Abstract
This paper reviews recent attempts to extend traditional property rights and other information controls and regulations into new media, such as cyberspace, primarily the World Wide Web. It reviews developments in copyright, trademark, trademark dilution, misappropriation, trespass, censorship, tort, privacy and other legal doctrines as they are reflected in recent United States case law and legislation, and to a lesser extent, in international agreements. Legal problems often arise because there is a conflict of viewpoints in how to best characterize space on the Internet, specifically the World Wide Web. Some argue that traditional ownership rights should apply, or perhaps a model of limited property rights, which assumes an implied license to "trespass" or move within that space, e.g., to visit or to link to another website. Others believe that private ordering systems, like contract law, should dominate the negotiation of information boundaries. Still, others see the Internet as the "last open frontier," or at least, as the "last green space" or "commons." This debate is assessed in light of several implications for information in the new millennium, i.e.,the post-national era, as it is naive to assume that simply because borders may dissolve or boundaries may expand through technology, that information access and equity will also naturally increase.
Recommended Citation
Tomas A. Lipinski,
The Developing Legal Infrastructure and the Globalization of Information: Constructing a Framework for Critical Choices in the New Millennium Internet -- Character, Content and Confusion,
6
Rich. J.L. & Tech
19
(2000).
Available at:
https://scholarship.richmond.edu/jolt/vol6/iss4/4