Recent developments in e-commerce law and in the e-commerce industry.

Recent cases in e-commerce law and in the e-commerce industry.

Bloggers can be held liable for defamatory statements posted on their sites, regardless of whether the statements were original comments generated by the blogger or whether he or she republished the statements that someone else made.<br>The good news, though, particularly for bloggers and counsel who advise and represent enterprises where blogs are likely to be created and used (say, for instance, e-commerce or technology companies that supply or deal extensively with e-businesses), is that just as with traditional print publications, bloggers may raise a defense against defamation claims under Internet communication-protection statutes and the First Amendment.

Given the sensitive nature of attorney/client files, the challenge is how to give attorneys the ability to exchange the information in a secure way. Strategically, security is the easier part of the problem; the bigger issue is how to facilitate the exchange so that users are in control of the process instead of having to call for IT support every time information must be exchanged.

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'Should I stay or should I go?'<br>That was the question that those classic '80s punk rockers The Clash asked in a song by the same title about a romance gone awry. That's just a song, though.<br>But, interestingly enough, that hard-driving ditty is applicable to the world of e-business: The entrepreneur contemplating the future of his or her business ' a love built of the same good times and bad, and with the same blood, sweat and tears as a real-life romance ' confronts the same dilemma when it's time to make that decision: Should he stay or should he go? How could a person not expect such perseveration? When an entrepreneur reads about the rapid rise of YouTube from startup to $1.65 billion buyout, he or she can easily forget about the many new firms that fail, and instead imagine being the personification of ' or fantasize about ' having a company that becomes the next tech-economy icon.

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Although landlords and tenants often have different views on various topics, they share a common interest in protecting their premises against theft. Until recently, security considerations were generally limited to decisions concerning appropriate locks and the installation of stout hardware. In the new millennium, however, securing electronic entryways to premises may be of even greater importance, and it behooves landlords and tenants alike to keep abreast of developments in computer-related security breaches. In particular, landlords and tenants must be alert to a variety of identity theft threats, including phishing scams, in which they receive an e-mail from a seemingly reputable company (eg, a tenant receives an e-mail that appears to be from the landlord) that attempts to obtain personal information from the recipient when in fact the e-mail was sent by an identity thief.

In reviewing a draft of another party's form commercial retail lease, much time and effort is expended in analyzing the lease relative to the agreed-upon letter of intent and/or applying a client's leasing parameters into the lease. Many times the signature block is viewed as the proverbial 'goal line,' so if you can make it to the signature block, you are at the conclusion of your review; however, to review the form lease adequately and completely, one must continue the review and analyze all the exhibits attached to the form lease.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) to offshore service providers has become an integral part of the global economy ' and integrally 'e' ' finding particular success in the financial services, health care and IT industries.<br>Studies confirm that offshore BPO will not only continue to grow, but accelerate in the years to come. One study projects that by 2010, the world's 100 largest financial institutions will move $400 billion of their cost base offshore, saving an average of just under $1.5 billion annually each. <br>This explosive trend will continue to create economic, political, cultural and legal challenges for all types of companies dealing with personal data and the regulations that cover the collection, movement, storage and accessing of it ' in the United States and abroad. And, given the popularity of financial services and health care BPO, privacy concerns are certain to figure largely in these challenges. This article provides an overview of some of the legal and practical implications of BPO to offshore vendors.