Demystifying Digital Law: A Complete Overview

Decoding Digital Law

Traditionally, the law has been focused on the treatment of people’s rights. The implementation of the digital age has added a more technical and practical element to legal practices and policies. Digital law is a relatively new concept, an evolving area of technological advancement which so far is largely undefined. The EU describes it as "the adaptation and the application of traditional law to the Internet and the digital world".
It can be roughly described as the legal protection of ideas in the age of computers, photocopiers, scanners, e-mails, the internet and social networks. It has brought new and serious challenges to enforcement and investigation agencies. Cybercrime is often invisible and the perpetrators are sophisticated, anonymous and able to cross jurisdictions easily.
Analogue laws cannot just be applied to the digital world without analysis. There are some circumstances that continue to flummox lawyers. What makes a person physically sick may not be physical contact; seeing the miracle of birth might make one emotional. In the UK it is not lawful to sell certain items through the internet to minors.
Digital law is very important, not only because it protects people in their actions, but also the property rights they may have . It provides the right to freely compete and explores the rights of competition too, the right to one’s image as well as the right to personal property. To compete properly without fraudulent means, companies also need to rely on digital law, especially where malicious competitors confront them with malicious false images.
Because we are still learning the nature of this new fast-changing area of law, it is difficult to ignore the fact that its definition varies depending on who you ask (whether it be a lawyer, a business person, a journalist or other interest groups). Also, some lawyers have used the term "digital law" to refer to areas such as protecting and enforcing intellectual property, but it can also be described as "cyberlaw" or "internet law".
Digital law encompasses so many aspects of traditional law. One of the key areas is contracts, and their legality, validity or enforceability. When we pass contracts or agree agreements under the umbrella of digital law, we are moving from one jurisdiction to another, to a universally accepted internet-based jurisdiction. How effectively we manage our online presence is an area to explore. The boundaries are now global.

Fundamental Premises of Digital Law

The core principles of digital law are privacy, security, intellectual property, and data protection. These rules govern the way people can interact with others online. A lot of governments have different variations of these rules, and they usually follow some kind of code of ethics for openness online.
The principle of privacy is to keep humans safe when they’re in the digital world. It determines who has access to personal information, where it should be kept, and what will happen to it in the future. Government agencies have the responsibility to make sure that personal information is kept private and that they take required steps to protect any information they collect, such as not making it available to other organizations without permission. Official bodies also have to dispose of personal information when they’re not using it anymore.
Security determines what actions should be taken to protect computer hardware and software from getting into the wrong hands. People can’t access other people’s electronic information, like their credit card details, passwords, and social security numbers. Governments keep track of suspicious activity on the internet. Computer networks and hardware are protected from malware, intruders, and phishing attempts.
Intellectual property is typically protected by copyright, patents, and trademarks. Ownership of websites, email addresses, domain names, and other digital assets is established. Intellectual property laws also protect associations like business names, logos, coercive associations, reward programs, and more. They determine which concepts are free to use and create laws to protect the commercial use of knowledge and information.
Protection of one’s own and other’s personal information is outlined by data protection laws. These laws give certain rights to people who have provided their personal information, such as what can be done with their information and the right to request that their information be changed and/or deleted.
These principles prevail over all interaction in the digital world.

Privacy and Digital Law

As more users engage in online commerce, purchase and download goods, and share data with others via computer networks, the concept of privacy has become a specific area of regulation. Various federal statutes make provisions for individual privacy in relation to the electronic collection of data. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which was enacted in October 1986, was a reaction to "the dissemination of information obtained through new electronic media such as videotape, computers, and the like." Under the ECPA, electronic communications also include transmissions by the telephone and wireless services. The right of consumer privacy in their electronic data is also protected by the Cable Communications Policy Act. However, these statutes must be considered with respect to the Federal Government’s interests in national security and enforcement of laws and the protection of adults and minors. On this issue see the EC-Digital Rights Directive. The EU has specific provisions that touch on privacy.

Intellectual Property in the Digital Realm

Intellectual property is another area that is enhanced by digital law. Copyright, for example, is a protection that governs the use of creative works like written content and artworks, but it’s often crucial in the digital era because social media networks, blogs and instant uploading services have dramatically increased the accessibility of content. Where once a newspaper might have a circulation of 10,000 copies, now a viral blog post can reach millions within hours.
Recognizing the even greater importance of this right in the digital space, legal definitions around copyright, and the remedies available when it is violated, have also been updated to better adapt to the internet. For example, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act implemented rules for the World Wide Web.
Digital law includes patents, which are regulations that cover inventions. The protection covers the process relating to the invention, rather than the actual invention itself, and secures rights to the physical invention. In the digital world, specific boundaries around what constitutes an invention must be drawn to protect the rights of inventors while not making it more difficult for other inventors and entrepreneurs to innovate.
Like patents, trademarks have also been affected by digital law. This type of protection applies to symbols, names, logo designs and other features of a business, product or service can be registered. For companies operating online, the importance of being able to uniquely identify itself increases significantly.

Cybersecurity as Digital Law

The increasing sophistication and the number of cybercrimes committed on a scale never before possible – from Russia (e.g., In 2016 the Russian Military Intelligence Service hacked The Democratic National Committee network) to North Korea (e.g., In 2015 North Korea successfully hacked Sony Entertainment leaving Sony crippled for days) – makes an entire new field of law emerge. This field that has no boundaries and is technically well beyond any currently existing legal regulation. We cannot ignore this and all regulations of financial institutions, data protection that are already in place are in need of some changes, until a new era of health regulations.
The rapidly increasing sophistication of all types of cybercrime and digital fraud, coupled with the market growth in means to proactively deal with it is begging the following questions: How will this all affect the future of legal regulation? Are we really prepared for a deep change of the digital business models and legal regulations in place, and are the competent authorities really capable to cope with such a fast pace of technologic evolution? What are the ongoing changes and the legal regulation getting ready to be enforced?
The Cybercrime Unit of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) aims to support Member State capacity-building initiatives to prevent and monitor cybercrime as well as to assist in related criminal justice responses globally. Its mandate includes, inter alia, the following activities:
1 . Functioning as a global center for knowledge on cybercrime and building international partnerships to facilitate exchange of information;

2. Supporting technical assistance activities and strategic research to enhance criminal justice responses to cybercrime, including through legal and judicial frameworks and capacity-building;
3. Supporting the Global Action on Cybercrime (GLACY) project and other ongoing Technical Assistance activities and the development of new ones.

On June 28th, 2012 the Legislative targets and objectives of preventing cybercrime were set forth by the Resolution 2096 and contain the following:

• analysis of national and international experiences, in particular best practices;
• description of the nature and scale of the threat from malicious practices which facilitate attacks on the information systems;
• establishment of national strategies and common minimum standards for legislation to combat cybercrime;
• establishment of enhanced cooperation with regard to international criminal investigations linked to cybercrime;
• establishment of mechanisms for reporting and sharing of information to and within trust/cyber-emergency response teams;
• establishment of legislation to implement measures for data protection, privacy, sources as protection for whistle-blowers and civil society;
• development of policies to protect users from malicious online practices, including spam;
• establishment of new and enhanced penalties for perpetrators of such crimes and
• introduction of abuse complaint reporting mechanisms with regard to such crimes.

Enforcement of Digital Law and its Issues

One of the major challenges in this field has to do with jurisdictional issues. Most legal regimes are bound by geography, but most digital technology is not. While there may be some law associated with the location of a website or service provider, often an entity’s physical location may not have any bearing on its involvement with individuals or entities in far-flung jurisdictions. For example, a website hosted on US servers may be providing services to consumers in the EU, while only "offending" the US government’s interests against IP infringement, rather than the EU’s. Internet corporations may have a vested interest in offering the same products to consumers across the globe, but such practices may be illegal in some jurisdictions and not others.
Another difficulty in practice today is that the law lags technological developments by quite some time. While courts may play catch-up on issues that have arisen from technological developments, there may still be a significant gap that practitioners and reconciliation processes have to address in order to be useful. It’s often difficult to predict what the impact of new technology will be, and there may simultaneously be a backlog of cases as the law becomes developed through the court system.
Smaller players who may play a crucial role in the development of technology or the provision of services might not be able to afford the lengthy process that is required to substantially make their product safe for their target audience, or may simply not know what they need to do in order to comply with the law. Such would-be entrepreneurs may also face some of the same challenges in getting their product out there, as larger players may dominate the market early on and make it harder for new entrants to provide a viable alternative option for consumers. Thus, small players may be at a disadvantage both in terms of creating something new that complies with current law and in getting the consumer base to see that they exist.

Digital Law and Prospective Trends

As emerging technologies like AI and blockchain continue to advance, the landscape of digital law is expected to evolve significantly. Attorneys who are proficient in digital law will become increasingly valuable as the demand for such expertise surges. With the rapid development of AI technology, our understanding of intellectual property will undoubtedly undergo a transformation. For instance, an algorithm that generates art, music, or literature could change the way we view authorship and ownership. Questions about the authority of AI to create copyrightable material will likely arise as new legal challenges emerge.
To keep pace with these technological developments, companies will likely turn to legal experts who possess the knowledge and skills to monitor new forms of digital expression, and conduct due diligence on the use of AI-generated content. These legal professionals will need to develop a nuanced understanding of the technology to make sound decisions about reviewing the material against the backdrop of existing laws.
The influence of blockchain technology is also expected to increase, impacting various fields outside of just cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The growing number of blockchain developers is contributing to greater adoption of this technology. Companies will seek legal counsel to help them navigate the intricacies of this important area of law, which encompasses contract rights, intellectual property protection, tax implications, anti-money laundering regulations, freedom of information, consumer protection, and more .
Other evolving areas of digital law include online privacy and security as companies gather more and more personal data about their consumers. The escalation of website hacking threatens to relitigate protection of trade secrets. As internet copyright infringement is commonplace, regulation through copyright infringement statutes is becoming a more realistic approach.
Dispute resolution will become increasingly important as digital law develops. There’s an ongoing battle between copyright owners seeking enforcement and hackers attempting to gain access to secret information. The steady increase in such cases will continue to reveal the necessity of law specialists who practice digital law.
Criminal law is also evolving as a result of digital law. Many cybercrimes are classified as "white collar" crimes. Banks and phone companies have to re-evaluate their practices when it comes to responding to criminals who hack their systems. This poses a challenge because the fraudulent person may be located anywhere in the world, and the ability of police to pursue apprehension depends on the hacker’s geographical location.
Government regulation and policy issues will also need to keep up with new technological innovations. Lawmakers will be challenged to govern evolving technology without impeding its growth and development. As law practices expand to meet the needs of a growing industry, digital law will become synonymous with the legal profession.