Cyberspace and the Law: Your Rights and Duties in the On-Line World [Paperback]

Edward Cavazos (Author), Gavino Morin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262531232 | ISBN-13: 978-0262531238 | Publication Date: October 4, 1994

What legal recourse do you have if someone has read your private e-mail without your consent? Who owns the copyright to the message you just posted on a bulletin board? Can you get into trouble for downloading a sexually explicit file? These are among the many questions that the authors, both practicing attorneys, address in Cyberspace and the Law. Without resorting to confusing legalese, they present a clear and concise analysis of legal issues in the anarchic world of cyberspace for members of the on-line world who have little or no legal background.The introduction provides a quick tour of cyberspace (on-line services, bulletin board systems, private systems, and networks) and activities (e-mail, public messaging systems, software exchange, electronic publishing, entertainment, chat, educational and research services, and commercial applications). Cavazos and Morin then take up electronic privacy issues including anonymity and both statutory and common law approaches to protecting private communications (featuring a discussion of Steve Jackson Games v. United States Secret Service); the virtual marketplace of electronic contracts and credit card transactions; copyright law in an uncharted new world; freedom of speech; adult material (digitized images, animated sequences, sexually explicit text, "hot chat"); and cyber-crimes.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Technology tends to be a few steps ahead of authority, but legal battles are already flaring up in cyberspace. Although Cavazos and Morin admit that, with the rapid development of interactive computer networks, their book may require immediate updating, it is a pretty thorough description of how contemporary American ordinances can affect the new communications revolution. It provides lucid explanations of what online systems are as well as of the state and federal laws that could control their use, it addresses provocative issues including the dissemination of pornographic material through electronic mail and ownership of intellectual property in computer networks, and it discusses the results of genuine criminal offenses--fraud and hacking--too. Although Cavazos and Morin are attorneys and frequently use legal precedents in their arguments, their language is clear and lively enough for all readers to enjoy. The many handy appendixes tellingly include the names of those whom future online users should contact when they need to find out the boundaries of their rights. Aaron Cohen

About the Author

Edward Cavazos is an attorney with the Houston law firm of Andrews & Kurth. Gavino Morin is an attorney with the McAllen, Texas, law firm of Montalvo & Ramirez.

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (October 4, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262531232
• ISBN-13: 978-0262531238
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,342,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good coverage of the field for layman and sysops, November 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Cyberspace and the Law: Your Rights and Duties in the On-Line World (Paperback)

"Net Law" (cf. BKNLHLUI.RVW) was written for the lawyer. "SysLaw" (cf. BKSYSLAW.RVW) was written for the layman, rather than lawyer, but was still aimed at sysops rather than the common herd. This book fills that space, and is the first I can recall that does so.

Chapter one provides a very brief description of cyberspace, starting with William Gibson's invention of the term, running through various different electronic entities, and including some basic online activities. Privacy, and particularly the Electronic Communications Privacy Act as applied to the Steve Jackson Games case, is the topic of chapter two. The chapter ends with a rather odd look at encryption. Eventually getting around to PGP's problems with ITAR (the International Traffic in Arms Regulations), the book seems to state that PGP should be avoided because simple possession of it may be illegal. Since the book is based entirely on US law, it is obviously aimed at an American audience, and the issue of export does not appear to be mentioned. Contracts are the subject of chapter three, mostly dealing with common law.

Chapter four covers copyright. I must say that I am always amused by the wording of the American First Amendment; that government shall make no laws regarding the abridgement of freedom of speech or press; since there are laws about defamation, fraud, and pornography. These, and free speech, are dealt with in chapter five. Considerations of prurient material are discussed in significantly more detail in chapter six, and I must say that this is one of the most informative and even-handed explanations of the topic in any book reviewed to date. Chapter seven closes off the book with a grab bag of potentially illegal computer related activities. The intent seems to be to warn users about apparently innocuous actions that could bring them afoul of the law. As usual, there is a section on computer viruses, and, as usual, it isn't very good. Appendix A provides a good list of contacts for legal and paralegal interest groups. Other appendices list various US statutes examined in the book.

While this work once again limits itself to the US, and fails to note the international nature of cyberspace, it does provide its information in a readable and accessible form. The authors do not always deliver on their promise to avoid legal jargon (such as "color of law"), but all the contents can be understood by the intelligent and determined lay reader. Where legal niceties are not completely delineated they would only be of interest to other lawyers anyway.

5.0 out of 5 stars Solid primer to Internet Law, December 29, 2009

By 

Juan Gonzalez (Boston, Massachusetts, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cyberspace and the Law: Your Rights and Duties in the On-Line World (Paperback)

Though significantly outdated, this work provides an excellent - if not exemplary and superb - overview to many of the broad legal considerations of online participation. While published before major legislation in the mid-to-late 1990s and early 2000s pushed the boundaries of cyber-law, the authors provide an excellent explanation of historical considerations and concerns regarding activity online and enter into very understandable conversations that take into account general legal concerns and observations. They predict (accurately) many of the problems that online (and later Internet) participants would have with regards to intellectual property (this section alone is well worth the purchase!), libel and "free speech", and general rights and responsibilities. I strongly recommend this book, especially for the lay-man who is also generally new to social networking and the Internet; the authors present material in a very relate-able fashion making it approachable by those who are first-timers and wish to have their concerns properly addressed.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for starting, but limited in space and somehow outdated, January 6, 2003

By 

Justo S. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cyberspace and the Law: Your Rights and Duties in the On-Line World (Paperback)

This book offers a good introduction to legal matters in the internet to people in any of the following situations:

1. They are familiar with the internet but have no law studies.
2. They have studied legal matters but don't know how to apply them to the internet.

If you are not in any of these cases, the book would be somehow difficult to understand.

Though the internet is a worldwide network, the book deals only with the US law; moreover, it recognizes the need for updating (edited: 1994). So, you should later go to another source for country-specific or updated information (there is plenty of books and the internet itself). And, due that the internet is always changing, you will have to update the information without regarding the book you read.