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The Internet has revolutionized communication and has fueled the explosive growth
of e-commerce. As we enter the new millennium marveling at the miraculous growth
of this brave new virtual work, we may have overlooked its profound impact
on the legal system, not only in the United States, but worldwide. The
Internet has erased the notion of geography and destroyed the legal concept
of the "situs" or "relevant location", which is one of the fundamental building
blocks of our legal system. Whenever a crime is committed, a contract is performed,
a transaction is completed, a taxable event takes place, or an act breach arises,
one of the first questions would be; "where did it take place?", so s to apply
the proper law. However, in the event of a cyber crime, the question cannot
be answered. There are numerous other associated legal principles involving
intellectual property rights, privacy, legal culpability and international
policies that face similarly fundamental challenges. These challenges are currently
being dealt with in an ad hoc manner, treating one aspect or another rather
than the whole problem, thus creating inconsistency, frustrating predictability
and undermining the effectiveness of the legal system. What is needed is a
new set of legal principles, which take into account the new virtual world
created by technology. To meet this need, leading scientists and technologists
from pre-eminent institutes like Caltech must collaborate with forward-looking
law makers to craft a set of laws that cannon only meet the challenge of cyberspace,
but continue to operate effectively as technology evolves.
The complete problem may be viewed
here.
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