluated and if proper assessments of the assets points towards the fact that one of the parties may be unable to support the same post-divorce lifestyle and the marriage lasted for a longer time then the alimony would be a long-term one. On the other hand, it is completely the other way around if the marriage lasted only for a brief period of time.

However, it must be further noted that when spousal support proceedings are in progress all assets including estate and even your liquid assets can become a major risk; therefore, a spousal support lawyer should be by your side to help you protect your investments. It is further important to carry out proper research before you hire an Albany Attorney to represent your case; usually an inexperience lawyer can only worsen things up for you for both parties who are either seeking spousal support or giving one. Hence, always exercise caution in such matters and do not make the split more distressing than it already is.

Last year one of the more controversial pieces of legislation passed by the Information Commissioners office (ICO) when it comes to the internet and website development was the law that was brought in to deal with the use of cookies.

Cookies are the messages that are given to a web browser or server that is created from historical data of the user. The message contains data about the user picked up from memory and can influence the way we use the internet based on what we are interested in or have previously browsed. So it is effectively stored memory of the user.

Most websites use this information to improve functionality for the user and to track their own websites performance so they can continue to improve the user experience but it’s the minority that use this information dishonestly that have convinced the ICO to bring in this new law.

So what did the new law state when it was brought in? Well basically websites can no longer use cookies or similar processes unless they are considered absolutely necessary.

Necessary cookies are ones that remember login details or basket details when you’re shopping online. Anything that simply remembers your searching habits or the websites you have been looking at are now banned.

So what does this mean for websites? Is it a good thing or bad? Well for most websites within the EU it actually means that they are in fact breaking the law and could be classed as illegal.

Do not threat though, as you have until May 2012 to either get rid of the cookies associated to your site or create warnings for your users and the option to turn them off. But that, for a lot of website owners, is the problem and it also poses an annoying inconvenience for web users to, as in most cases it will mean the excessive use of pop ups.

The main problem with this method is, as I have previously mentioned most websites within the UK use cookies, so when you are browsing the internet as a user, you will soon become plagued by pop ups. This measure would effectively kill the internet experience for people and in turn cost a lot of companies business that they used to get without problems.

Of course the other way around the problems caused by the new cookie legislation is to simply remove them all. But this will also damage the user experience as website functionality is one thing that will particularly suffer.

What will happen you ignore the new law?

The ICO have not yet put any formal style of enforcement in place yet for those who do not become compliant to the new law but have hinted towards civil monetary penalties. These will not be enforced until after May 2012, largely down to the fact that even the ICO can see that making the necessary changes to meet the law, will have difficulties.

This is displayed in the action they have taken on their own website, where they have introduced a yellow pop up at the top of the page. This explains how the site uses cookies to track how people use the site and for some functionality and then offers them the opportunity to turn them off, with the warning of the effects this will have on the site.

The problem with the way they have done it is that it clearly contradicts the issue they are trying to counteract by introducing the law. It is written in a way that assumes that the person entering their site knows what a cookie is and what it does. The laws purpose is to help protect those who don’t know what a cookie is or does, so effectively by their own legislation their site is not compliant.

Overall Summary

Well ask any website developer what they think of the law and you may wish to cover you ears when they give their honest opinion. Yes, protecting people’s privacy is definitely an issue that needs addressing but bringing in this law is too sweeping for its purpose.

To put it into perspective, if one window cleaner was stealing from the properties he worked at. You wouldn’t then go out and ban all window cleaners or enforce that they get permission slips signed every time the come to clean your windows. It would slow their work down and annoy you as a home owner. You would instead sanction against the ones who are breaking the law.

The same can be said for website owners who use cookies. The majority use them for innocent purposes such as tracking how their own website performs so that they can improve the experience for future visitors of the site. It is the minority that are using them for dishonest means and it is them who should be punished.

Will this law ever be properly and fully enforced? Well the fact that when you set a pop up requesting  permission to use or not to use cookies, you will then need to use a cookie to record and remember the users answer, it is going to be extremely tough for the ICO to draw the line on this legislation.

For now most websites are carrying on as they go, but by May 2012, all website owners will have to of found some way to ask user consent for the use of cookies.

The technological abuse

With the emergence of technology, computers, laptops, tablets and Smartphones have become a part of our everyday life. Today, literally no individual can stay without these gadgets. The communication sector has revolutionized in the past few decades sort of shrinking the whole world. The internet web has enabled the far ends of the earth to connect with each other just at a click of a button. The social media networking has further helped the people to connect with each other from different locations of the globe, know about themselves and establish a friendly bond for a lifetime. These sites and platforms have even helped the people find out long-lost friends and family members and brought them together again. But along with the benefits, the new technology has come along its curse too. And that curse is cyber bullying. It is a form of a cyber abuse that is deliberately used in a hostile manner to harass and threaten other people. With the increased use of technologies, cyber bullying is also on the rise.

The Menace

This problem has become an increasing menace, especially among teenagers. Cyber bullying comprises the use of text messages or emails, rumors sent by email or posted on social networking sites, and embarrassing images, videos, websites or fake profiles. Individuals who are cyber bullied are at times bullied in person as well. Additionally, it is sometimes pretty hard to get away from being cyber bullied since the source is unknown and cannot be restricted by us. It can happen 24*7 and can reach a person even when he or she is alone. Vulgar messages and photos can be posted anonymously and can spread out rapidly to a very wide audience. It can be difficult and sometimes impossible to trace the source. Erasing improper or pesky messages, texts and pictures is extremely hard after they have been posted or sent.

The Mental Impact

Though the social media sites, themselves do not promote these kinds of activities, but they are utilized as a tool to carry out such horrendous work. Kids and women are the main victims of cyber bullying. It can lead to major negative impact on the mind. Teenagers or kids who are victims of this appalling crime can undergo behavioral changes like the sudden and extensive use of alcohol and drugs, tendency to skip school, experience in-person bullying, unwillingness to attend school, have poor grades, lower self-esteem and erratic health problems.

Another form of bully

Cyber stalking is another form of cyber bullying. It may include false allegations, uncomfortable observation, making threats, identity theft, and damage to data or equipment, the solicitation of minors for sex or gathering information in order to harass. Women are the main victims of cyber stalking.

The aftermath

It can be as threatening and frightening as any other type of crime even though there is no physical or verbal contact with the stalker. Victims of this crime can experience extreme psychological as well as emotional reactions. It can result in changes in sleep patterns, depression, anxiety, anger, paranoia, shock and disbelief.

Precautions and steps to be taken

If anyone is a victim of any of these two bullying patterns, they should not keep it to themselves. The help of family members, close friends or professional counselors cope with this issue. Legal help should be taken, as this should be reported to the cyber security cell departments of the police so that the culprit can be traced out and apprehended at the earliest. Parents should be open with their children and monitor their social activities from time to time especially if they are underage. Proper scrutinisation and protection of your email and personal data be taken care-off so that they are not hacked and used abusively. Hence, with little caution and awareness you can protect yourself and your loved ones from cyber bullying.

In the past, people obtained legal forms only through attorneys, public notaries and government offices. In our time and age, legal documents became very accessible on the internet. This provides the consumer with the ease, convenience and inexpensive access to the forms form the comfort of one’s home or office computer.

Depending on the forms, some forms can be obtained from government offices and now websites as in the case of court related forms. These forms can usually be obtained at no cost. Other forms such as business forms can be obtained from attorneys websites, law firms websites and business legal websites. The prices and quality of legal forms vary from one website to another and one must exercise due diligence when shopping for legal forms online.

Websites offering legal forms differ not only in price but in content as well. Some websites offer a wide range of forms while others specialize in one specific form. The latter are one form websites. One might think that larger websites are more credible while another might conclude that the one form website is more specialized. The fact of the matter is, it does not matter where you obtain the form as long as you do your research about the website and it’s trustworthiness. This can be done by Googling reviews about the website in question as well as by testing the website’s customer support reliability by contacting them for information. Some websites offer form samples for free which provides user with an idea of what they are getting.

There are Pros and Cons to buying legal forms online. Some of the Pros include:

– Saving Money

– Saving Time

– Ease and convenience (Especially when forms are downloaded instantly after purchase)

There are also disadvantages to buying legal forms on the internet, some of which include:

– Unprofessionally drafted documents

– The lack of guidance or instruction on how to complete the forms

– Not having the software (such as Word or Adobe) in which the document is formatted

For the aforementioned reasons, Online users have to be browse multiple websites in order to make the most educated decision. As well, it is imperative to thoroughly investigate the credibility and reliability of the website before making the purchase. Whether it is temporary guardianship form or a bill of sale one must exercise due diligence and good judgment because if the form were poorly drafted, it may be legally invalid and therefore useless or worse it may have negative legal ramifications on its user.

Two decades ago there wasn’t really any type of cyber law. Today, we can’t pick up a newspaper, without reading something about legal issues that involve the Internet, or the companies that do business there. The record and movie industry has been distraught over piracy, copyright infringement, and stolen intellectual property. And they have every right to be, but they aren’t taking it lying down.

In fact, we now see that many of the cyber laws on the books are there because the movie and record industry has sent their lobbyists to Washington DC to get laws passed to prevent this theft. Has it worked? Yes and no, the piracy still exists, and it is doubtful if it can all be stopped. The European Union has just come out with a new law to protect companies from individuals downloading without paying for movies, and songs.

Software companies are also being ripped off, and it’s not just in places like China where you might expect, a lot of stuff happens in the United States, and the Internet is worldwide, as we cross the digital divide. Sometimes people can’t afford songs or movies so they download from a website which has pirated the songs and movies, and then there are the people who build websites who distribute this material who find ways to get a hold of it, usually you legally themselves.

Recently there was a very interesting article on cyber law and one of the big problems in the Wall Street Journal. The article was titled “Warner Bros. Probes Online Leak of Potter” by Loren A.E. Schuker published on November 24, 2010.

It turns out that Warner Bros had their latest Harry Potter film stolen a full four days of head of its debut according to the article. Although the full movie was not available, the first 36 min. were, and the folks that love to play around with file-sharing were able to get it for free. Now then, I’d like to express my opinion on this topic – and then ask some questions, philosophically of course.

If the movie companies can’t get a return on their investment because their films and movies are stolen and given away for free, then they are less likely to spend big budgets on big movies in the future, because they will not be able to make a profit. Indeed, this creates a huge risk in the marketplace, and the reward is not there, if the work will only be stolen.

This is a detriment to not only the United States but also countries like Brazil and India who are also now making movies, along with China. How they protect their movie industries, as they will have the same problems as we do here. How much is at stake – hundreds of billions of dollars per year. That is well over the gross domestic product of at least 300 of the world’s nations – stolen in cyberspace.

Even though we have laws in the United States, the EU, and other countries it is doubtful that cyber law alone can stop this problem. It appears that cyber law is only keeping the honest people honest, and the criminals are moving around too fast to stop, even with the recent domain name repossessions by authorities. Please consider all this.

Is there such a think as an online private detective? A Dick Tracy of sorts for the Internet world? Can’t you just see the smoke filled, dark investigation room with laptops scattered about.

If you Google search for things like Internet detective, or cyber investigator, or online detective, you will find tons of information about performing private investigations for yourself but very little about live, private investigators willing to track down online perpetrators. In reality, this is a brand new industry that is starting to form.

If you are simply trying to find someone, let’s say an old friend from high school, then there is a ton of online services to help you accomplish that task. As an example, NetDetective (of which I have no affiliation), is probably one of the more popular sites. According to their website, NetDetective “allows you to uncover information you want to know about your doctor, boss, friends, neighbors, lover and even yourself.”

While this kind of service is extremely helpful for the right applications, it does not offer solutions to the second type: I need to find, stop, or prove that someone is doing something bad online to me, my company, or my loved ones. Now this is a horse of an entirely different color.

Let me give you an example. Recently, we were contacted by a high profile person that was being attacked by former partners and friends. The attacks were relentless including social media(facebook), anonymous blog and blog comments, emails, etc. To the point that person was also concerned about physical safety even though that was not being openly threatened.

Unfortunately, people being attacked in the Internet world are typically not going to be helped by traditional lawyers and law enforcement. Lawyers are very good at litigating and taking every legal action once they can prove that somebody is attacking their client. But how will they do that when the online attacker is hidden by layers of security and masked IP addresses. Most law firms do not have the resources for such investigations.

Unless the threat is serious enough, then conventional law enforcement will likely be unable to help since this really does not fall within their charter.

What should the client do? For people that work in this little specialty, they have had a number of calls from both companies and individuals that are at their wits end because of their online reputation being attacked. They literally do not know where to turn.

What the individual really needs is an Internet investigator, or an online detective that will help them gather needed information and can then point them to appropriate legal or law enforcement resources.

So, as you can see, there is a very large difference between and online investigator vs a service like NetDetective. Each have their own specialty and application.