Legal Issues of Web 2.0

Editor's Notes

1. This session is intended not to be a lecture but a dialogue between you (as representatives of the digital and creative industries) and me (as a representative of the legal profession) on the legal issues that affect or are likely to affect your business.
2. Because time is limited to 30 minutes per session, I suggest we divide the time between a short background statement by me to be followed by 5 minutes discussion of each of the following issues: Title to user generated content Liability for user generated content Privacy Dispute Resolution.I want to devote the last 5 minutes to discussing some of the possibilities for continuing the dialogue such as a BarCamp devoted solely to those issues (to be known as “LawCamp”) and the LawCamp blog and twitter account.
3. Since the mid-1990sthe world wide web has created enormous opportunities for business such as e-commerce and electronic banking as well as spawning whole new industries such as web hosting, web design and domaining.But it also created a whole set of new problems for industry which required a legal response: Authentication of electronic transactions Consumer protection Intellectual Property Privacy Jurisdiction.This led in some cases to a legislative response at international, European and national level in such areas as authentication of electronic signatures, copyright and data protection and in other cases to an industry response such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Procedure for domain name disputes.Web 2.0 (by which I mean the use of the web as a platform for all sorts of applications ranging from self-publishing such as Lulu and YouTube to social networking such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing and twitter has created a whole new set of issues which will affect the way the creative and digitakl industries carry on business.
4. Title to User Generated ContentWho should own copyright in user generated films, photos and other works, the author, the website owner or a third party?Who should sue, how and where?Differences in perception between the state and rights holders and the general public on whether it is right to download songs and films without paying for them?Are differences in legal protection of intellectual assets in different countries affecting the development of new products and services?
5. Liability for User Generated ContentSocial networking can be a very powerful tool as illustrated by the “twitter” campaign against the super injunctions obtained by the claimant in the toxic dumping case which was arguably to the good but it can also do harm. Who should be liable when harm occurs?
6. PrivacyAt present privacy is governed by: OECD guidelines at international level Data protection and telecommunications directives National legislation such as the Data Protection Act 1998However, some countries such as the USA rely on self-regulation and even regard data protection legislation as protectionist. There have been some attempts to resolve these differences by the Safe Harbour agreements whereby US companies contract to enforce EC data protection standards but these were agreed in the late 1990s before social networking and other Web 2.0 applications.
7. Dispute ResolutionLitigation is very expensive especially in common law countries such as England and Wales and most of the USA and it is not always effective.The UDRP has been spectacularly successful for gTLD domain name disputes with over 16,000 decisions but it is not without its critics.HM government has proposed restricting file shareres’ access to the internet outside the court system in its response to the “Digital Britain “ report but will this be compatible with their human rights and will it be effective?Will the proposed European Patents Court and reforms to IP litigation make a difference for start-ups and SME in the digital and creative industries?
8. Continuing the DialogueEarlier in the year I proposed a BarCamp on these issues to be known as LawCamp at Leeds NTI for April 2009 but I had to cancel it because we had only a handful of acceptances. I set up the blog and twitter account to promote discussion of those issues. Is there any interest in a LawCamp now?