Unpublished Paper
Law of the Intermediated Information Exchange
ExpressO
(2012)
Abstract
When Wikipedia, Google and other online service providers staged a ‘blackout protest’ against the Stop Online Piracy Act in January 2012, their actions inadvertently emphasized a fundamental truth that is often missed about the nature of cyberlaw. In attempts to address what is unique about the field, commentators have failed to appreciate that the field could – and should – be reconceputalized as a law of the global intermediated information exchange. Such a conception would provide a set of organizing principles that are lacking in existing scholarship. Nothing happens online that does not involve one or more intermediaries – the service providers who facilitate all digital commerce and communication by providing the hardware and software through which all interactions take place. This Article advocates a fundamental shift in the nature of cyberspace scholarship towards a law of the ‘intermediated information exchange.’ The author explains the benefits of such an approach in developing a more predictable and cohesive body of legal principles to govern cyberspace interactions.
Keywords
- Internet,
- SOPA,
- jurisdiction,
- information law,
- cyberlaw,
- regulation
Disciplines
Publication Date
February 15, 2012
Citation Information
Jacqueline D Lipton. "Law of the Intermediated Information Exchange" ExpressO (2012) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jacqueline_lipton/13/