The internet has become popular now more than ever because of the rapid advancement of internet technology in the past decade. Like any other products of men, the internet also has its own share of legal issues. Among the known legal cases arose from defamation, copyright infringements, domain name disputes and licensing issues.
Defamation
It’s been said that the pen is mightier than the sword. In this information technology era, information that is posted on the internet could spread faster than fire – and its scope is much wider since everybody can access the information over the internet. The legal problem arises when somebody posts a false statement about someone or some organization that is damaging to latter’s reputation. This is usually the reason while defamation cases are filed.
Copyright Infringements
As the popularity of the internet grew, information sharing has become so easy and fast. Web sites all over the world can connect through the internet and there is almost no limit to what people can share online globally. Sharing of copyrighted materials such as software, books, articles, movies and music had become so rampant that it already affected the income of the people who own the copyright of the said materials.
Domain Name Disputes
This is more on trademark infringement. As more companies create websites, the clashes over Internet domain names have become more common. Disputes are mostly due to second level domain names. For example, let’s say that there are three companies starting with “sample” like Sample Airlines and Sample Industries. Both companies will be vying for the sample.com domain name. But the problem is, this is usually taken already so they have to resort to other names or file some domain name dispute.
Licensing Issues
Software and programs are usually licensed and copyright protected (except for materials in public domain). Their usage and distribution are usually governed by software licenses and problems arise when people use or distribute the software against their terms of the license.
There are other legal issues in the internet that are not mentioned in this post. You can ask a technology lawyer to further learn more about this topic. It is important that we understand that internet should be used responsibly to prevent being involved in legal cases related to internet use.