New Web Site Helps Internet Users Understand Legal Rights
Reflecting the need among Web users for a site that defines the legal issues of the Internet, a Web site co-sponsored and partially supervised by the University of San Francisco’s School of Law received more than a million hits its first week on the Web.
The Web site, www.chillingeffects.com, which was also a featured “Web site of the Day” on Yahoo.com, is monitored by law students and faculty from USF, Harvard University, Stanford University, and UC Berkeley who report to Internet users information about their legal rights.
Primarily it helps users threatened with “cease-and-desist” letters sent by public figures or organizations in an attempt to thwart criticism.
In one case, for example, USF law students analyzed a cease-and-desist letter sent by the Republican Party of Texas challenging the legality of a Web site named “EnronOwnsTheGOP.” Students at the law school’s Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Project reviewed the letter and annotated it with links to explain applicable legal rules.
USF is receiving national attention from the project. The story was picked up by The New York Times and the Associated Press, and USF law professor Bob Talbot was featured nationwide on Tech TV, explaining how the Web site works.
“This is a great opportunity to bring together resources from various universities to provide a much needed service to the worldwide community of people who use the Internet legitimately,” said Talbot, director of the Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Project. “It is also a wonderful chance to collaborate with some other remarkable law schools, to give students practical experience on the cutting edge of cyber law, and to put them into a network of service learning with other law students.”
The portion of the Web site under USF’s supervision, “Protest, Parody, and Criticism,” includes cease-and-desist letters written in the interests of Barney the Dinosaur and Jerry Falwell. Other parts of the Web site, maintained by the four-university collaboration, provide basic legal information on issues like fan fiction, copyright and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, trademark and domain names, anonymous speech, and defamation. New topics will be added as new issues arise.
“The Internet makes it easier for individuals to speak to a wide audience, but it also makes it easier for other people and corporations to silence that speech,” said Wendy Seltzer, a Berkman Center Fellow at Harvard University and the project’s creator. “Chilling Effects aims to level the field by helping online speakers to understand their rights in the face of legal threats.”
In addition to publishing cease-and-desist letters, the Chilling Effects team will offer periodic “weather reports” assessing the legal climate for Internet activity. The reports will seek to answer such questions as what types of Internet activity are most vulnerable to legal threats.
The Internet and Intellectual Property Justice Project at the University of San Francisco School of Law provides legal services to those needing help with intellectual property matters. The Project currently helps in domain name disputes as well as with other trademark and copyright work. Legal work is performed free of charge by students under the direction of faculty members.
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