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Internet Law:

(a) Payment.— Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c), a governmental entity obtaining the contents of communications, records, or other information under section 2702, 2703, or 2704 of this title shall pay to the person or entity assembling or providing such information a fee for reimbursement for such costs as are reasonably necessary and which have been directly incurred in searching for, assembling, reproducing, or otherwise providing such information. Such reimbursable costs shall include any costs due to necessary disruption of normal operations of any electronic communication service or remote computing service in which such information may be stored.

(b) Amount.— The amount of the fee provided by subsection (a) shall be as mutually agreed by the governmental entity and the person or entity providing the information, or, in the absence of agreement, shall be as determined by the court which issued the order for production of such information (or the court before which a criminal prosecution relating to such information would be brought, if no court order was issued for production of the information).

(c) Exception.— The requirement of subsection (a) of this section does not apply with respect to records or other information maintained by a communications common carrier that relate to telephone toll records and telephone listings obtained under section 2703 of this title. The court may, however, order a payment as described in subsection (a) if the court determines the information required is unusually voluminous in nature or otherwise caused an undue burden on the provider.

For additional information regarding Internet Law, visit the Internet Lawyer website.

Under new cyber crime and computer laws, a person convicted of computer hacking, virus writing, and computer worm development could get 20 years to life in prison.

Sometimes out of curiosity, Internet website visitors may exceed the access authorized to them under their website access login and under the website’s terms of use. Even using commercially available scripts may generate serious computer crime accusation of hacking and unauthorized access to a computer network.

Email spoofing is the forgery of an e-mail header in a manner that the message appears to have originated from somewhere other than the actual source. Email Spoofing is a serious Internet Crime. Allegations of creating a false email header, email header forgery, or sending a spoofed email are serious cyber crimes accusations requiring the expertise of a computer crime defense attorney.

Cyber stalking is a crime in which the alleged attacker harasses a victim using electronic communications, for example email, instant messaging, blog messages, or forum posts. Cyber stalking involves threats to a specific victim.

Computer trespass is the use of a computer or computer network without authority and with the intent to remove computer data, computer programs, or computer software from a computer or computer network, cause a computer to malfunction, alter or erase any computer data, computer programs, or computer software, effect the creation or alteration of a financial instrument or of an electronic transfer of funds, cause physical injury to the property of another.

Computer fraud is the use of a computer or a computer network without authority and with the intent to obtain property or services by false pretenses, embezzle or commit Internet larceny or use a computer to convert the property of another.

Under Virginia law, the following property is capable of computer embezzlement: 1. Computers and computer networks; 2. Financial instruments, computer data, computer programs, computer software, computer services and all other personal property regardless of whether they are: tangible or intangible, in a format readable by humans or by a computer, in transit between computers or within a computer network or between any devices which comprise a computer or located on any paper or in any device on which it is stored by a computer or by a human.

In today’s world, the Internet provides a forum where aggrieved customers, former employees, and other members of the public can express their dissatisfaction with a company’s products and services. There is an abundance of gripe websites and the addition of the suffix “sucks.com” to the name of a business is fairly common.

An important part of fighting against Internet defamation is to have a complete online reputation management strategy. Many victims of online defamation get confused by hearing about Internet lawyer services, SEO consultants, Internet reputation companies, and others. Many ask, what will happen after my Internet defamation lawyer effectively removes the false defamatory posts that represent online libel against me? How can I keep it from coming back? Do I have to file a lawsuit and obtain a court order prohibiting the offenders from continuing to engage in this actionable behavior? Some victims of cyber defamation also ask about SEO or reputation management services. Can they effectively deliver on their promise to push the negative results down on the search engines?

Internet Defamation resulting from Internet log posts or Internet forum discussions is probably the worst kind of cyber libel or online slander. These posts are quickly spread on the Internet and the ensuing damage to your business or personal reputation resulting from these postings in an Internet blog or Internet forum can be irreversible.