Cyberlaw things to know

by John Bandler

Here are some "things to know" about basic "cyberlaw". Of course, the term "cyberlaw" means different things to different people, but these are part of what I teach in various courses that explore law and technology, cybercrime, cybersecurity, cyberconflict, and more. See my book on the topic too.

If you are a student of mine, you will probably see these questions in the future (though it depends what course you are taking).

Cyberlaw is built on a foundation of _________________________________
- Traditional law
Cyberlaw is a subset of ____________
- Traditional law
What traditional criminal law can be applied against most cybercrime?
- Larceny and theft laws
Most cybercrime is really about what?
- Theft, stealing, greed, profit
If many cybercriminals commit cybercrime for profit, and many are very successful (and earn a lot of illicit profits), what other traditional criminal laws should we think about?
- Money laundering
Virtual currency using the Internet has been around since about ____________________
- 1996
Name two early virtual currencies and their approximate year of creation
- Egold, 1996, Webmoney 1998
Bitcoin has been around since about when?
- About 2008
Cryptocurrency is a type of virtual currency True False
- True
“Value that substitutes for currency” has been around since about ___________
- Early humans, thousands and thousands of years ago
Nation states operate in cyberspace in a variety of ways True False
- True
Nation states use cyberspace to try to influence thought and action and they may use propaganda and disinformation. True False
- True
Lots of organizations and individuals use cyberspace to try to influence what we think and do: True False
- True
How do we become resistant to propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories? (choose one)
- Just Google it and follow the top results like a sheep follows the shepherd.
- Seek facts from reliable sources, be a critical consumer of information, analyze facts, apply reason and logic.
What is cyberlaw anyway?
- "Cyberlaw" is built on a foundation of traditional law, and includes all of these areas: constitutional law, criminal law, civil law, contract law, negligence law, data law including areas of data disposal, data breach notification, cybersecurity, law, privacy law, and the law of warfare and international conflict.
What are four areas of data law (cybersecurity and privacy law) to consider?
- Data disposal, data breach reporting, cybersecurity, privacy
True/False: Cyberlaw is like regular law, it will never affect us in real life.
- False. Cyberlaw affects all of us, everyday, whether we like it or not.
List some laws or regulations that relate to information security
- NYS SHIELD Act, NYS DFS 500, GLBA, SOX, HIPAA/HITECH, FTC Act (sort of)
Why are governments implementing civil laws or regulations requiring information security?
- Protect consumers, prevent cybercrime
The main federal cybercrime statute is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 USC 1030)

Disclaimer

These are short Q&As and cannot be expected to capture all nuances of all terms.

Purpose of this page

This page is a study aid for my students, and a place for me to draw quiz and assignment questions from.

The goal is for students to learn important concepts, especially foundational concepts that provide footholds for learning more complex concepts. This is the learning concept of "scaffolding", where you start low, learn things, build the knowledge and concept complexity up.

I used to emphasize these things only in class, quizzes, and assignments, but then realized more was needed, because by the end of the semester, some students had not learned some of these things. By providing this study page and linking to it, I find that students have more opportunity to study and then learn better.