Article, Legal Ramifications of the Internet on World Economies

Global E-commerce Taxation

Benjamin M Musau, Lawyer, Nairobi, Kenya

 This article discusses some of the legal ramifications of the Internet on world economies.
Some of the legal ramifications of the Internet[1] on world economies include:
 

• Internet legal issues relating to protection of intellectual property
  • Trade secret protection.  Trade secrets can only exist if the basis for the idea can be kept a secret.  This may not be possible in a world of computer technology and programming.
  • Copyright protection (how to obtain copyright protection, the rights of copyright ownership, fair use rule, copying computer programs, copyright law and employee works, length of copyright protection, copyright law and internet service providers, copyright issues involving domain names, legal issues involving trademarks, determining the likelihood of confusion, interest service providers and trademark liability, retrieving and displaying information from a website without proper reference (similar to plagiarism), retrieving and displaying information from a linked commercial site that has advertising frames, without displaying the site’s advertisements along with the retrieved document, linking to illegal files, inappropriately linking to a website, etc.).
  • Trademark protection
  • Patents
• Internet legal ramifications on the Internet service provider contracts and fraud e.g. when ISPs provide services to their customers, they would normally enter into Internet service provider contracts, which are agreed and, therefore, legally binding.  If the ISP does not provide the specified services, it may be subject to breach of contract or fraud.
• Internet legal implications on the protection of freedom of expression versus problems of defamation.  Internet provides quite a lot of freedom and is, therefore, a potential source of defamation.
• Internet legal challenges relating to the protection of privacy in which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has, for example, outlined several factors that should govern collection or use of information[2]:
  • Notice
  • Choice
  • Access
  • Integrity and security
  • Enforcement
• Control of Internet indecency versus free speech (indecency, children and legislation)
• Internet issues involving spamming or spam mail.  Spamming involves sending e-mail messages indiscriminately and without the permission of the receiver and disregarding the appropriateness of the message.  This affects the speed of the Internet, and may bring the Internet down completely[3].

All these challenges have legal implication on world economies and need constant and proactive legislation and monitoring.

Dr. Benjamin Musau

I am a Kenyan Advocate and the Managing Partner of B M Musau & Co., Advocates, a position I have held since 1999. My work encompasses regulatory reforms, reduction of administrative burdens, the structure of business entities, joint ventures, acquisitions, banking, foreign investment and other general corporate areas