According to the ACLU, message board postings are protected by the First Amendment constitutional right to free speech whereas the view of corporate lawyers is that the First Amendment does not give people an unbridled right to anonymously defame companies and the activities of their executives. The ACLU estimates there were over 30 John Doe lawsuits in US courts last year.

1.2 ONLINE BOOKMAKERS LOSE TEST CASE
The Victor Chandler bookmaking group has failed in its attempt to use an apparent loophole in Section 9(1)(b) of the Betting & Gaming Duties Act 1981 to support Internet and teletext advertising by offshore companies, after the Court of Appeal overturned an earlier ruling by the High Court.

The Vice-Chancellor Sir Richard Scott said that a bookmaker located abroad, who obtained custom from within the UK by broadcasting advertisements on teletext, committed an offence because it was "an advertisement or other document" that was "issued, circulated or distributed" for the purposes of Section 9(1)(b). This reversed the last summer's ruling by Mr Justice Lightman that the definition of an "advertisement" was limited to advertisements in "documentary form" and thus could not apply to teletext or any later technologies, such as the Internet.

At first instance the court took the view that because the Section 9(1)(b) measure first saw the light of legislative day in the Finance Act 1952, it could never have been intended to cover the electronic dissemination of information. However the Court of Appeal, in an unanimous decision, said that when you looked at the "mischief" the measure was intended to tackle - to protect gaming taxes and protect domestic bookmakers from unfair offshore competition - it was clear the legislation was intended to take account of any changes in technology.
Ref: Victor Chandler International -v- Commissioners of Customs & Excise & Another, Court of Appeal, judgment 29th February 2000.

1.3 INTERNET MONITORING BILL GETS LUKEWARM REACTION
Last week's second reading of the UK government's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill, which will allow security and law enforcement agencies to decrypt encoded e-mail messages, received a less-than enthusiastic response from the ISP industry who will be obliged to ensure they have the capacity to intercept and monitor e-mail traffic.

What concerns the ISPs is who will pay for this interception technology - the Home Office or the ISPs? The civil liberties lawyers group Justice has also warned that in its present form the Bill needs amending on several points to comply with the Human Rights Act. And there remains a nagging fear that the measure will prove merely another headache for the legitimate users of encryption in e-commerce applications, while the criminals and terrorists the measure is aimed at will continue with their unlawful activities.

2.0 NEW MEDIA LAWYERS, DEALS + INDUSTRY NEWS

2.1 PROFESSIONAL NEWS IN BRIEF

2.2 LATEST DEALS

2.3 EPOCH RELAUNCHES DIRECT LAW
Epoch Software, the company behind the Freeserve Legal Desktop service, has relaunched its DirectLaw system, which is intended to provide High Street solicitors practices with an out-of-the-box solution to developing their own legal e-business services.

DirectLaw was originally launched in the spring of 1998 when it encountered a less-than-overwhelming response due to its relatively high price and the fact it was clearly ahead of its time. Epoch subsequently put the project on the back-burner to concentrate on the Legal Desktop service.

In its new (and much cheaper) guise, DirectLaw provides the framework, including the security, document downloading and online credit card transaction/e-commerce facilities, to support High Street firms wanting to offer their own versions of the Legal Desktop service. Firms can sell downloads of both their own template documents as well as those developed by Epoch's own team of lawyers and legal draftsmen. To-date 38 firms have already signed up for the service. New Media Lawyer understands these include the practice run by Robert Sayer, the current Law Society president.
www.directlaw.co.uk

2.4 THREE MORE FIRMS SIGN UP WITH FIRSTLAW
Three more law firms - Osborne Clarke, the e-business unit of Laytons and Thomas Eggar Church Adams - have signed up to become channels for the FirstLAW Internet-only law firm, which launched in February of this year. In addition to Davies Arnold Cooper, the first firm to join the service, the Insider understands a number of other practices are also in negotiation with FirstLAW.

To-date, the projects already taken on by FirstLAW firms include: providing strategic legal advice to an Internet start-up, a rights issue, routine conveyancing work, an acquisition and refurbishment deal on an office block and a complex medical negligence claim.
www.firstlaw.co.uk

2.5 NEW DATA PROTECTION SERVICE
Paisner & Co has launched a one stop package to help businesses trading online comply with the Data Protection Act 1998 rules which came into force on 1st March. Called ComplyToday, the package comprises five stand-alone modules that can be purchased online for £100 (+VAT) each.
www.complytoday.com