Abstract
This article surveys recent developments in domestic U.S. law relating to key issues in Internet (or Cyber) Law. Rapid technological advances have posed serious challenges to traditional legal doctrines and approaches relating to (for example) fundamental issues of privacy, freedom of speech and expression, and protection against unwarranted governmental intrusion. How has the law responded to these key challenges? Since the United States lacks a comprehensive legislative structure addressing these issues, most of the recent developments have come in the form of judicial decisions.
Highlights
Significant advancements in technology have always presented legal challenges, but perhaps none as difficult as those created by the rapid revolution in information exchange and data sharing on the Internet
How has the law responded to these key challenges? Since the United States lacks a comprehensive legislative structure addressing these issues, most of the recent developments have come in the form of judicial decisions
Do individuals have a right to access the Internet freely? Put differently, when —if ever— can the government properly restrict such access? In a recent decision, the U.S Supreme Court struck down a North Carolina statute that prohibited convicted sex offenders—including those no longer on probation, parole, or supervised release—from accessing social media sites on the Internet
Summary
Two recent actions by the current Administration affecting Internet regulation have stirred considerable controversy, including allegations that the Administration is protecting broadband internet service providers from greater supervision and regulation. In April 2017, President Trump signed a law repealing a set of proposed privacy and data security regulations for broadband internet service providers that had been adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2016. In April 2017 President Trump signed a law nullifying the FCC’s proposed privacy regulations, an action proclaimed by many as a victory for internet service providers and a blow to privacy advocates. As long ago as 2005, the FCC had adopted principles of «network neutrality» in order to «preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet» and to «promote the continued development of the Internet» as well as advanced broadband capability In 2015, the agency classified Internet access as a «common carrier telecommunications service» (in other words, a public utility), effectively prohibiting ISP’s from speeding up (or slowing down) traffic from specific websites and apps. A number of state legislators have introduced bills to protect net neutrality in their own states ( the FCC’s order purports to prohibit the states from contradicting the federal government’s approach)
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