The Roundtable
Welcome to the Roundtable, a forum for incisive commentary and analysis
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.
on cases and developments in law and the legal system.
By Edgar Palomino
Edgar Palomino is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying political science. The Internet is ubiquitous in our lives. It is increasingly crucial as an economic and social backbone. It is therefore important to pay some attention to the formation of law concerning the Internet. This series of posts will deal with selected topics in Internet law. The purpose of this initial post is to introduce some thinking about jurisdiction relating to the Internet. In his “Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”, on Feb. 8, 1996, John Barlow unequivocally argues that the Internet is utterly and wholly separate from the physical world and the governments therein. Therefore, anything can happen on the Internet and have no accountability in the physical world; the Internet is its own sovereign space. What, then, are the laws in this domain? Where does order come from? Barlow insists that the rules of the Internet will be norms, established by webizens amongst themselves. Any issues that arise in the Internet will be dealt with using said norm [1]. Naturally, this view did not find any support among the many nations of the world. That is because it does not make any sense. Sovereign nations should, can, and do have control over the lives and protection of their citizens. Servers reside somewhere.
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By Marco DiLeonardo
Marco DiLeonardo is a junior a the University of Pennsylvania studying International Relations. The environment encompasses a wealth of natural resources, a seemingly bottomless pit of waste, and a foundation to industries such as tourism. It is cast aside in the modern age of technology and industrialization as a mere inconvenience to a global, interdependent economy. It benefits all, yet the costs are attributed to no individual. Through the large scale manufacturing of the current world order, the environment is in peril due to climate change. This global phenomenon is nearly impossible to address due to the vast, complex, and interdependent markets and polarized differences in opinion on how to approach the issue. Specific countries have no stake or benefit in protecting the environment, only costs. Moreover, there is the concern of violating national sovereignty in international environmental regulation. Finally, there are divergences in the North-South dilemma: the countries in the North tend to be at a more advanced stage of financial and political development, while the Southern hemisphere features fragile, fledgling economies. Since the focal point of environmental pollution is the external effects of producing energy, the only method to combat climate change is through a novel, inexpensive, and clean alternative. By Sanjay Dureseti
Sanjay Dureseti is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania. Drawing concrete lines between the United States’ deeply entrenched religious influence and its political institutions has always been an impossible task. From Thomas Jefferson’s efforts to prevent the Church of England’s stranglehold on Virginia’s colonial government to modern-day protests against public school prayer, the country’s legal history is filled with instances of the enduring battle between religious liberty and federal regulation. The separation of church and state finds its roots in the Constitution- specifically, in the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. While the Supreme Court’s view of the Establishment Clause has evolved over the years, modern interpretational precedent was set in Everson v. Board of Education (1947).The case expanded the Establishment Clause beyond the purview of the federal government, as it used the Due Process Clause to bind states to the same standard of religious neutrality that Congress abides by. [1] The decision allowed the development of a more secular brand jurisprudence throughout the twentieth century. In addition, cases like Flast v. Cohen (1968), which permitted taxpayers to take legal action against governmental support for religion, and Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), which restricted federal funding to parochial schools, have ensured the Establishment Clause’s wide-ranging application. [2][3] |
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