Table of Contents

Foreword ...... v Preface ...... vii Table of Contents ...... xi Table of Cases ...... xxi Table of Legislation ...... lvii Chapter 1 Introduction Introduction ...... 1 Core Principles that apply to Internet Law ...... 5 Importance of the internet ...... 5 User-generated content ...... 9 Internet v traditional modes of communication ...... 11 Liability of intermediaries ...... 22 The E-Commerce Directive ...... 28 and ...... 42 Norwich Pharmacal orders ...... 43 Glossary of Terms ...... 53 Chapter 2 Anonymity Introduction ...... 67 Administration of Justice in Public ...... 68 Statutory exceptions to the rule ...... 69 Court reporting by the media ...... 73 Court’s discretion to restrict publication of plaintiff’s name ...... 76 Anonymity in other jurisdictions ...... 76 A Plaintiff’s Right to Anonymity in Legal Proceedings ...... 78 Legal Proceedings against Anonymous Defendants ...... 82 Anonymity on the Internet ...... 84 Identifying anonymous unlawful behaviour ...... 85 Anonymity in Proceedings involving the Internet ...... 87 Right to anonymity for online plaintiffs ...... 87 Proceedings against anonymous online defendants ...... 91 Anonymised Privacy Injunctions and ‘Super Injunctions’ ...... 97 Is a plaintiff’s anonymity possible in the internet age? ...... 98 Chapter 3 Privacy What is Privacy? ...... 107 The ...... 110 Constitutional rights generally ...... 111 Constitutional right to privacy ...... 114 The Right to Privacy in Other Jurisdictions ...... 126 Privacy and EU jurisprudence ...... 130

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Right to privacy in a public place ...... 131 Right to privacy at work ...... 135 Right to Privacy and the Internet ...... 136 Online breach of privacy in Ireland ...... 137 Breach of confidence ...... 139 Privacy and revenge porn ...... 141 Right of privacy on social media ...... 142 The right to privacy and online anonymity ...... 146 Liability of Intermediaries for Breach of Privacy ...... 147 Breach of privacy by search engine results ...... 147 Liability for user-generated content ...... 148 Liability for commercial content ...... 153 Privacy in respect of online identification ...... 153 Electronic Privacy ...... 155 Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2011 ...... 156 Proposed ePrivacy Regulation ...... 157 Cookies ...... 158 Defences ...... 159 Freedom of expression ...... 159 Right to internet access ...... 165 Right to privacy v freedom of expression ...... 168 Balancing rights on the internet ...... 171 Freedom of expression and search engines ...... 174 Public interest ...... 183 Consent ...... 184 Waiver ...... 186 Reliefs ...... 187 Injunctions ...... 188 Damages ...... 193 Chapter 4 Data Protection Introduction ...... 199 General Data Protection Regulation ...... 202 What is ‘processing’? ...... 202 Participants in processing ...... 204 Data processor ...... 205 What is ? ...... 210 What is ‘sensitive’ data? ...... 214 Principles of data protection law ...... 214 Limitations to the scope of the GDPR ...... 216 Data Protection Act 2018 ...... 227 Remedies ...... 229 Proceedings in tort ...... 229 Availability of damages ...... 231 Data Protection Commission ...... 236 Criminal proceedings ...... 236 Liability of employer ...... 237

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The Right to Rectification and the Right to Erasure (‘the ’) ...... 239 Google Spain ...... 241 Article 29 Working Party Guidelines ...... 245 Savage v Data Protection Commissioner ...... 249 NT1 & NT2 v Google LLC ...... 254 Right to be forgotten and the ECtHR ...... 262 Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016 ...... 264 Data Processing on the Internet ...... 267 The Google France decision ...... 267 The Planet 49 reference ...... 270 Use of cookies ...... 271 Data processing and websites ...... 275 Data transfer to third countries ...... 277 Data processing and mobile apps ...... 283 Data processing and internet intermediaries ...... 284 Data processing and search engines results ...... 286 Data processing and social media services ...... 288 ...... 291 Chapter 5 Defamation and Other Torts Introduction ...... 295 The Tort of Defamation ...... 296 Challenges of the internet age ...... 298 Particular features of internet defamation ...... 300 Elements of Defamation ...... 301 Publication ...... 301 Proof of publication ...... 302 Publication on social media ...... 306 Republication ...... 309 Hyperlinking ...... 311 Meaning ...... 322 Meaning on the internet ...... 327 Meaning and online reviews ...... 332 Meaning and hyperlinking ...... 344 Identification ...... 352 Internet Publishers ...... 359 Primary v Secondary Publishers ...... 360 Online authors and website operators ...... 362 Internet intermediaries ...... 370 Recent jurisprudence in Australia and New Zealand ...... 383 ECtHR jurisprudence ...... 392 Defences ...... 399 Preliminary applications ...... 400 Truth ...... 401 Absolute privilege ...... 402

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Qualified privilege ...... 403 Fair and reasonable publication on a matter of public interest ...... 405 Honest opinion ...... 407 Innocent publication ...... 408 Other defences ...... 414 Consent ...... 415 Defences in the UK and the US ...... 416 The European Communities (Directive 2000/31/EC) Regulations 2003 ...... 420 Types of intermediary service providers ...... 421 The EC Regulations 2003 ...... 422 Limitation of Actions ...... 427 Reliefs ...... 432 Damages ...... 432 Injunctions ...... 436 Jurisdiction ...... 444 Choice of Law ...... 451 Other Relevant Torts ...... 452 Intentional infliction of emotional suffering ...... 452 Personal injuries ...... 459 Malicious falsehood ...... 459 Negligence ...... 465 Chapter 6 Contract Introduction ...... 467 Contracts on the Internet ...... 468 Formation of contracts ...... 470 Offer and acceptance ...... 471 Consideration ...... 473 Incorporation of contractual terms ...... 474 Contracts without human involvement ...... 485 Consent to jurisdiction clauses in online terms and conditions ...... 487 Modification of contractual terms ...... 494 Mistake ...... 495 Formal and evidential requirements ...... 496 Digital signatures ...... 498 The Sale of Goods and Consumer Protection in Ireland ...... 498 Sales of Goods and Supply of Services Acts 1893–1980 ...... 500 The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1995 ...... 501 The Consumer Sales Regulations 2003 ...... 501 Proposed legislation ...... 502 Legislation concerning information to be provided ...... 503 Legislation on Unfair Commercial Practices ...... 504 Distance contracts ...... 507 EU Provisions on Consumer Rights ...... 512 Digital Content ...... 518 EU legislation on Digital content ...... 519 The Digital Content Directive ...... 520 The ‘Gig Economy’ and ‘Sharing Economy’ ...... 524

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Marketing and Advertising of Goods and Services Online ...... 529 Unsolicited emails/ ‘spam’ ...... 531 Discriminatory online advertising ...... 536 Online pharmacies ...... 537 Online auctions ...... 538 Online gambling ...... 540 Electronic Money ...... 542 Jurisdiction ...... 543 Choice of Law ...... 550 Chapter 7 Intellectual Property Introduction ...... 553 Patents ...... 554 Common Issues concerning Intellectual Property Rights ...... 556 Jurisdiction ...... 557 Choice of law ...... 559 Damages ...... 559 Other remedies ...... 559 Costs orders ...... 561 Copyright ...... 563 Introduction ...... 563 The Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 ...... 568 International and EU provisions ...... 572 The InfoSoc Directive ...... 573 What is communication to the public? ...... 576 Moral rights ...... 579 The Digital Copyright Directive 2019 ...... 580 Copyright and the internet ...... 584 Infringement of rights via the internet ...... 587 Copyright infringement via social media ...... 595 Copyright infringement via an App ...... 597 Copyright infringement via hyperlinking ...... 598 Liability of users for breach of copyright ...... 611 Liability of intermediaries ...... 612 Liability of search engines ...... 612 Liability of online content sharing service providers ...... 615 Liability of internet access providers ...... 616 Defences ...... 637 Remedies ...... 639 Injunctions ...... 640 Costs orders ...... 643 Criminal liability ...... 645 Jurisdiction ...... 645 Trade Marks ...... 648 Introduction ...... 648 Function of a trade mark ...... 649 Classification of Trade Marks ...... 651

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Trade Marks Act 1996 ...... 652 Grounds for refusing the registration of a trade mark ...... 653 Use of a trade mark ...... 657 Infringement of registered trade marks ...... 660 European Union (Trade Mark) Regulations 2018 (SI 561/2018) (‘2018 Regulations’) ...... 664 Trade Marks and the internet ...... 665 1. Trade mark registrations and the internet ...... 665 2 Use of a mark on the internet ...... 666 3 Trade marks and domain names ...... 671 4 Trade mark infringement by websites ...... 678 5 Metatags, keywords and sponsored links ...... 684 6 Liability of internet intermediaries for keywords ...... 690 7 Liability of advertisers for keywords ...... 700 Defences ...... 707 Remedies ...... 713 Jurisdiction ...... 714 Passing Off ...... 717 Introduction ...... 717 Existence of goodwill in the goods or services ...... 721 Goodwill v Reputation ...... 722 Misrepresentation to the public ...... 731 Damage to the goodwill ...... 736 Passing off and the internet ...... 737 Goodwill on the internet ...... 737 Misrepresentation via the internet ...... 740 Domain name disputes and passing off ...... 742 Cybersquatting ...... 749 Domain Names ...... 762 Introduction ...... 762 What is a domain name? ...... 763 How domain names are issued ...... 764 Disputes over domain names ...... 765 How do you bring a claim for infringement? ...... 766 Grounds for a complaint ...... 767 Summary of decisions ...... 768 Reverse domain name hijacking ...... 776 Chapter 8 Cyber Crime Introduction ...... 779 Computer Misuse ...... 779 Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 ...... 780 Criminal Justice (Offences Relating to Information Systems) Act 2017 ...... 780 Case law ...... 782 Online fraud ...... 785

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Child Sexual Offences and Child Pornography ...... 787 Legislation ...... 788 Domestic legislation ...... 788 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 ...... 790 Online child pornography ...... 794 Online grooming ...... 805 Coercion offences ...... 807 Liability of internet intermediaries ...... 809 Cyber Harassment ...... 811 Introduction to harassment ...... 811 Definitions of harassment, bullying, cyber harassment and cyber bullying ...... 812 Difficulty with current legislation ...... 815 Statutory provisions ...... 816 Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 ...... 817 Communications Regulation (Amendment) Act 2007 ...... 822 Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 ...... 824 Proposed legislation ...... 824 Other potential remedies ...... 830 Remedies in tort ...... 832 Harassment in other jurisdictions ...... 834 Cyber harassment ...... 838 Cyber stalking ...... 841 Bullying and harassment in schools and the workplace ...... 841 Revenge porn ...... 848 Other forms of cyber harassment ...... 852 Online ...... 855 Trolling ...... 859 Liability of intermediaries ...... 861 Injunctions against internet intermediaries ...... 865 Bringing proceedings anonymously ...... 867 Remedies ...... 869 Hate Speech ...... 874 Hate speech in this jurisdiction ...... 875 Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989 ...... 875 Online hate speech ...... 876 Contempt of Court ...... 880 Criminal Contempt ...... 881 Civil Contempt ...... 882 Contempt of court via the internet ...... 884 Breach of anonymity orders ...... 885 Contempt by media via online publication ...... 888 Prejudice due to existing online publications ...... 890 Contempt by jurors ...... 892 Use of internet by jurors during trial ...... 893

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Chapter 9 Competition What is Competition Law? ...... 897 Competition law v Intellectual Property rights ...... 898 The Main Statutory Provisions ...... 902 The Competition Act 2002 ...... 903 The ECN+ Directive ...... 904 Anti-competitive Agreements ...... 906 What is anti-competitive conduct? ...... 906 What is an undertaking? ...... 907 Anti-competitive agreements via the internet ...... 909 Exemptions ...... 917 Cartel Immunity Programme ...... 917 Abuse of a Dominant Position ...... 917 What is a market? ...... 918 What is a dominant position? ...... 919 Requirement for that dominant position to be abused ...... 921 How abuse may occur ...... 923 Significant EU cases ...... 927 Mergers and acquisitions ...... 932 Remedies ...... 933 Chapter 10 Employment Introduction ...... 941 Existence of Social Media Guidelines ...... 943 Discipline and Dismissal Law ...... 948 Dismissal arising from Improper Internet Use ...... 950 Inappropriate Internet Use at Work ...... 950 Extent of internet usage ...... 955 Social media usage ...... 957 Extent of usage at work ...... 957 Nature of usage at work ...... 958 Inappropriate Internet Use outside of Work ...... 960 Personal internet usage ...... 960 Personal social media usage ...... 962 in respect of Facebook posts ...... 965 Airing personal opinions on social media ...... 968 Breach of clause on social media ...... 970 Soliciting work from employer’s clients ...... 971 Employer’s Right to Monitor ...... 972 Employer’s right to monitor v right to privacy of employee ...... 972 Bringing employer into disrepute ...... 975 Bullying and Harassment of Employees ...... 982 Bullying of employees ...... 983 Harassment of employees ...... 984 Liability of employees ...... 985

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Vicarious Liability of Employers ...... 986 Vicarious liability for employee’s actions ...... 987 Vicarious liability in other jurisdictions ...... 996 The Gig Economy ...... 997 The Internet and Recruitment ...... 1001 Internet misuse after termination of employment ...... 1002 Use of company contacts after resignation ...... 1004 Whistleblowing ...... 1007 Chapter 11 Practice and Procedure Jurisdiction ...... 1011 Brussels I Regulation Recast ...... 1011 Special jurisdiction ...... 1013 Forum non conveniens ...... 1015 Choice of Law ...... 1017 Contract ...... 1017 Tort ...... 1018 Competition law ...... 1018 Intellectual property ...... 1019 Service ...... 1019 Has the correct party been served? ...... 1019 Service on Internet intermediaries ...... 1020 Method of service ...... 1020 Service via text message ...... 1021 Service via email ...... 1021 Service via social media ...... 1023 Notification of injunctions by electronic means ...... 1025 Use of Electronic Technology by the Court ...... 1026 Use of social media by the court and its officers ...... 1027 Use of social media in court by the public ...... 1028 Discovery ...... 1031 Electronic documents ...... 1032 Electronic discovery ...... 1033 Are social media accounts discoverable? ...... 1037 Privilege ...... 1040 Electronic Evidence ...... 1042 Gathering of evidence of internet usage ...... 1043 Use of evidence from social media ...... 1045 Evidence from social media in personal injuries proceedings ...... 1050 Social media evidence in other proceedings ...... 1054 Freezing of Facebook accounts for evidential purposes ...... 1055 Social media posts as aggravating factors in sentencing ...... 1055 Identification evidence from social media ...... 1056

Index ...... 1063

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