Columbus School of Law

The Catholic University of America

Spring Term 2000

CYBERLAW SYLLABUS PART II: WEEKS FOUR AND FIVE

Professor Susanna Fischer

Office Room 412

Office Telephone 202-319 5568

E-mail: fischer@law.edu

NOTE: This Syllabus Part II is updated as of February 9 2000.  It covers the assignments for Weeks Four and Five (through February 11, 2000). Follow this link  to Syllabus Part I (Weeks One-Three) or to  Syllabus Part III (Weeks Six-Seven) or to Syllabus Part IV (Weeks Eight-Ten) or to Syllabus Part V (Weeks Eleven-Twelve) or to Syllabus Part VI (Weeks Thirteen-Fifteen)

WEEK FOUR (January 31, 2000- February 4, 2000)

January 31: Theories of Internet Governance III

Required Reading:

• Peter P. Swire, "Of Elephants, Mice and Privacy: International Choice of Law and the Internet" [published at 32 Int'l Law 991 (1998)]

• Keith Aoki, "Considering Multiple and Overlapping Sovereignties: Liberalism, Libertarianism, National Sovereignty, "Global" Intellectual Property, and the Internet", 5 Indiana J. of Global Studies 443 (1998) [Hopefully you can read the whole article, but if you run out of time, just read carefully the Introduction, Part II and the conclusion, and skim the rest]

Recommended Reading:

• Peter Swire's Home Page - Publications

• Keith Aoki's Home Page (including Publications)

February 2:  Open Access [Class Maven: Jon Cody]

Required Reading:

• ZDNN Special Report, "World Wide Whoosh! How broadband will change the Web tomorrow"  http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/special/broadband.html  [This is a useful introduction to broadband technologies -- pay particular attention to the Cable Modem Superguide.]

• Excite@home, "The Truth About Broadband Cable Modem Services: Fostering Competition and Providing Consumer Benefit" http://www.home.net/source/thetruth.html  -- Excite@home (AT&T's affiliated ISP argues against open access)

• openNET Coalition, "What's At Stake" http://www.opennetcoalition.org/what (argument in favor of open access by organization devoted to promoting such access)

• AT&T Corp. v. City of Portland, CV 99-65-PA (D. Ore. 1999), http://www.ord.uscourts.gov/rulings/rulings.html

• [please click on hyperlink for Opinion in AT&T v. City of Portland (pdf file)]  You can also try http://ord.uscourts.gov/rulings/rulings.html

• Remarks by Michael K. Powell, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission before the Federal Communications Bar Association Chicago Chapter, June 15, 1999 http://fcc.gov/commissioners/powell [click on "speeches" and click the 6/15/99 hyperlink] (a great speech discussing open access).  If this link does not work, try: http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/powell

Recommended Reading:

• FCC Resource Guide on Broadband Internet Access: http://www.fcc.gov/broadband

• http://www.home.net/source -- resources opposing open access

• http://www.opennetcoalition.org -- resources in favor of open access.  See especially "Latest News" link.

• Letter from AT& T/MindSpring to William E. Kennard, Chairman, FCC, Dec. 6, 1999 http://www.opennetcoalition.org/news/12061999/joint.shtml

• Supplemental letter from MindSpring to Kennard, Dec. 6, 1999 http://www.opennetcoalition.org/news/12061999/mspringlttr.shtml

• Letter, Media Access Project to Kennard, Dec. 6, 1999 - follow link from http://www.opennetcoalition.org/news

• Berkman Center for Internet & Society Open Law Project http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/ (click on "open access").  One of Berkman Center's Open Law projects is helping four Massachusetts communities (Cambridge, Somerville, North Andover, and Quincy) in their legal confrontation with AT&T concerning open access).  Prof. Lessig, among others at the Berkman Center, is a staunch supporter of open access).

February 4:  Protecting Children on the Internet: The Problem of Cyberstalking [Class Maven: Matthew Wagman]

Required Reading:

• Debra Baker, "When Cyber Stalkers Walk" (ABA Online Journal, Dec. 1999) http://www.abanet.org/journal/12FFBI.HTML

• "1999 Report on Cyberstalking: A New Challenge for Law Enforcement and the Industry", A Report from the Attorney General to the Vice President, August, 1999 http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/cyberstalking.htmC/net "Child Predators" article http://coverage.cnet.com/Content/Features/Dlife/Dark/ss03.html

Recommended Reading:

• A link to the CyberAngels, a not for profit organization to assist cybercrime victims is at www.cyberangels.org and has much helpful information, statistical and otherwise, about cyberstalking.

• "Child Safety Internet Tips and Links" at http://www.chatminder.com/safety.html

• FBI: "A Parent's Guide to Internet Safety" at http://www.fbi.gov/library/pguide/pguide.htm

• SafeKids.com at http://www.safekids.com has a variety of links to information on cyberstalking as well as a draft family contract for Internet safety and information regarding teen and kid safety.

• Internet Filter Software Chart listing various parental control resources is at http://www.safekids.com/filters.htm

• List of filtered search engines is at http://www.safekids.com/search.htm

• GetNetWise is a web resource promoting Internet safety for kids at www.getnetwise.org

• ZDNet News UK "Web of Porn" site has many links to resources re: child pornography (both U.S. and Europe) at http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/specials/1999/03/porn

• FBI interview with ZDNet News re: Innocent Images undercover operation on the Internet to find and capture pedophiles at http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/1999/11/ns-7446.html

• FindLaw has various useful links on cyberstalking at http://cyber.findlaw.com/criminal/cyberstalk.html

• National Center for the Victims of Crime has links to federal and state stalking laws at http://www.nvc.org/law
  

WEEK FIVE (February 7, 2000-February 11, 2000)

February 7: Anonymity in Cyberspace [Class Maven: Erica Zuba]

Required Reading:

• Karina Rigby, "Anonymity on the Internet Must Be Protected", (Paper for MIT course on Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier -- Fall 1995) http://www-swiss.ai.mit.edu/6095/student-papers/fall95-papers/rigby-anonymity.html 

• Donald J. Karl, "Note, Comment & Legislative Review, State Regulation of Anonymous Internet Use After ACLU of Georgia", 30 Ariz. St. L.J. 513 (1998): PLEASE DOWNLOAD FROM WESTLAW.  Link to Westlaw is at www.westlaw.com

Recommended Reading:

• American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia v. Miller, 977 F. Supp. 1228 (N.D. Ga. 1998) http://www.aclu.org/court/aclugavmiller.html
• McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission, 514 U.S. 334 (1995) http://cpsr.org/cpsr/free_speech/mcintyre.txt
• Jeff Ryan, "Anonymity on the Internet: It seems like everyone wants to know who you are"  http://www.law.wayne.edu/litman/classes/cyber/1998/ryan.html
• A. Michael Froomkin, "Flood Control on the Information Ocean: Living With Anonymity, Digital Cash, and Distributed Databases" [published at 15 U. Pittsburgh Journal of Law and Commerce 395 (1996)] http://personal.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/ocean.htm
• David M. Mason, "Anonymity and the Internet: Constitutional Issues in Campaign Finance Regulation", 1140 PLI/Corp 11 -- DOWNLOAD FROM WESTLAW - link at http://www.westlaw.com
• John Marshall Law School Cyberspace Law Subject Index: "Anonymity" -- has links to cases, statutes, and law review articles http://www.jmls.edu/cyber/index/anon.html
• Andre Bacard, "Anonymous Remailer FAQ" (updated Nov. 1999) http://www.andrebacard.com/remail.html
• William Knowles, "Anonymity on the Internet" [updated Dec. 1999] http://www.dis.org/erehwon/anonymity.html
• EPIC Online Guide to Practical Privacy Tools http://www.epic.org/privacy/tools.html
• Arnoud "Galactus" Engelfriet, "Anonymity and privacy on the Internet" http://www.stack.nl/~galactus/remailers
• Suranga Manage, "Anonymous Remailers" http://members.tripod.com/~smanage/anon.html
• Anonymous e-mail for everyone (Estonian remailer site) http://anon.isp.ee
• W-3 Anonymous Remailer http://www.gilc.org/speech/anonymous/remailer.html

February 9: Internet Taxation [Class Maven: Matthew Worthen]

Required Reading:  

• Aaron G. Murphy, "Will Surfing the Web Subject One to Transient Tax Jurisdiction?  Why We Need a Uniform Federal Sales Tax on Internet Commerce", 22 Seattle U. L. Rev. 1187 (1999) - THIS ARTICLE IS UNAVAILABLE ONLINE SO PLEASE DOWNLOAD FROM WESTLAW.  Link to Westlaw is at: http://www.westlaw.com
• Arthur J. Cockfield, "Balancing National Interests in the Taxation of Electronic Commerce Business Profits", 74 Tul. L. Rev. 133 (1999) - PLEASE DOWNLOAD FROM WESTLAW - link is at http://www.westlaw.com   [NOTE: This is a very long article.  You are required to read only pp. 135 - 140 in the Introduction section and pp. 154-165 in the Emerging Issues section (2)]. 

Recommended Reading:

• Internet Tax Freedom Act (1998) http://cox.house.gov/nettax/ (3 year moratorium on "new" Internet taxes)
• Austin Goolsbee and Jonathan Zittrain, "Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Taxing Internet Commerce", 52 National Tax Journal 413 (1999) available online at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/zittrain_pubs.html          [click on article's title]
• John Marshall Law School Cyberlaw Subject Index on Internet Taxation http://www.jmls.edu/cyber/index/tax.html - a little out of date, but has links to articles on Internet taxation.
• Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce site at http://www.ecommercecommission.org/ The Commission was created by Congress pursuant to the Internet Tax Freedom Act to study Internet taxation.
• The Web site of Representative Christopher Cox has much information about Internet taxation (with an anti-Internet tax slant - Cox was one of the sponsors of the original Internet Tax Freedom Act).  It's at: http://cox.house.gov/nettax/  Site also has information about Cox's new bill (co-sponsored by Senator Ron Wyden) to extend the moratorium on Internet taxes.
• Internet Tax Fairness Coalition (a PAC with the goal of abolishing sales tax on Internet transactions) website at http://www.nettaxfairness.org/
• National Association of Counties (association representing states, cities and counties which opposes attempts to impose ban on Internet sales taxes) http://www.naco.org
• Web site of Senator John McCain at http://www.senate.gov/~mccain/ has links to a bill McCain has sponsored (S. 1611) to make the moratorium on Internet taxes permanent.
• Jeri Clausing, "Lobbying and Confusion Over Internet Taxes Escalate", New York Times Cybertimes, Feb. 1, 2000 http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/02/cyber/capital/01capital.html [you must register to enter this site, which also has links to other Cybertimes articles on Internet taxation]

February 11: Digital Cash and Other Internet Payment Systems

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Required Reading:

• Bill Maurer, "Cyberspatial Sovereignties: Offshore Finance, Digital Cash, and the Limits of Liberalism", 5 Ind. J. Global Legal Stud. 493 (1998) http://www.law.indiana.edu/glsj/vol5/no2/7mauer.html
• Michael Froomkin, "The Unintended Consequences of E-Cash" http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/cfp97.htm
• TO GET SOME IDEA OF WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THIS AREA, FOLLOW SOME OF THE LINKS ON Michael Peirce's useful list of Internet payment schemes:  "Payment mechamisms designed for the Internet"  http://ganges.cs.tcd.ie/mepeirce/Project/oninternet.html

Recommended Reading:

A.  Scholarly Articles

• A. Michael Froomkin, "Flood Control on the Information Ocean: Living With Anonymity, Digital Cash, and Distributed Databases" [Part III] http://www.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/ocean1.htm
• David G. Oedel, "Why Regulate Cybermoney?", 46 Am. U. L. Rev. 1075 (1997) [please download from Westlaw: www.westlaw.com]
• Rajeev Saxena, "Cyberlaundering: The Next Step for Money Launderers", 10 St. Thomas Law Rev. 685 (1998)

B.    Other Articles

• Howard Rheingold, "The Internet and the Future of Money", http://www.transaction.net/press/tomorrow.html
• What is . . . digital cash http://www.whatis.com/digitalc.htm
• P. Janson, M. Waidner [of IBM Zurich Research Laboratory], "Electronic Payments over Open Networks", published at SI Informatik/Informatique 3/1995 pp. 10-15 http://www.zurich.ibm.com/~sti/g-kk/publications/1995/JaWa95.dir/JaWa95e.html

C.  Information About Internet Payment Mechanisms

• Michael Peirce, list of discussions, mailing lists and other sites relating to Internet payment schemes: http://ganges.cs.tcd.ie/mepeirce/Project/mlists.html
• Transaction Net http://www.transaction.net (see in particular sections on "how money systems work" and "payment methods"
• Tim May's cyphernomicon "Digital Cash and Net Commerce" http://www2.pro-ns.net/~crypto/toc12.html
• Phillip Hallam-Baker, "Electronic Payment Schemes" [has extensive collection of links] http://www.w3.org/ECommerce/roadmap.html
• Jim Miller, "Digital Cash Mini-FAQ", http://ganges.cs.tcd.ie/mepeirce/Project/Mlists/minifaq.html

Link to Next Installment of Syllabus