Information society geared by development and convergence of computer, Telecommunication and broadcasting technologies – called, information and communication technologies (ICTs) – today destructively as well as creatively shifts paradigms of industries and life styles in many countries.
There has been in tradition legislation designed to regulate various aspects of human activities. It used to be relatively easy for legislators to enact laws when a particular area of human activity needs to be regulated.
Now, with the revolution of ICTs, it is not new activities per se but ways that people conduct their activities need to be regulated. Indeed, the ways of conducting human activities have substantially changed with the advent of technological revolution especially in the information or cyber era.
ØCyber law is a growing field concerned with the legal issues related to the use of World Wide Web information and communication technology.
ØIts jurisdiction is cyberspace (a space across geographical borders as depicted by J.P Barlow in his Declaration of the Independence of the Cyberspace).
ØThe internet becomes a matter of concern for international lawyers and governments, among other issues, for its lack of respect for jurisdictional boundaries, the capacity of data, the traffic it can handle at one time and the anonymity of the user who could be in a different location than the server.
ØTo address these issues, the field of Cyber law was created.
ØSo, Cyber law fills in the gap where the ability of the existing law to fulfill its goals is challenged.
ØAs a field of study, Cyber law cut across the length and breadth of traditional law.
ØIt has a wide and great scope in the corporate field.
ØStudents who are experts in cyber law are huge in demand and are paid handsomely.
ØThe rapid growth of the information technology has lead to a situation where the existing laws are challenged.
ØIt deals with computer hackers and people who introduce viruses to the computer.
ØCyber Law prevents or reduces the damage from cybercriminal activities by protecting information access, privacy, communications, intellectual property (IP) and freedom of speech related to the use of the Internet, world wide web (WWW), email, computers, cell phones, software and hardware, such as data storage devices.