Legal Issues Emerging from New Technology and Remedies to Achieve Justice
Outline the legal issues emerging from new technology and evaluate the extent to which the remedies available achieve justice.
The rate of technological change in the last three decades has been extremely significant. Developments in new technology such as mobile phones, digital cameras, the Internet and email were not available 25 years ago. These changes have transformed our society but have also created a number of considerable issues for the legal system. Governments face many challenges in trying to make regulations and laws where technology is concerned. The main difficulty being that technology is constantly developing; therefore, it gives rise to an array of issues that have rarely or never been raised in political, legal or community discussions.
The speed on technological change is such that the law is usually slow in responding to changes. For example, when the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) was developed, the Internet did not even exist, but gradually through case law and amendments to the Act, it has evolved to cover a wider range of areas. Initially, common law may fill the void until statute law can be created.
COPYRIGHT:
The internet has allowed a proliferation of other forms of file sharing. People can share digital files either in an open system, where anyone can access them, or in a restricted was that allows access only to certain people. This technology also poses great risks to copyright. When a person makes a product that is subject to copyright; that is, another person cannot copy it without permission from the original producer.
Copyright law sometimes struggles to keep up with internet developments. Most internet content is protected from unauthorised reproduction by copyright, which provides protection against the copying of original work including website graphics, pictures, videos, music and original text. However, enforcement is difficult.
The two main international instruments on copyright law are the World Intellectual Property
The rate of technological change in the last three decades has been extremely significant. Developments in new technology such as mobile phones, digital cameras, the Internet and email were not available 25 years ago. These changes have transformed our society but have also created a number of considerable issues for the legal system. Governments face many challenges in trying to make regulations and laws where technology is concerned. The main difficulty being that technology is constantly developing; therefore, it gives rise to an array of issues that have rarely or never been raised in political, legal or community discussions.
The speed on technological change is such that the law is usually slow in responding to changes. For example, when the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) was developed, the Internet did not even exist, but gradually through case law and amendments to the Act, it has evolved to cover a wider range of areas. Initially, common law may fill the void until statute law can be created.
COPYRIGHT:
The internet has allowed a proliferation of other forms of file sharing. People can share digital files either in an open system, where anyone can access them, or in a restricted was that allows access only to certain people. This technology also poses great risks to copyright. When a person makes a product that is subject to copyright; that is, another person cannot copy it without permission from the original producer.
Copyright law sometimes struggles to keep up with internet developments. Most internet content is protected from unauthorised reproduction by copyright, which provides protection against the copying of original work including website graphics, pictures, videos, music and original text. However, enforcement is difficult.
The two main international instruments on copyright law are the World Intellectual Property