Issues and Prospects of Internet Legislation

The 90’s marked the coming of an innovation, which proved the interconnectedness beyond time and space of people and institutions. Internet use had become widespread as infrastructures enabling its maximization take place and as markets and social organizations use it for various purposes be it in business, politics or socialization.

However, alongside its beneficial results toward faster communication and as information dissemination facility, are issues, which drove concerned groups to seek legislations (i. e. cyber laws or internet laws) against irresponsible use of cyberspace to further selfish and immoral ends. Some issues, which arise pertaining to the demand for legislation, are freedom of speech, jurisdiction, intellectual property and privacy.

Yet, problems exist both in proposing for legislation and implementation of existing laws usually due to the vagueness of the policy and complex realities behind Internet usage.

Internet has no boundaries whether jurisdictional or geographical hence, only the physical jurisdiction of the user may be subjected to the laws of his own area. Hence, legislation on cyber issues face the dilemma of identifying appropriate laws that may cover an offense made through Internet transaction. Nonetheless, there are three common laws from which to choose from; the laws in the state where the user is located; the laws of the country which hosts the server and; laws of the state where the correspondent user is located.

What happens then when there are conflicts in the laws of two or all of the above? This is one issue, which affects the decent legislative initiative like in fighting cyber crimes (e. g. cybersex, hacking and cyber terrorism)- the absence of a universal law in cyber-related matters hence, the conflict of laws issue. What complicated the situation further is the argument of “privacy” and “freedom of speech” amongst those who defend against critics of personal blogs and e-journals expressing liberally one’s views against another.

Likewise, intellectual property is a debated topic in the cyber world since transfer of files and sharing is easier now, therefore the neglect of IPR. The demand for legislation includes concerns toward regulation of content; corresponding juridical procedures and; strengthening securitization. Countries like Singapore, Saudi Arabi, Tunisia and Iran had practiced control of information rather than strictly observing policy-guided schemes. Then again, governments have been questioned vis a vis their authority to control information in blogspots, etc.

The most alarming issue, which called for unity amongst developed countries in pushing for universal action, is cyber terrorism and cyber crimes. United States, Russia and EU member nations, Australia and Singapore are among those who enforced steps against those. The International Computer Crime Conference in Norway pushed for the following: formulation of multinational convention to combat cyber crimes and to push for national security policies.