The Electronic Silk Road
How the Web Binds the World Together in Commerce
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
On the ancient Silk Road, treasure-laden caravans made their arduous way through deserts and mountain passes, establishing trade between Asia and the civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean. Today’s electronic Silk Roads ferry information across continents, enabling individuals and corporations anywhere to provide or receive services without obtaining a visa. But the legal infrastructure for such trade is yet rudimentary and uncertain. If an event in cyberspace occurs at once everywhere and nowhere, what law applies? How can consumers be protected when engaging with companies across the world? In this accessible book, cyber-law expert Anupam Chander provides the first thorough discussion of the law that relates to global Internet commerce. Addressing up-to-the-minute examples, such as Google’s struggles with China, the Pirate Bay’s skirmishes with Hollywood, and the outsourcing of services to India, the author insightfully analyzes the difficulties of regulating Internet trade. Chander then lays out a framework for future policies, showing how countries can dismantle barriers while still protecting consumer interests.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Law professor Chander's analysis illuminates how online service transactions influence global governance and demonstrates evolving cultural systems for creating relationships. He contends that when technology moves an activity online, people still crave indicators of reliability and authenticity, thus service infrastructure must replicate such assurances between customer and service provider. Although advocates of "free trade" have often been human rights foes, Chander envisions the use of economic regulatory tools as potential enforcers of human rights. He examines the political implications of "Trade 2.0.", analogizing the practices of the ancient Silk Road to more modern conceptions of trading norms. Theorizing service providers as "travelers" in cross-jurisdictional transactions, Chander argues providers should follow consumers' jurisdictional laws, when these respect "popular sovereignty" and international law. This principle of "glocalization" suggests that international service providers must adapt products for users in each jurisdiction, and he promotes regulatory harmonization in contrast to strategies that directly transfer or export U.S. laws. Chander's work should be required reading on the linkage of freedom of speech, commercial data gathering, and government access, and his prose style renders seemingly mundane details as both consequential and easy to understand.
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