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October 2002 Volume 3, Issue 10
Editors Cherie W. Blackburn Robert W. Pearce, Jr. John C. McElwaine
1-800-237-2000 Nelson Mullins has more
than 275 attorneys firm-wide, with over 25 attorneys having
significant representation of e-commerce clients in areas including
patent, copyright and trademark protection; business planning,
securities and venture capital; and licensing, distribution and
contract preparation. Atlanta Contacts Neil Grayson Cherie
Blackburn Robert
Pearce John
McElwaine Charlotte Contact Jason
Sprenkle Myrtle Beach Contact Franklin
Daniels Columbia Contact Mark Dukes Greenville Contact Marvin
Quattlebaum William
Herlong CyberWatch is an Internet Law Group news digest published as a service to Nelson Mullins’ clients and friends. The articles are summaries of particular developments in the law and are not intended to be a solicitation or to render legal advice. This publication can be considered advertising under applicable laws.
CyberWatch
is a trademark of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, L.L.P. |
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State of Virginia Fires Web Surfers The Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Transportation (“VDOT”) has terminated seven full-time workers and fired eight temporary workers for a little too much time spent surfing on the Internet. An internal audit by VDOT found that 17 of the workers spent several hours a day surfing Internet pornography sites. In addition, the temporary workers were spending much of their time viewing sites such as ESPN, AOL and eBay on matters unrelated to their work. The auditors for VDOT said that they stopped counting the amount of time spent on the various sites by the 25 fired workers after two hours of repeated use on a daily basis. A VDOT spokesperson said that all of the offenders were men and that their positions will not be refilled in the belief that their positions are likely not necessary if the workers could spend so much time surfing Internet sites. In addition, 61 other employees were reprimanded for inappropriate use of the Internet and each was suspended for two weeks without pay. Workers at VDOT are reminded that when they log on to their computers they are being monitored following the passage, by Virginia, of a state law barring all state workers from viewing sexually-explicit material on state-owned computers. Credit: washtimes.com Senate Candidate Dole Sued for Spam E-mail North Carolina Senatorial candidate Elizabeth Dole has been sued under North Carolina’s new anti-spam legislation. The Dole campaign has been sending out e-mail notices to supporters, reporters and others as the campaign has unfolded and apparently a spam lawsuit has been filed by a supporter of the Senate candidate opposing her in the November election. The suit is seeking a grand total of $80 in damages but the Court has set a date for its initial hearing on November 18h, which is 13 days after the election. The Dole campaign has responded by saying that North Carolina’s anti-spam law does not apply since the Dole e-mails are not commercial in nature. Credit: thehearldsun.com Baseball Playoffs Available on the Internet Major League Baseball is moving slowly but surely in its efforts to make baseball’s playoffs this year available on the Internet. Pay-per-view Web casts of the playoffs are available only to overseas fans this year. The Web casts are available in overseas markets not covered by television rights owned by the television networks. Baseball has also recently put live streams of its playoff games on cell phones nationwide in an effort to broaden the ability of fans to follow the games in progress. Credit: atnewyork.com Amber Alerts Expand to the Web In November 2002, America Online will begin sending alerts about abducted children via the Internet to AOL members. The alerts will be applicable to the states in which the members reside. AOL members will have the option to receive the alerts on computer, on pagers and on cell phones. The alerts will be targeted to the city, county and/or state from which the alert originates and can then be expanded beyond that. To date, approximately 95 percent of the cities, counties and states which have Amber Alerts in place have agreed to participate with AOL in spreading the messages via the Internet. Credit: fcw.com Nigerian Online Fraud Schemes Anger US The U.S. government has grown so frustrated with the online fraud schemes originating out of Nigeria that the government has given Nigeria until November 2002 to initiate steps to decrease such criminal schemes or face international sanctions. These schemes have defrauded victims of tens of millions of dollars according to the U.S. government. The anonymity of the Internet has provided these scam artists which huge windfalls. Much to the chagrin of other governments, financial fraud is now reportedly one of the three largest industries in Nigeria. These scam artists send unsolicited e-mails, faxes and letters proposing business deals that require a victim to pay an advance fee, transfer tax or performance bond to the sender of the message. The victims are then informed that “complications” have arisen and they are “required” to send additional payments. Since the early 1980’s when these scams first reached prominence, victims have been defrauded of an estimated $5 billion dollars. As technology literacy has improved rapidly through government aid, other countries in the region including Ghana, Liberia, Togo and the Ivory Coast have also seen a significant rise in criminal activity based on the Nigerian fraud schemes. The Nigerian government claims to have established a special fraud unit that has made many arrests, but surprisingly no one has been successfully prosecuted yet according to news accounts. Credit: idgnewsservice.com |
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