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Cyber law: framing the future?

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03 March 2021 / Dean Armstrong KC , Paul Schwartfeger
Issue: 7923 / Categories: Features , Cyber , Technology , Cybercrime
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From modest beginnings, cyber law is now a recognised disruptor, shaping & challenging the future of litigation. But what is cyber law? As part of a new NLJ cyber series, Dean Armstrong QC & Paul Schwartfeger, 36 Commercial, provide a short history of the laws, crimes & definitions associated with cyber law & share some predictions for the future

Twenty-five years have passed since US Court of Appeals Judge (and lecturer) Frank H Easterbrook suggested in his legendary paper that there was no more a law of cyberspace than there was a ‘law of the horse’ (Frank H Easterbrook, ‘Cyberspace and the Law of the Horse,’ 1996 University of Chicago Legal Forum 207 (1996)). Yet even now, when many readily describe themselves as cyber lawyers, and despite a sizeable back catalogue of cyber law matters to draw on, trying to define what cyber law is can still prove challenging.

When asked ‘what is cyber law?’, one frequently resorts to listing examples of major cybercrimes (think WikiLeaks,

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