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Prosecuting Internet Bad Acts Using Nuisance Law

By Jonathan Bick
May 27, 2011

Myriad Internet-related violations of both criminal and civil statutes are not prosecuted because their novelty requires excessive effort by the moving party. When cases of Internet bad acts are brought to court, the prosecution tends to be unsuccessful, as evidenced by the cases associated with Internet-related obscenity. Despite the intensification of Internet criminal and civil statute violations, there has been little innovation with respect to the prosecution of Internet bad actors.

Rather than pursuing traditional criminal or civil actions that are based on a specific act, the use of nuisance-law injunctions that are based on generally objectionable behavior may be a better alternative in responding to Internet bad acts. Just as the application of nuisance law helped curb the production and distribution of traditional obscene materials four decades ago, it may be useful for reducing Internet bad acts today. Applying nuisance law to Internet bad acts also provides the advantage of subjecting third parties, rather than the defendants, to suitable injunctions.

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