E-Commerce Law

E-Commerce Law Named to Top 100 Legal Blogs

The Criminal Justice Degrees Guide has named E-Commerce Law to its list of the "top 100 law and lawyer blogs."  Other notables on the list include Above the Law, Blawg Review, and Internet Cases.

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of July 14, 2008

• Google has struck a deal to protect the personal data of millions of YouTube users.

E-Commerce Law Briefs is a weekly feature appearing each Friday afternoon on E-Commerce Law. Each week, E-Commerce Law Briefs will provide a brief summary and commentary on recent legal news affecting e-commerce businesses.

Internet Evidence (Part III: Hearsay Exceptions)

Last Wednesday, we addressed the application of the Hearsay Rule to Internet content.  This week, we discuss the application of some common hearsay objections.

Common Hearsay Exceptions

All of the hearsay exceptions applicable to traditional printed documents are applicable to Internet content, but there are two such exceptions which have been applied to such evidence fairly frequently.

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of July 7, 2008

• A judge has ordered YouTube to produce information "linking users of YouTube . . . with every clip they have watched there."

• AT&T and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit "have agreed to purge their Internet servers of Web sites that traffic child pornography."

E-Commerce Law Briefs is a weekly feature appearing each Friday afternoon on E-Commerce Law. Each week, E-Commerce Law Briefs will provide a brief summary and commentary on recent legal news affecting e-commerce businesses.

Internet Evidence (Part II: Hearsay)

Last Wednesday, we addressed the application of Fed. R. Evid. 901 to Internet content.  This week, we discuss the application of the Hearsay Rule to such evidence.

Hearsay

Hearsay is any "statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted." Fed. R. Evid. 801.  It is generally inadmissible.  Fed. R. Evid. 802.  If the proponent of Internet content clears the authentication hurdle, the next objection to the proffered evidence is typically made on hearsay grounds.

Blawg Review #167

The Blawg Review is a weekly review of the best law-related posts from a variety of blogs.  We've had the pleasure of hosting the Blawg Review twice before (Blawg Review #103 and Blawg Review #140) and we're thrilled to be hosting Blawg Review #167.   

Since this edition of the Blawg Review immediately follows the Independence Day weekend ("America's Birthday," according to my three-year old daughter), we thought it would be appropriate to follow a patriotic theme.  Finding no more worthy or patriotic symbol than the flag of the United States of America, we decided to use this post to recognize "50 Stars of the Blawgosphere," one important or influential legal blog or blogger from each of the 50 states represented as five-pointed stars on the Flag.  Here they are, one for each star/state, in the order in which their state ratified the United States Constitution or was admitted to the Union:

Happy Independence Day!

Due to the Independence Day holiday, we won't be publishing our E-Commerce Law Briefs today.  Our E-Commerce Law Briefs will return next Friday.  In the meantime, don't forget that we will be hosting Blawg Review #167:  50 Stars of the Blawgosphere on Monday, July 7th.

Internet Evidence (Part I: Authentication)

Technology’s pervasive reach and society’s mounting dependence upon it has weighty implications for evidence jurisprudence. As individuals continue to use the Internet as a means of commerce, personal expression, and social interaction, the Internet has become an increasingly important source of information pertaining to those personal and business transactions.  When disputes arise, parties and their attorneys are often forced to rely upon evidence taken from Internet sources in advocating their positions.

While the public is eager to use the Internet as an information source, the courts were initially reluctant to allow website content to be used in the courtroom. Finding the Internet, and the World Wide Web in particular, to be a "catalyst for rumor, innuendo, and misinformation", early courts dealing with Internet evidentiary issues proceeded cautiously.  See St. Clair v. Johnny’s Oyster & Shrimp, Inc., 76 F.Supp.2d 773, 774 (S.D. Tex. 1999)("Anyone can put anything on the Internet. No web-site is monitored for accuracy and nothing contained therein is under oath or even subject to independent verification absent underlying documentation. Moreover, the Court holds no illusions that hackers can adulterate the content on any web-site from any location at any time. For these reasons, any evidence procured off the Internet is adequate for almost nothing ...").  More recently, courts have realized that thoughful application of traditional evidentiary premises will resolve any concern over the unreliability of information found on the Internet.  Accordingly, the law of "Internet evidence" has become more clear.