Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Florida Law Review Forum
Publication Date
2013
Abstract
This brief solicited response addresses Prof. Jacqueline Lipton's article "Law of the Intermediated Information Exchange," which appeared in 64 Florida Law Review 1337 (2012). Prof. Lipton's ambitious project is to provide a unifying theory of cyberlaw, at the heart of which lies her proposal to reframe the field as a law of the global intermediated information exchange. I mainly discuss three critiques of her work. First, I raise the question of whether a significant focus on intermediaries will not inherently engender a mentality of attempting choking at the simplest choke point, whether other interests are at stake or not. Second, I argue that jurisdictional issues will remain present independent of the importance of intermediaries because we have to resolve the significant problem of legal diversity in a connected world. Third, I show that cyberlaw is not the only area of the law in which intermediaries play a key role, which raises some questions as to using the intermediary-heavy nature of the Internet as its main legal distinguishing feature. In summary, I conclude that Prof. Lipton’s piece encourages us to recognize the necessity of understanding the key role of information intermediaries, but that our work remains cut out for us to color in the important lines that she has drawn.
Recommended Citation
Irina D. Manta,
A Horse is Not Always a Horse, of Course, 65 Fla. L. Rev. Forum 50
(2013)
Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/faculty_scholarship/638