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International Cyberspace Law Research Guide

Introduction

This guide covers electronic and print resources on cyberspace law. Cyberspace law touches on a wide variety of issues including the Internet, cybercrime, privacy, ecommerce and cyberwarfare. Cyberspace law can frequently incorporate aspects of comparative, international and foreign law. For researchers new to international law, see our international law research guide for further assistance.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact the Wolff Library reference desk at 202-662-4195 or by email: intlref@law.georgetown.edu. You may also submit your question via this online form.

Background Sources

The law library has many materials on cyberspace law and the titles below are meant only as a starting point. To locate more resources, search the online catalog (or try our NEW catalog interface) using keywords to narrow your search results. For example, <Computer crimes> or <internet fraud. >

  • Cyber Consumer Law and Unfair Trading Practices INTL K3842.C68 2005
    A review of how E.U. and U.S. consumer protection laws can address the practical and technical issues unique to the electronic market place.
  • Encyclopedia of cybercrime Williams HV6773 .E53 2009
    A great starting point for background basics on the evolution of cybercrime with references for further research.
  • European Data Protection Law : Corporate Compliance and Regulation INTL KJE6071 .K86 2007
    A one-stop approach to recent changes in E.U. data protection laws by including a review of what the law was and is, and commentary on the text of relevant laws and recent cases.
  • Human Rights in the Digital Age INTL JC599.G7 H85 2005
    A global overview of how technology can be both aid in Human Rights issues (freedom of expression, education, etc.) and a hinderance (cyber-sex trade, information privacy, etc.).
  • Internet law in a nutshell Williams KF390.5.C6 R87 2009
    An excellent review and update for topics ranging from trademarks, torts, privacy and choice of law in the cyberlaw context.
  • The Law and Economics of Cybersecurity INTL K564.C6 L376 2006
    A general overview of how governments and private industry have addressed protecting the individual in the online world (mainly U.S. focused but some comparative analysis with the E.U. and a chapter on international law and cyberterrorism).
  • Pike & Fischer Internet Law & Regulation available in print (last update August 2010) and online (Georgetown Law Only) updated regularly
    While mainly U.S. law focused, this three volume set has within:
    • Laws & Policy: The full text of some European Union directives, selected non-U.S. statutes, and important non-governmental policy documents (e.g., NIST/ISO standards, uniform laws, and non-governmental organization-issued guidelines). In addition there are topical subject headings (e.g."Criminal Liability," "Freedom of Speech," "Internet Commerce" etc.) with commentary by subject experts.
    • Cases: The full text of cases from some courts of other countries, decisions of U.S. federal agencies, and selected court pleadings from major cases.
    • Digest: Summaries of and citations to all the cases reprinted in the Cases volumes, arranged into a topical outline with classification numbers. You can find references to appropriate classification numbers by looking up keywords in the service's subject index (found in the last volume of Laws & Policy).
  • Principles of Cybercrime INTL K5215 .C445 2010
    This book covers the U.K., Australia, Canada, and the U.S. (all signatories to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime) and covers such topics as offences against persons (e.g. cyberstalking) to the computer as a target (e.g. interception of data).
  • Privacy and Human Rights. INTL K3263.A13 P76 (Updated annually)
    This global year in review highlights major controversies, changes in law and policy and how these impact human rights issues such as data protection, government information sharing of information, among other topical issues.
  • Real Law @ Virtual Space : Communication Regulation in Cyberspace (2nd ed.) INTL K564.C6 R43 2005
    This second edition gives a brief overview of changes in the law post 9/11 and then presents a series of chapters around such topics such as indecency, property interest, and personal interest and liability with commentary on cases and legislation.

Treaties and Treaty Bodies

Foreign Law

Locating the law of a country will have many components. For a good introduction about general (and jurisdiction specific) resources, as well as an overview of how to approach foreign law research see our Foreign & Comparative Law Research Guide . Below is a sampling of resources as good places to start locating foreign law on this topic. Most are freely available on the Internet, some are available to Georgetown Law Only.

  • Council of Europe
    See under Action Against Economic Crime Cybercrime for country profiles for both European and non-European countries on the status of the national implementation of the Convention on Cybercrime.
  • Foreign Law Guide database (Georgetown Law only)
    This database includes a brief legal-historical overview at the beginning of each jurisdiction. The Major Publications section within each jurisdiction will provide the names of gazettes, reporters, and consolidated codes.
  • Global Survey of Cybercrime Laws
    Has extremely brief information on cyber laws for many countries of world (not all listed are available) but as a free resource it is fairly helpful.
  • Information Society Portal (European Union)
    A gateway to many resources on such topic as information technology, communications, open government, etc. including some law and policy resources for the European Union.
  • Inter-American Cooperation Portal on Cyber-Crime(OAS)
    The Organization of American States (OAS) has member country information divided by country with many links to actual text of legislation (generally in the original language) and by topic (with many links to legal texts generally in original language) for major cyber crime laws.
  • OECD's Digital Economy & Information Society
    Under Information by Country links to member states' information such as country surveys, case studies and other useful information.
  • OpenNet Initiative
    Has short profiles on the censorship environment, as well as giving a brief background on the legal and regulatory frame work for many different countries.
  • Privacy International,
    The Cyber Crime section is a good resource to use if researching a relatively new (or still being created) law. Check under Legal Policy Development news and reports for links to what is available on-line, which can vary from English summaries to the original language. Also provides updates to new legislation.
  • WorldLII has listed in its subject Index, Cyberspace and Computerization of Law
    While not having materials for all countries this resource can sometime have case law and legislation as well as link to other relevant resources.

Resources for Cyberlaw by subtopic

Below is a collection of electronic resources related to many cyberlaw issues. Most are freely available on the Internet, some are available to Georgetown Law Only. These sites provide a variety of current information, documents, commentary and links to other relevant sites. No list of links can ever be complete; rather these are some highlights to be used as a good place to start your research.

E-Commerce

  • BNA's Electronic Commerce and Law Report (Georgetown Law Only)
    Is regularly updated and covers such topics as digital communications content, transactions, and infrastructure as well as economic trends and developments in the law. Using the "Finding Tools"> "Browse Index " is one of the better ways to locate materials by either jurisdictions or by topic (N.B. you can change the default time period from the last couple months).
  • The United Nations Commission on International Trade (UNCITRAL), Electronic Commerce
    Has grouped together their publications, along with links to bibliographies of their work , treaties, model laws and webcasts.
  • WIPO Ecommerce and Copyright
    A brief overview of the work, along with links to publications, agendas and relevant treaties, that WIPO is currently involved with for this topic.

Privacy

Internet Crimes

Cyberwarfare

Cyberwarfare can be part of many different topics, as the violations of the law are part of laws, which may or may not address the intent behind the action (i.e. hacking into an electrical grid, a banking system, a railway system is a crime, however the criminal intent is distinct from not wanting to pay an electrical bill, commit tax fraud or just as a test to see if one can).

When researching this topic there are also the technical aspects (e.g. proxy server security (i.e. the vulnerabilities with standard use commercial products) which are a part of the legal discussion (liability, patent, etc.) This list below if meant to generally address the breadth of this issue and as a basic starting place for resources.

  • Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
    From their Cybersecurity page they have links to U.S. Congressional testimony, news and publications.
  • Cyberwarfare this CRS report, though dated (published in 2001), is an excellent resources for a policy and law overview for U.S. and some foreign jurisdictions.
  • Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security (Georgetown Law Only)
    Brief but still useful descriptions under headings such as Computer hackers and Cybersecurity, along with links to other relevant topics and suggestions for further research (books, articles, etc.).
  • Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (Georgetown Law Only)
    Database includes profiles of terrorist and insurgent groups, chronologies and descriptions of terror related events, expert analyses and case studies. Search options include limiting by country, territory, and group. Click on the "Researching Tools" to use key word searching for relevant documents. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of any document viewed for more links to other useful documents.
  • SysAdmin, Audit, Network, Security Institute (SANS)
    From their home page they have "Free Resources" which include hot topics ranging from top security risks to the top journalist on this topic. In their Information Security Reading Room they have technical papers on topics ranging from "Threats/Vulnerabilities" to "Security Policy Issues".
  • Technology, policy, law, and ethics regarding U.S. acquisition and use of cyberattack capabilities Williams U163 .T437 2009
    This book address the U.S. laws and policies concerns on this topic, with an appendix on the use of force in international law.

Newspapers are also an important place to start for what is current in this topic for an overview and links to newspapers online (and what is available in print) try our Finding Newspaper Articles guide.

Journal Articles

Periodical literature is a good way to obtain background information, locate the text of a foreign law, a citation, or locate information about a subject. Westlaw and Lexis provide excellent coverage of U.S. law reviews, but you should consider expanding your journal research to foreign journals and indexes for more comprehensive and global coverage. For information on other journal databases, see our Using Articles for Legal and Non-Legal Research for a complete list.

In addition, see our Locating Journal Articles: Foreign & International guide, as there are foreign and international law journals annotated and linked to, as another way to research this topic in the foreign and international law context. Since cyberlaw is topically interdisciplinary try our online catalog (or our NEW interface) as another option for searching for what materials are available both electronically and in print.

If you already have a citation and would like to read the article, simply type the journal name as a title search in the library catalog. The results will tell you if we have print, electronic, or both. Be sure to check coverage dates or volume numbers to determine if your particular volume or issue is available. If the library does not have the journal article, you may request the article through interlibrary loan and we will ask another library to make a photocopy.

Below is a sampling of some of the cyberlaw journals, for back issues search in the online catalog using the title of the journal.

  • Berkeley Technology Law Journal available online (Georgetown Law Only) and through Boalt Hall.
  • Federal Communications Law Journal available online (Georgetown Law Only) and through Indiana University.
  • Global Review of Cyberlaw INTL K7.L8
  • Harvard Journal of Law & Technology available online (Georgetown Law Only) and through Harvard.
  • Information & Communications Technology Law available only online (Georgetown Law Only) after issue 18:3 (2009).
  • International Review of Law, Computers & Technology available online (Georgetown Law Only).
  • The John Marshall Journal of Computer & Information Law available online (Georgetown Law Only).
  • Journal of Information Law and Technology Electronic only journal with a wide coverage of jurisdictions as well as of the U.K..
  • Journal of Technology Law & Policy available online (Georgetown Law Only).
  • Michigan Telecommunications and Technology Law Review available online (Georgetown Law Only) and through University of Michigan.
  • Minnesota journal of law, science & technology available online (Georgetown Law Only) through University of Minnesota.
  • Santa Clara Computer and High-Technology Law Journal available online (Georgetown Law Only) and through Santa Clara University.
  • Stanford Technology Law Review Electronic only journal with the format of a blog (the articles are in PDFs and range from very short to fairly lengthy).
  • Tulane Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property available online (Georgetown Law Only).

 

Current Awareness Tools

Many of the sites listed above contain current news and events sections.

  • CYB3RCRIM3 Observations on technology, law and lawlessness.
    This blog by Professor Susan Brenner at the University of Dayton School of Law, covers cybercrime and cyberconflict mainly in the U.S. but with some coverage of the U.K. and Europe.
  • Cybercrime.gov
    The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has on the main page regularly updated press releases from the DOJ which are distinct from news articles, generally with more legal information on the types of crimes charged and which sections/agencies within the DOJ will be involved in the prosecution.
  • Bits Blog
    Business Innovation Technology Society Blog is part of the New York times Technology section.
  • BNA's World Communications Regulation Report (Georgetown Law Only)
    Major topic range from patentability of software and business methods to media law to telecommunications (which include cellphones).
  • BNA's Computer Technology Law Report (Georgetown Law Only)
    Major topic range from anti-trust to reverse engineering to defective hardware and software liability.
    N.B. For BNA materials one of the best ways to locate current information is by using the "Finding Tools"> "Browse Index " to locate materials by either jurisdictions or by topic.
  • Cyberspace Law News (FindLaw)
    News ranging from who won a Webby to legal news to policy to industry concerns from around the globe. Their "other sites" are also a good for more specialized topic/interest news and information.
  • Electronic Frontier Foundation
    A civil liberties focus on topic ranging from privacy in social networking to foreign government sharing of travel information. There are links to current pending cases, text of relevant laws and further resources presented in the articles posted.
  • Please note Wired.com is the online free content posted by Wire, however there is access to the Wired magazine online (Georgetown Law Only) or in print. Though more U.S. focused, an accessible way to see what is new and what the buzz is on a topic.
  • ZDNet : News
    Technical and Industry focused news and blogs which can have foreign or international aspects (i.e. looking in the topics section for a jurisdiction or topic).

Useful Resources

  • SSRN's Legal Scholarship Network includes papers that have been accepted but not yet published in journals. This resource can be particularly useful for finding current or developing scholarly legal and interdisciplinary discussions, given the wide the breadth of topics within cyberlaw.
  • Comparative Media Law Research Guide
    This guide provides a broad overview of print and electronic resources available for comparative research in media law. Research in this area could include telecommunications, information and data protection, radio and television, broadcasting, privacy, etc..
  • Computer Law Treatise Finder
    Though generally more U.S. law focused there can be comparative or topic overviews which include other jurisdictions or international law.

 

Revised 5/10 (ras)
Links 8/08 (ras)
Revised 3/07 (aeb)

Page last saved 23-Sep-2011