International Journal of Law and Information Technology - current issue

The "Final" Privacy Frontier? Regulating Trans-Border Data Flows

Gunasekara, G. — 2009-06-25

This article examines the threat to privacy posed by the transfer of personal information from one jurisdiction to another. Despite international trends towards greater protection of personal information significant challenges to personal privacy arise in this context. These include the use of outsourcing by businesses, the encroachment of security laws and the potential ‘spill-over’ of technologies developed for combating terrorism into the private sector. Also significant are technologies enabling the ‘profiling’ of individuals and ‘data mining’ across borders. Against this backdrop the article considers existing jurisdictional responses towards regulating personal information flows across borders. It considers various actual or proposed solutions including ‘safe-harbours’, contractual mechanisms and extra-territorial applications. The article concludes that many of the existing approaches to regulating trans-border information flows are to some extent deficient and suggests the need for a new ‘fourth generation’ set of data protection protocols. In formulating the latter, analogies are drawn from other relevant areas of the law in order to furnish creative solutions to the problem.

Doing Business with Consumers Online: Privacy, Security and the Law

Shelly, M., Jackson, M. — 2009-06-25

The purpose of this paper is to identify privacy, security and legal issues facing small business in the business to consumer (B2C) e-commerce environment. Forty websites of small businesses based in Australia are examined to assess whether the content on these websites conforms with legal obligations. The study found that many of the websites examined appear not to be complying fully with their obligations under privacy and fair trading legislation as well as with those imposed in contracts with merchant facility providers.

XML For Click-Through Contracts

Ahmad, I., Kim, H. S., Leff, L., 'Dazza' Greenwood, D. — 2009-06-25

We discuss XML standardization for the contracts to which one agrees prior to downloading software or using web services; these have formed a scenario or use case for the requirements of the OASIS Legal XML Member Section Electronic Contracts Technical Committee[7]. We implemented a proof-of-concept of the complete chain from developing the XML contract, to the end user agreeing to the form contract, and then to that user searching the set of contracts to which they agreed.

Cybersquatting: Prevention better than cure?

Moore, M. — 2009-06-25

Since the early Commercialisation of the World Wide Web, cybersquatting as a phenomenon has been in existence and has been consistently rising; with recent 2006 figures showing a 25% increase up from the previous year.

This paper examines the various legal mechanisms that have been employed to deal with cybersquatting by examining firstly, the reaction of the Courts and secondly, the reaction of the registering authorities. Finally the paper looks at some of the more recent attempts to curb cybersquatting at the registration level by the employment of phased registration periods and additionally some radical solutions suggested in some circles will also be examined.

The paper concludes that while the reactive strategies developed by the Courts and the registering authorities are effective once cybersquatting is committed, the real solution must surely lie in preventative action at the registration stage if the battle to curb cybersquatting is finally to be won.