Ghost Entry: Jurisdiction

In today’s world, video games are released via the Internet into cyberspace every week, thus attracting stampedes of parched gamers who thirst for newer ways of electronic recreational stimulation. Fortunately, with fun for gamers comes work for lawyers. In his book Virtual Justice, lawyer Greg Lastowka says, “the Internet could be its own jurisdiction, with its own laws and courts created by its own ‘consent of the governed,’” then states, “there would be no need for “outside” law (the law of territorial sovereigns) to intervene”(80). In other words, Lastowka feels that the government should have minimal governance in cyberspace, so “the ‘law of cyberspace’ could be a new law formed by the consent of those who ‘live’ in cyberspace” (80).
Even if Lastowka’s opinion were to come into effect, past events can heavily persuade Internet users as to who should have the most power. Cybersell Inc. vs. Cybersell Inc. II was a supreme court case used to resolve copyright infringement case that took from 1994 to 1997 to conclude. Cybersell Inc. was an Arizona corporation that temporarily closed down their website for maintenance purposes. Cybersell Inc. was a different company in the making, found in Florida. While Cybersell AZ was hibernating, Cybersell FL used the Internet to retrieve Cybersell AZ’s logo as well as company name! Obviously, Arizona wanted their identity back so the issue was brought to court, but was not as quickly resolved as they had hoped.
Since cyberspace is so vast, has never-ending dimensions, and limitless boundaries, it was a struggle to find out who would even partake in the court case because it was proven that the Internet was used for promotional purposes on AZ’s part, making it even more difficult for them to win back their losses. The Law of Arizona was applied to this case because there was an absence of federal governing personal jurisdiction. As if the complications were not filling the room up fast enough, certain jurisdictions in Florida do not even exist in Arizona, thus creating even more perpendiculars between real world laws and Internet regulations.
As long as the sun is shining, there will always be thieves wandering the streets, surfing the Internet, etc… As long as there is any compensation of money involved, the government will always count cards. Somewhat skeptical at first, but now Lastowka is heading in the right direction. If a court case’s difficulty is based solely off real-world boundaries, then new tactics should be used to resolve problems (that are not brain-busters by any means) to maintain a safe community. The parallel idea of separate jurisdictions between real world and virtual world could be worth a try so the current authority can stop wasting their time fighting boundaries with boundaries.