Every one of us uses the Internet on a daily basis, and we rarely wonder if our actions are still within the limits of the law or maybe something we do could be considered as breaking the rules or even illegal. Have you ever wondered what can you do and what is banned, prohibited or simply considered wrong? Here are some examples of actions that are lawful and the ones that are most definitely not.
The idea of digital rights
One of the most important aspects of online regulations are digital rights. In the world of the Internet, it is especially challenging to draw a clear line between what is allowed by law and what is not. It is even more difficult to execute these rules. The blurred line that makes a lot of trouble is regarding theft. Stealing someone’s property in the real world is strictly punished by law because it is much easier to prove the guilt. When it comes to the digital world, plagiarism, which is a form of theft of someone’s intellectual property, is posing a great challenge. The same problem occurs in the case of illegal downloading of music, games and films.
Digital rights are much broader, and they also cover other issues than theft. Generally, they are about protecting people’s rights to create and publish, use and access digital media, computers, telecommunication networks and all electronic devices in the digital world. In some way, they are the natural extension of basic human rights, as the global world has becoming more digitalized every year, and the number of people with access to the Internet is only growing.
Internet law for companies
The law in the online world concerns private users as much as companies running a business and owning websites. Every action a given business takes needs to be within the boundaries of the internet law. The regulations include online marketing, privacy policy, storing data and other issues. The idea behind certain laws for the companies operating online is to protect the customers, in some cases especially, for instance, when it comes to such platforms as online casinos. The players might have questions and doubts, so the owner of the platform needs to provide answers, make clear rules of using the website and inform the players about their rights and duties. It cannot be hidden from a user how and when they can win money and what conditions need to be fulfilled to allow the player to withdraw the money. Another issue is the legal matter of such entertainment. Not every country allows gambling, so the website needs to make sure that the player is secured, and the customer has to know on what grounds their entertainment is perceived as safe. Platforms such as Casinos.co.za meet these demands, and the players can make informed and conscious decisions whether they want to try their luck at an online casino.
Regular users online
The laws and regulations of the online world apply not only to commercial users, but also to private ones. A regular person can break the rules as easy as a large company. In this case, however, it’s frequently an unintended action, as usually, Internet users lack knowledge about the regulations in the online world. The most common guilt of private users is downloading music, games and films from an illegal source. However, no less frequent is the theft of someone’s intellectual property, meaning articles, posts and all kinds of texts as well as pictures and graphic elements. Everyone needs to remember that whenever they share something found on the Internet, including on social media, they need to provide a source of this piece of content. They cannot make it look as if they were the author of the text or picture if they are not one.
Every Internet user should have at least basic knowledge about their rights and duties when it comes to the online world. While streaming music and films is right and legal as long as you pay for it, downloading it from a suspicious source without having to pay for it is basically a crime.
