Really， what we want now， is not laws， against crime， but a law against insanity.
—Mark Twain （American writer）
随着互联网的普及和发展，网络已经渗透到了社会生活的方方面面，涉及知识产权、言论自由、隐私权、信息安全等。但网络本身存在特殊性，现存的法律并非完全适用于网络环境。为了维护网络安全，促进互联网的健康发展，各国相继出台了一系列的法律法规来规范网络这个虚拟环境。美国是Internet的起源地，也是Internet的最大用户。近年来有关网络的案例不断发生，美国政府、产业界、学术界、律师都在关注网络法律问题。网络法，是指与网络有关的法律，起初被人们称为“law of Internet”、“law in cyberspace”、“law of Net”，“information super high way and law”，近年来随着网络研究的深入，索性创造一个新名词，使用较为固定的叫法“Internet law”、“On line law”、“Cyber law”。不论网络法的称谓如何，网络法不是一个在现有法律体系中产生出的新的部门法，它只是现有法律在网络空间上的新的集合。美国网络法研究的内容大致涉及如下方面：①电子商务，讨论有关电子合同的形式、订立与生效，电子支付，出口管制，网络商务规则；②信息安全，涉及数字签字的形式与法律效力，电子记录，法律对信息安全传输的保障；③知识产权，美国1995年的白皮书是有关网络知识产权问题的法律基础，一切讨论和司法建议皆基于此。此外，有关言论自由、个人隐私、网络上的反垄断问题、网络犯罪问题、网络上的司法管辖权问题、网络信息的技术保护体系方面也是当今美国网络法的研究重点。
Cyber Law
Cyber law is a term that encapsulates the legal issues related to the use of communicative，transactional，and distributive aspects of networked information devices and technologies. It is less a distinct field of law in the way that property or contract is， as it is a domain covering many areas of law and regulation. Some leading topics include intellectual property， privacy， freedom of expression， and jurisdiction.
J urisdiction and sovereignty
Issues of jurisdiction and sovereignty have quickly come to the fore in the era of the Internet. The Internet does not tend to make geographical and jurisdictional boundaries clear， but Internet users remain in physical jurisdictions and are subject to laws independent of their presence on the Internet. As such， a single transaction may involve the laws of at least three jurisdictions：①the laws of the state/nation in which the user resides；②the laws of the state/nation that apply where the server hosting the transaction is located； and③the laws of the state/nation which apply to the person or business with whom the transaction takes place. So a user in the United States conducting a transaction with another user in Britain through a server in Canada could theoretically be subject to the laws of all three countries as they relate to the transaction at hand.
Jurisdiction is an aspect of state sovereignty and it refers to judicial， legislative and administrative competence. Although jurisdiction is an aspect of sovereignty， it is not coextensive with it. The laws of a nation may have extraterritorial impact extending the jurisdiction beyond the sovereign and territorial limits of that nation. This is particularly problematic as the medium of the Internet does not explicitly recognize sovereignty and territorial limitations. There is no uniform， international jurisdictional law of universal application， and such questions are generally a matter of conflict of laws， particularly private international law. An example would be where the contents of a web site are legal in one country and illegal in another. In the absence of a uniform jurisdictional code， legal practitioners are generally left with a conflict of law issue.
Another major problem of cyber law lies in whether to treat the Internet as if itwere physical space （ and thus subject to a given jurisdiction s laws） or to act as if the Internet is a world unto itself （ and therefore free of such restraints） . Those who favor the latter view often feel that government should leave the Internet community to self-regulate. John Perry Barlow， for example， has addressed the governments of the world and stated，“Where there are real conflicts， where there are wrongs， we will identify them and address them by our means. We are forming our own Social Contract. This governance will arise according to the conditions of our world， notyours. Our world is different”. A more balanced alternative is the Declaration of Cybersecession：“Human beings possess a mind， which they are absolutely free to inhabit with no legal constraints. Human civilization is developing its own （ collective） mind. All we want is to be free to inhabit it with no legal constraints. Since you make sure we cannot harm you， you have no ethical right to intrude our lives. So stop intruding！”Other scholars argue for more of a compromise between the two notions， such as Lawrence Lessig s argument that“The problem for law is to work out how the norms of the two communities are to apply given that the subject to whom they apply may be in both places at once”.
Net neutrality
Another major area of interest is net neutrality， which affects the regulation of the infrastructure of the Internet. Though not obvious to most Internet users， every packet of data sent and received by every user on the Internet passes through routers and transmission infrastructure owned by a collection of private and public entities， including telecommunications companies， universities， and governments， suggesting that the Internet is notas independent as Barlow and others would like to believe. This is turning into one of the most critical aspects of cyber law and has immediate jurisdictional implications， as laws in force in one jurisdiction have the potential to have dramatic effects in other jurisdictions when host servers or telecommunications companies are affected.
Free speech in cyberspace
In comparison to traditional print-based media，the accessibility and relative anonymity of cyberspace has torn down traditional barriers between an individual and his or her ability to publish. Any person with an Internet connection has the potential to reach an audience of millions with little-to-no distribution costs. Yet this new form of highly-accessible authorship in cyberspace raises questions and perhaps magnifies legal complexities relating to the freedom and regulation of speech in cyberspace.