Despite being a slightly outdated paper, Lessig (2006) "Four puzzles from cyber space" brings up some interesting points about the internet and regulation and what defines "space". Describing his (probably non-fictional) idea as a worm that sniffs, Lessig discusses the legality and morality behind secretly spying on others.
Do you own your internet space? Why aren’t things such as WoW account hacking considered just as bad as theft? If you pay for something such as a computer, an account or anything else for that matter, shouldn't the same legal protections be applied to it as applied to a house or car?
In the case Lessig puts forward, that the worm gets around normal laws by simply being "unobtrusive" and "undetectable", but if I were to walk into a home undetected and unseen would it not be a crime? (no because you didn't get caught, but in principle, yes?).
Despite his best attempts, it is quite hard to agree with Lessig that the internet is still "regaulatable" (2006, p27). The number of internet users has since more than doubled to over 2 billion people worldwide (http://www.internetworldstats.com/emarketing.htm), and any form of regulation such as the proposed one in Australia and the current one in China and other countries are already being seen as an invasion of rights and no government would be able to employ such an act without either drastically changing the attitude of the people or committing political suicide.
Lessig, L. 2006, "Four puzzles from cyber space" In L. Lessig Code version 2.0, pp 9-30, New York.
I thought the Lessig reading was interesting regarding Jake's Communities where legally it was found that 'physically' he had done nothing wrong, he had only thought bad thoughts (and recorded them and disseminated them through the internet!). It's interesting how the internet seems to be less about the physical world and more about the 'mind' world. A space where traditional disciplines such as law seem less able to be applied :)
ReplyDeleteJo
The US congress just passed a law forcing ISP's to keep logs of user activities* - you could read that as backdoor regulation through surveillance.
ReplyDelete*http://www.zdnet.com/news/house-panel-approves-bill-to-make-isps-keep-web-logs/6268049
I guess people only really consider hacking and such a crime if it involves money. I just thought about it, and how serious hacking peoples internet banking is, but compare that to say someone hacking your facebook.
ReplyDeleteI mean, hacking someones Facebook, or misusing a friends Facebook is like going into their 'virtual' world and trashing the joint, well it is in my opinion. So would this be considered an illegal act?