Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

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.

Nuisance Law History

During the 1970s, nuisance law presented an opportunity for controlling obscenity in the era of triple X-rated bookshops, live sex act venues, and adult movie theaters. There is an extensive line of common-law “moral nuisance” cases that is used to control sex-trade-related establishments, bars, and gambling establishments, which could be applied to Internet cases.

Nuisance law has also been used by the environmental movement to address pollution, and by the climate-change movement as a basis for litigation to stop firms from emitting green house gases.

Nuisance law has already been useful in cases involving alleged bad actors on the Internet. In Dart v. Craigslist, Inc., 665 F.Supp. 2d 961 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 20, 2009), a nuisance suit was brought against Craigslist for facilitating prostitution on the Internet. The court ruled in favor of Craigslist, which, as an Internet service provider, was immune from prosecution for wrongs committed by its users. However, the lawsuit is generally understood to have achieved its objectives because it caused Craigslist to alter its service category in compliance with the plaintiff's demands ' Craigslist changed the name of its erotic category to adult, and applied a manual review process to all submissions in the adult category. In another example, City of New York v. Smokes-Spirits.Com, Inc., 541 F.3d 425 (2d Cir. 2008), rev'd on other grounds sub nom Hemi Group, LLC v. City of New York, 130 S. Ct. 983 (Jan. 25, 2010), a nuisance suit was applied to Internet cigarette sellers.

The Process

Nuisance law provides a more efficient and constitutional means of removing obscene, fraudulent and malicious materials from the Internet. Since nuisance litigation generally leads to injunctions rather than a loss of liberty, the procedures for a nuisance injunction are more rapid than criminal proceedings. While nuisance litigation has less harsh remedies than a criminal action, the speed of application of nuisance action is better suited to address Internet activities.

Consider the issue of Internet pornography. The First Amendment generally protects Internet pornography. However, it does not protect obscene Internet pornography. In order to tell the difference, the courts rely on U.S. Supreme Court cases Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 23 (1973), and Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476, 485 (1957). In Miller. the Court found that pornography was “obscene” if “the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,” and “the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law.”

However, Internet pornography creates particular problems in applying the Miller test. An Internet site that is lawfully operating in one state has the potential to violate the “contemporary community standards” in another state. Even though the Ninth Circuit, in United States v. Kilbride, 584 F.3d 1240, 1254 (9th Cir. 2009), found a “national community standard” for use in Internet pornography cases, the issue of Internet pornography is still problematic due to the quantification of that standard.

The First Amendment

Four laws are responsible for the majority of criminal prosecutions related to obscenity on the Internet. First, 18 U.S.C. '1470 (2006) prohibits using any means of interstate commerce to knowingly transmit obscene materials to those under 16 years old. Second, 47 U.S.C. '223(d) (2006) prohibits making interactive obscene material available to those under 18 years old. Third, 47 U.S.C. '231 (2006) makes it a crime to make a commercial communication on the Internet that includes obscenity available to someone under 17 years old. Finally, 18 U.S.C. '2252B (2006) prohibits the use of a misleading Internet domain name to deceive someone into viewing obscene material.

The implementation of these laws is not easy, thanks to the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects some pornography that is not obscene, and the definition of obscenity is not clear. Additionally, Congress's previous attempts to control pornography on the Internet have faltered because of the constitutional problems with restricting indecent, as opposed to obscene, pornography.

Applying Nuisance Law

While the existing criminalization approach to controlling Internet obscenity has not worked well, the application of nuisance law might. In particular, the Restatement (Second) of Torts, '821D (1979), defines a private nuisance as a non-trespassory invasion of another's interest in the private use and enjoyment of land. Additionally, it is generally understood that a public nuisance may be considered an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public. Thus, either nuisance law ' whether private or public ' could be applicable to Internet bad acts.

Courts have found enough connection with land to sustain private nuisance claims involving annoying telephone calls as a form of communication, according to Brillhardt v. Ben Tipp, Inc., 297 P.2d 232 (Wash. 1956). Thus, a private nuisance claim may be used for Internet bad acts when the Internet is used for communication purposes.

A public nuisance can result from any bad act that may be harmful to the public. Either a government official or an individual, under the appropriate conditions, can bring the public nuisance action.

Courts tend to allow nuisance remedies to address pervasive harms that have insignificant immediate effects, but that cause injury to the public when they persist for a long time. For example, in an Internet context, the owner of a mail server can recover damages for a temporary decrease in the material function of a computer resulting from a spammer's unlawful activities. On any mail server, the decrease in performance for a short time period is a minor aggravation. But, over time, said performance decrease to all mail servers would cause serious harm.

Since civil nuisance actions do not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt to obtain an injunction, they also offer procedural advantages. The use of civil rather than criminal law may result in lower costs because the procedural safeguards required for criminal defendants are not applicable. Since Kilbride, it can be argued that nuisance injunctions could be particularly effective because the court applies national community standards to the Internet.

Conclusion

As noted above, the application of nuisance law to Internet bad acts has already commenced. The public nuisance suit against Craigslist caused it to change the way it handled adult content, and a court supported the notion that a plaintiff could sustain a nuisance suit based on the targeting of minors by Internet cigarette merchants. This type of use of nuisance law is logical and effective, and we should expect to see its continued increase.


Jonathan Bick is Of Counsel to Brach Eichler in Roseland, NJ, and is an adjunct professor of Internet law at Pace Law School and Rutgers Law School-Newark. A member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, he is also the author of 101 Things You Need to Know About Internet Law (Random House 2000). He can be reached at [email protected].

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.

Nuisance Law History

During the 1970s, nuisance law presented an opportunity for controlling obscenity in the era of triple X-rated bookshops, live sex act venues, and adult movie theaters. There is an extensive line of common-law “moral nuisance” cases that is used to control sex-trade-related establishments, bars, and gambling establishments, which could be applied to Internet cases.

Nuisance law has also been used by the environmental movement to address pollution, and by the climate-change movement as a basis for litigation to stop firms from emitting green house gases.

Nuisance law has already been useful in cases involving alleged bad actors on the Internet. In Dart v. Craigslist, Inc. , 665 F.Supp. 2d 961 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 20, 2009), a nuisance suit was brought against Craigslist for facilitating prostitution on the Internet. The court ruled in favor of Craigslist, which, as an Internet service provider, was immune from prosecution for wrongs committed by its users. However, the lawsuit is generally understood to have achieved its objectives because it caused Craigslist to alter its service category in compliance with the plaintiff's demands ' Craigslist changed the name of its erotic category to adult, and applied a manual review process to all submissions in the adult category. In another example, City of New York v. Smokes-Spirits.Com, Inc. , 541 F.3d 425 (2d Cir. 2008), r ev'd on other grounds sub nom Hemi Group, LLC v. City of New York , 130 S. Ct. 983 (Jan. 25, 2010), a nuisance suit was applied to Internet cigarette sellers.

The Process

Nuisance law provides a more efficient and constitutional means of removing obscene, fraudulent and malicious materials from the Internet. Since nuisance litigation generally leads to injunctions rather than a loss of liberty, the procedures for a nuisance injunction are more rapid than criminal proceedings. While nuisance litigation has less harsh remedies than a criminal action, the speed of application of nuisance action is better suited to address Internet activities.

Consider the issue of Internet pornography. The First Amendment generally protects Internet pornography. However, it does not protect obscene Internet pornography. In order to tell the difference, the courts rely on U.S. Supreme Court cases Miller v. California , 413 U.S. 15, 23 (1973), and Roth v. United States , 354 U.S. 476, 485 (1957). In Miller. the Court found that pornography was “obscene” if “the average person, applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,” and “the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law.”

However, Internet pornography creates particular problems in applying the Miller test. An Internet site that is lawfully operating in one state has the potential to violate the “contemporary community standards” in another state. Even though the Ninth Circuit, in United States v. Kilbride , 584 F.3d 1240, 1254 (9th Cir. 2009), found a “national community standard” for use in Internet pornography cases, the issue of Internet pornography is still problematic due to the quantification of that standard.

The First Amendment

Four laws are responsible for the majority of criminal prosecutions related to obscenity on the Internet. First, 18 U.S.C. '1470 (2006) prohibits using any means of interstate commerce to knowingly transmit obscene materials to those under 16 years old. Second, 47 U.S.C. '223(d) (2006) prohibits making interactive obscene material available to those under 18 years old. Third, 47 U.S.C. '231 (2006) makes it a crime to make a commercial communication on the Internet that includes obscenity available to someone under 17 years old. Finally, 18 U.S.C. '2252B (2006) prohibits the use of a misleading Internet domain name to deceive someone into viewing obscene material.

The implementation of these laws is not easy, thanks to the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects some pornography that is not obscene, and the definition of obscenity is not clear. Additionally, Congress's previous attempts to control pornography on the Internet have faltered because of the constitutional problems with restricting indecent, as opposed to obscene, pornography.

Applying Nuisance Law

While the existing criminalization approach to controlling Internet obscenity has not worked well, the application of nuisance law might. In particular, the Restatement (Second) of Torts, '821D (1979), defines a private nuisance as a non-trespassory invasion of another's interest in the private use and enjoyment of land. Additionally, it is generally understood that a public nuisance may be considered an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public. Thus, either nuisance law ' whether private or public ' could be applicable to Internet bad acts.

Courts have found enough connection with land to sustain private nuisance claims involving annoying telephone calls as a form of communication, according to Brillhardt v. Ben Tipp, Inc. , 297 P.2d 232 (Wash. 1956). Thus, a private nuisance claim may be used for Internet bad acts when the Internet is used for communication purposes.

A public nuisance can result from any bad act that may be harmful to the public. Either a government official or an individual, under the appropriate conditions, can bring the public nuisance action.

Courts tend to allow nuisance remedies to address pervasive harms that have insignificant immediate effects, but that cause injury to the public when they persist for a long time. For example, in an Internet context, the owner of a mail server can recover damages for a temporary decrease in the material function of a computer resulting from a spammer's unlawful activities. On any mail server, the decrease in performance for a short time period is a minor aggravation. But, over time, said performance decrease to all mail servers would cause serious harm.

Since civil nuisance actions do not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt to obtain an injunction, they also offer procedural advantages. The use of civil rather than criminal law may result in lower costs because the procedural safeguards required for criminal defendants are not applicable. Since Kilbride, it can be argued that nuisance injunctions could be particularly effective because the court applies national community standards to the Internet.

Conclusion

As noted above, the application of nuisance law to Internet bad acts has already commenced. The public nuisance suit against Craigslist caused it to change the way it handled adult content, and a court supported the notion that a plaintiff could sustain a nuisance suit based on the targeting of minors by Internet cigarette merchants. This type of use of nuisance law is logical and effective, and we should expect to see its continued increase.


Jonathan Bick is Of Counsel to Brach Eichler in Roseland, NJ, and is an adjunct professor of Internet law at Pace Law School and Rutgers Law School-Newark. A member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, he is also the author of 101 Things You Need to Know About Internet Law (Random House 2000). He can be reached at [email protected].

This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473

Read These Next
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws Image

This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.

The Article 8 Opt In Image

The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.

Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin Image

With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.

Legal Possession: What Does It Mean? Image

Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.

The Stranger to the Deed Rule Image

In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.