Cyber Law - Important Points You Should Always Keep In Mind

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Having practice internet law for well over 10 years, I've come to realize I'm not getting any younger. Fortunately, the passage of time has also brought at least some wisdom when it comes to understanding where many sites go wrong from a legal perspective. In this article, let's take a look at a few of the common ones in the hope that you don't run afoul of them.

Images and Content

Oh, the mighty temptation. The web has made everything so easy, perhaps too easy in many circumstances. The fact that you can highlight something, copy it and then paste it onto your site does not mean you should. Most people know about copyright if only because they received a nasty letter for downloading their favorite music for free. Well, it is a nasty area and one you can really get into trouble with. If you use someone's image without permission, then the statutory damages under the law can be as high as $70,000 an image. Since nobody copies just one image, the numbers can grow quickly. There are plenty of free content sites out there, so don't make this mistake.

Email Agreements

Nothing drives me nuts more than email agreements. This is the digital version of the handshake agreement in the brick n' mortar world. Two parties negotiate out a deal by passing emails back and forth or instant messaging. They then go into business together. Something changes with the search engines, product or whatever and suddenly they have very differing views on how things should work. A dispute arises. Guess what? The terms you discussed via email or chatting don't mean anything. Instead, you end up in court with a 60 year old judge who can barely turn on his computer deciding how to distribute the content of your site. It usually ends in tears, so don't make this mistake. Get everything in a contract up front. If the other party doesn't want to put it in writing, that should tell you something!

Burning Bridges

I have to admit I have never seen a field where more people burn bridges than the online business industry. While it can sometimes become a legal issue, it is mostly a practical one. Are you nuts? Why do this? There is an old saying that you should be nice to the people you pass when climbing up the business ladder because you'll be seeing them again when you are on your way back down. A lot of people are learning this now given the horrors of the Great Recession. Just because you are on the web, you shouldn't go with a scorched earth policy. Leaving people with a bad impression can come back to haunt you in the future...a future where you might just need a break or a job.

The internet has created an entirely new medium for business. All and all, the digital revolution has been pretty amazing. You should partake of it. Just make sure you don't leave yourself open to legal or practical problems.

Richard A. Chapo is an internet law attorney with SanDiegoBusinessLawFirm.com.

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When Should I Use an Email Disclaimer?

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Companies are using email disclaimers in many instances, the most common reason is to attempt to safeguard confidential information. This may be information that a company holds or information that is intended to be sent to a particular recipient, for a specific purpose or even just information about the company itself.

Similarly, these disclaimers are used when any type of advice is being given for a specific purpose through electronic means. For example, a disclaimer may be used to limit liability where the information should not be passed on to a third party and relied on but there is potential it may be. By using a disclaimer for the transmission of this type of information it lets the recipient know the extent to which it can be used and when it may not be. In many instances a standard email disclaimer will state that if an email was sent to the recipient in error, that person is required to delete the email and not use or pass on any of the information contained in the email. This is used to avoid and safeguard against the wrongful dissemination of confidential information.

Another important reason to use email disclaimers is that a company will not be able to control what is sent by their employees; therefore a disclaimer should appear at the bottom of every email to try to protect the company for emails sent by their employees. An email disclaimer is a standard inclusion on emails for most companies and will outline that the contents of the email are not necessarily the views of the company. This essentially tries to distance the company from the sender, even if it is an employee and means that if there is a misrepresentation or any other type of inappropriate conduct, it is the sender whom is personally liable and not the company.

In other situations an email disclaimer may be used to ensure that the recipient knows the extent of the authority that a company provides to the employee as sender of the email. For example a disclaimer can state that any emails sent by a specific person cannot form a contract. From this, email disclaimers can be very broad or customized for specific purposes. Employers and companies can tailor email disclaimers to specific employees, specific information provided, who may rely on the contents of the email, how it may be used, and many other caveats rather than having a general disclaimer for all employees. The nature of the employee's role and risk involved in emails will determine whether the use of a unique or general disclaimer is appropriate. Lastly, the nature of the company and what is communicated by email will also determine how the email disclaimer is framed and what it needs to contain to be tailored and effective for its particular use.

Want to know more? Click here for Free information on Email Disclaimer. Australian legal agreements and forms from http://legal123.com.au/.

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Should Victims of Online Reputation Attacks And Online Intimidation Report To The Police?

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AppId is over the quota

Victims of online reputation attacks and online intimidation should take their cases to the High Court instead of reporting them to the police.

In a recent court case where a hospital administrator became the first man in the UK to be jailed for stalking a woman by blogs, the authorities have sent a strong message to all those who wrongly believe that the internet is a lawless land where stalking, bullying, harassment, defamation and blackmail are a fair game and have demonstrated that online harassment shall not be tolerated in our society.

In a case which was heard by a Magistrate Court in Manchester it was alleged that a 38 year old man continuously attacked his female victim by using no less than 35 website blogs in which he repeatedly insulted her, causing her upset and reputational damage. The man also used emails to harass his victims as well as social networking sites such as Facebook.

It is not surprising at all that it took the authorities 18 months before the man was finally jailed. By this time, his victim must have been completely destroyed mentally and emotionally. Her confidence must have been shattered and her trust in people would have been replaced with cynicism and weariness. Had this hate campaign been conducted offline, I have no doubt that the authorities would have acted much quicker to bring it to a halt.

By the time the offender was jailed, he had already appeared in court on a number of occasions. On one occasion, after he admitted harassment, an order was made against him to refrain from mentioning his victim's name on any websites. Again, it appears it took some time before this very limited court order was made and even longer, before breaches were dealt with.

It is very likely, that had this been a case of domestic harassment, where more traditional methods of harassment were being used, the victim would have been relieved from her pain much, much earlier. It seems that the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Magistrates' Courts are not yet ready to effectively deal with these sorts of online harassment cases. The civil courts however are much quicker to act in response to online harassment cases with injunctions being granted within days rather than months and years. Victims of online harassment should be wise to take their cases to the High Court where solicitors can obtain a much more comprehensive injunction on their behalf within 48 hours. There is no need for victims of online harassment to suffer for such a long time before the harassment is stopped.

Despite him being jailed, large number of the defamatory blogs that the offender had created against his victim still remain active and is visible to the entire world to view. It is likely that a properly prepared High Court injunction would have ensured that the blogs and websites were removed by the internet service providers and that once such an injunction was granted, it could last for life, preventing anyone from taking part in the publication of material which is prohibited by the court order.

During his online campaign of harassment, the offender boasted of being so skilled in IT that he could set up and manipulate blogs about his victim quicker than they could be deleted.

It is not unusual for IT skilled individuals to blackmail their victims by making threats to destroy their victim's reputation unless certain demands being met. The police have seemed to so far, failed to recognise the fact that this form of blackmail is a criminal offence, mainly out of ignorance and lack of resources. These sorts of threats should be taken very seriously and perpetrators of such online threats should be told about the civil as well as the criminal implications of their actions.

Yair Cohen is a leading online defamation solicitor in the UK - http://www.bainscohen.com/.

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