CyberLaw Blog

Archive for the ‘CyberLaw’ Category

Data loss firm contract axed: “The firm blamed for losing the details of thousands of criminals on a memory stick, has its £1.5m Home Office contract cancelled.”

(Via BBC News.)

At the Uneasy Intersection of Bloggers and the Law: “There is no better way to get a blogger fired up than by telling him what he cannot publish — although you might forgive a government prosecutor for thinking otherwise.

(Via NYT > Technology.)

US - Lovestruck MySpace teen not guilty of harassment, court says: “(Iconoclast blog)
by Declan McCullagh. NeW York State prosecutors decided to charge Isaiah Rodriguez, 18, of aggravated harassment and endangering the welfare of a child over a series of MySpace.com messages professing his ardent devotion to a 14-year-old girl. Fortunately, the New York City criminal court thought otherwise. In a ruling on April 4, Judge Michael Gerstein in Brooklyn hels that while the actions of a love-struck teenager may well be foolish, reckless, or otherwise acts which might not be expected from a mature adult, they are not, without more, elevated to crimes.”

(Via QuickLinks Update.)

My new book is just out

Internet Child Pornography and the Law: National and International Responses, Ashgate, published in April 2008 (ISBN-13 978-0-7546-2297-0).

This book sets out to provide a critical assessment of the problem of Internet child pornography and its governance through legal and non-legal means, including a comparative assessment of laws in England & Wales, the Unites States of America and Canada in recognition that governments have a compelling interest to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation. The Internet raises novel and complex challenges to existing regulatory regimes. Efforts towards legal harmonization at the European Union, Council of Europe, and United Nations level are examined in this context and the utility of additional and alternative methods of regulation explored. This book argues that effective implementation, enforcement, and harmonization of laws could help to reduce the availability and dissemination of child pornography on the Internet substantially, this book argues. At the same time, panic-led policies must be avoided if the wider problems of child sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation are to be meaningfully addressed.

Contents: Introduction; Part 1 National Approaches: Legal approaches in England and Wales; Legal approaches in the United States of America; Legal approaches in Canada. Part 2 Supranational and International Approaches: European Union policy; Council of Europe policy; United Nations policy. Part 3 Internet Service Providers Liability and Self-Regulatory Approaches: Internet service providers’ liability; Self-regulatory and co-regulatory initiatives; Conclusion; Index; Bibliography; Index.

Reviews
‘In Internet Child Pornography and The Law, Yaman Akdeniz does an excellent job of applying responsible, thoughtful scholarship to a subject often surrounded by misinformation. This is an important book for anyone interested in understanding how law and legal thinking must be reshaped to respond to globalization and new technologies.’ Philip Jenkins, Pennsylvania State University, USA

‘Yaman Akdeniz’s book is an important and timely contribution to this area of research. It brings a coherent perspective to an otherwise fragmented, and at times contradictory, arena and provides a balanced perspective on what has become an increasingly emotive topic. This will be an invaluable source of information to all whose work relates to child pornography and will help inform both practitioners and policy makers.’ Ethel Quayle, University College Cork, Ireland

This is a new and work in progress blog on issues related to CyberLaw launched by Yaman Akdeniz