In this ZDNet Q&A, David Sorkin, a cyberlaw expert and anti-spam advocate, argues that most cyberlaws aren't needed and that those which are passed do more harm than good. He makes an interesting comparison between judges and legislators. Judges he says have done a good job of learning about the technology and how it works before rendering decisions; legislators tend to listen to the lobbyist or interest group who fund them most. Judges view cases through an adversial process, where both sides have relatively equal footing and the ability to present evidence; legislators, well, not all.
The article also touches on spam, privacy, intellectual property, and the stupidity of sites that try to prevent deep linking. (Linking, says Sorkin, is "an inherent part of the Web, in the same way that nouns and verbs are essential parts of speech." -- very cool analogy.)
Re: We Don't Need No Stickin' Cyberlaws
I must say I agree nearly 100% with everything this man says. These are words of pure wisdom. Finally, someone who understands the internet. I was inspired by the site to make a few comments/predictions.
I think the government would be best advised to stay away from the internet. If people wish to avoid SPAM, they can do so through third-party ad-ons that help filter it. I really don't understand why someone would not other sites linking to his/her site. If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen!
One thing that would anger me would be someone cutting and pasting information from my site without my knowledge (compare this to LINKing to my site.) However, I still wouldn't mind as long as they credited their source (I stole this from Matt Barton's website <url here>)
I really think the internet will radically change our notions of plajairism and intellectual property. I think that it will eventually destroy the idea of private ownership of knowledge. No matter what safeguards capitalists place around their information, hackers can EASILY circumvent them and publish all to the web.
Re: We Don't Need No Stickin' Cyberlaws
If you haven't read it yet, you would probably enjoy Lawrence Lessig's Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace