Internet law compliance

Currently a new kind of message has been virally transmitted through the Web: Protect your Web site by using the Internet law compliance system. Doomsday messages prophesize you certain bankruptcy if you fail to make your Web site Internet law compliant. What is this Internet law compliance, do I need it, and how can I break the law by posting a Web site?

First of all, there is no Internet law per se. It is impossible to make your Web site “bulletproof” like some advertisers claim, by simply subjugate your site to an Internet law that actually does not exist. Internet follows laws of the country where your Web site is being hosted; therefore the applicable law would be the local law regulating that country’s telecommunication and internet jurisprudence. Is this Internet law compliance set a scam?

Not quite. If you are running a e-business, a community forum, a bulletin board, a Web site, or have Internet presence in some other way, perhaps as a blog, then the site where the whole stuff is located needs to have somewhere a link to the terms of use, terms of service, disclaimer, privacy policy and similar legal mumbo jumbo. Why? There are 50% of all worlds’ lawyers sitting in the United States, which prides itself of inventing the Internet (only partially true, the World Wide Web was invented by a Brit) and these lawyers don’t have enough to do. Ambulance chasers, slimy neighborhood brawl litigators, the guys you see in these ridiculous TV commercials, like “Have you been in a car accident?” guys, together with the people who actually hire them, they just look for the opportunity to sue someone. If you run an e-commerce Web site and don’t have the necessary legal paperwork uploaded on your Web site, then, yes, these guys will sue you if you are a day late with delivery, if your photograph of the item is not 100% accurate, if you charge separate for shipping and handling, there are actually a lot of possibilities where a lawsuit can be construed from and you don’t want to be a part of it. In case your Web site, or the location of your business is not in the United States, you really want to make sure that the jurisdiction is properly displayed, otherwise such a lawsuit may happen for instance in Poughkeepsie, New York and how do you properly and in timely manner respond to such claims, furthermore, where do you find a suitable lawyer to protect you?

Although there is no actual Internet law, the Internet is regulated by many local, international and multinational laws and treaties. Protecting yourself is just good common sense.