Social Media and Electronic Commerce Law (2^nd Ed.)

The ever-evolving nature of electronic commerce and social media continues to challenge the capacity of the courts to respond to privacy and security violations in 'cyberlaw'. Social Media and Electronic Commerce Law is designed to provide students and legal practitioners with a thorough and engaging exploration of the laws, regulations and grey areas of commerce via online platforms. This new edition has been thoroughly revised to address changes in legislation and recent court judgments, and to reflect the dynamic sphere of social media. New chapters focus on internet and e-commerce law regarding social media, P2P file sharing, Cloud computing and workplace issues, with an emphasis on data security made particularly relevant by the proliferation of hacking incidents. Written in an accessible style, Social Media and Electronic Commerce Law investigates the challenges facing legal practitioners and commercial parties in this dynamic field, as well as the underlying legal theory that governs it.

Part I. Introduction: 1. An electronic renaissance – digital lex mercatoria and digital persona; 2. The rule of cyberspace; Part II. Social Media: 3. Social media law; 4. Peer-to-peer file sharing; 5. Cloud computing; 6. Social media and the workplace; 7. Defamation in cyberspace; 8. Privacy in cyberspace; 9. Electronic mail and online presence; 10. Online censorship; Part III. Electronic Commerce: 11. Electronic commerce and the law of contract; 12. Online contracting; 13. Electronic signatures; 14. Copyright issues in electronic commerce; 15. Trade marks, patents and circuit layouts; 16. Domain names; 17. Jurisdiction in cyberspace; 18. Cybercrime; 19. Evidence of electronic records; Part IV. Conclusion: 20. Cyberspace reflections and conclusions.

Dr Alan Davidson is a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and of the High Court of Australia. He practised law for more than a decade before moving into academia full time. He was engaged as an Assistant Professor at Bond University, lecturer at Queensland University of Technology including acting Head of School, and Associate Dean at James Cook University before commencing at the University of Queensland in 1997, where he is the Director of Postgraduate Coursework Programs. He is a Fellow of the Institute of International Banking Law and Practice, a member of the Asia Advisory Council of the Institute, a member of the Council of International Standby practices (an international body reviewing and updating the International Standby Practices (ISP98)) and a member of the Banking Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce Australia. He regularly speaks at the conferences for the Institute in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York. He presents courses at the T. C. Beirne School of Law in International Trade Law, International Trade Finance Law, Banking Law and Electronic Commerce Law. He has been a visiting academic in the USA, Thailand, Singapore and China. His book The Law of Electronic Commerce was published by Cambridge University Press. He has also published The Internet for Lawyers and The Internet for Accountants and numerous interactive computer based workbooks and teaching manuals. He was joint author of two editions of the monograph Company Meetings. His publications have appeared in the Australian Law Journal, the Journal of International Banking and Finance Law, the Journal of Commonwealth Law and Legal Education and the International Trade Law Annual. For nine years he authored over 100 articles for the Queensland Law Society journal, Proctor on CyberLaw.