Advertising and the Law in Cyberspace

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The international aspect of the Internet presents yet another challenge for magazine publishers seeking to sell advertising on their World Wide Web sites. When a publisher displays advertising or a sales promotion on a server in Chicago, Boston or New York, that advertising or promotion may be accessed throughout the world. From a legal perspective, the question is whether countries other than the United States can exert jurisdiction over advertising or promotional material that is deemed unlawful by that foreign country.

In a widely publicized move late last year, CompuServe Inc. blocked access by its subscribers around the world to over 200 sexually explicit Usenet discussion groups and picture databases in response to a charge by a federal prosecutor in Munich that the material violated German pornography and child-protection laws. In effect, the legal and ethical standards of one country's government dictated what the world could access. The CompuServe case illustrates how information uploaded onto the Internet in one country can elicit a negative legal response in another country.

Foreign entities have also felt the effects of "worldwide" advertising on the …