Are We Overprotecting Code? Thoughts on First-Generation Internet Law

16 Pages Posted: 7 Mar 2018

Date Written: March 2, 2000

Abstract

This Essay argues that Internet law presently suffers from a tendency to regulate cyberspace based on form rather than junction. In areas such as free speech, patent law, and privacy law, judges and legislatures have regulated Internet code based on what it is, rather than what it does. The result has been remarkably broad rules that extend far greater legal protection to code in cyberspace than its equivalents receive in the physical world. The author suggests that greater focus on junction can permit more accurate applications of traditional legal doctrines to the Internet.

Keywords: cyberlaw, cyberspace, Internet law

JEL Classification: K1, K42, K13

Suggested Citation

Kerr, Orin S., Are We Overprotecting Code? Thoughts on First-Generation Internet Law (March 2, 2000). 57 Washington and Lee Law Review 1287 (2000), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3132975

Orin S. Kerr (Contact Author)

Stanford Law School ( email )

559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
127
Abstract Views
1,133
Rank
457,421
PlumX Metrics