Newspaper Articles

This collection of articles was published in the Detroit Legal News from 1995-1997. All were written in the infancy of the modern Internet, before the landscape surrounding Internet legal and business issues began to develop. Access to the Internet largely consisted of dial-up connections on a 14.4 kbs modem or slower. Both the technology and state of the law have evolved considerably since these were first published.

Web Browsing Isn't Hard

Originally published March 6, 1996

E-mail may be the most utilized feature of the Internet, but the World Wide Web is the most popular.

While most lawyers have never actually seen a Web site, anyone who has picked up a newspaper, magazine or watched television lately has seen a Web address. You know, that http://www thing.

Prior to the introduction of the Web, the Internet was dominated by the government, academia and computer hobbyists. The interface was text-only screens operating primarily on Unix platforms.

The Web began in earnest in the early 1990s with the introduction of full color graphic interfaces and hypertext links. It can be accessed in its full glory. by users of virtually any type of personal computer employing a mouse, from IBM-clone to Macintosh.

Though still an infant, the Web's presence is already widespread. Business, government, educational and entertainment usage of the Web is growing exponentially. Free or inexpensive legal resources abound. The media hype regarding the roll-out of the mammoth (and expensive) General Motors Web site is but one indicator of the increasing popularity of the Web.

Web resources are available in text, still picture, sound and video. However, music and video transmissions contain significantly more digitized information than pure text transmissions. As a result, their current availability via modem and telephone lines is slow and limited.

It is expected that preexisting cable networks will fill the bandwidth void associated with telephone modem connections to the Internet, This should increase both the speed and ease of Internet access.

For example, cable communications giant Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) just announced that it will begin offering cable access to the Internet in East Lansing and other areas, It is estimated that TCI Internet hook-ups will be 250 to 700 times faster than Web access via a 28.8 baud modem. Sound and video offerings will not pose problems or slowdowns on a fiber optic or coaxial cable connection.

Several companies are currently developing cable television-type converters with remote portable keyboards. In conjunction with cable Internet access, these features will allow simultaneous reception of traditional television and the interactive, information-on-demand Web. This should facilitate a broader Web resource base and bring the Web out of the office and into the living room.

The Web can currently be accessed through commercial on-line service providers such as America OnLine (AOL), Prodigy and Compuserve. If you simply want to get the best of the Internet without the per hour usage charges common among commercial providers, numerous local and national on-line service providers are springing up around the country.

Given the relatively low start-up costs associated with providing Internet access, flat rate charges of under $20 per month are common. In seeking an Internet service provider, fast modem access speeds (28.8. bps or better) and local phone access are among the most important prerequisites. You should also ask for the customers-per-line ratio.

Most personal computers purchased today are equipped to access the Internet and the Web. A good computer by today's standards lips a Pentium processor, 8 to 16 RAM (operating. memory), a Super VGA monitor and a 28.8. bps modem. A good home package with complete multimedia applications costs around $2,000. While systems with less horsepower are adequate for text, they can be extremely slow for graphics.

Once you get your computer hooked up, there are two key tools used to explore the vast resources of the Web: Web browsers and search engines.

Web browsers are the user screens for accessing the Web and other Internet resources. Netscape's Navigator is by far the market leader. Navigator and other newer browsers allow integrated access to the Web, FTP, email and security features from a single user interface. Many browsers coming to the market in 1996 will incorporate PGP or other encryption features to facilitate business transactions on the Web.

Browsers allow you to access, download or print text, pictures, audio, video and software with a few clicks on the mouse. Browsers contain numerous features to customize usage and organize and store Internet addresses, known as URLs.

If you know or discover a URL, you simply type it into the tool bar on the screen. If the resource is worthwhile, the URL can be stored in a "bookmark" to facilitate later access.

While browsers help you locate resources, search engines help you access them. A search engine is simply an interface for searching for information or resources on a particular topic. Most lawyers are familiar with the Lexis and Westlaw search tools. Internet search engines operate in the same fashion.

Search engines, many of which are supported by advertising, are free to users. Different search engines have different features. For example, Digital's Alta Vista (altavista.digital.com) contains a brief description of all sites, the address, date and size (to facilitate downloading).

Other common search engines are Yahoo, AOL's Webcrawler and Infoseek. Since URLs must be added to a search engine to become part of the resource data base, identical queries can turn up different results depending on the search engine.

If you are using the Internet, a site with links to literally dozens of search engines' (including specialized topics) is the Montana Communications Network's site at www.mcn.net/ search.html. The site is organized by general and specific search topics to facilitate inquiries.

Increasing usage of the Web will create a variety of widespread legal demands. Businesses are flocking to the Web for direct marketing, advertising and fee-based services. Lawyers are turning to the Web for research and marketing purposes.

The legal implications of Web-driven commerce and increasing use of electronic and information technology will create new challenges for lawyers, regardless of whether they ever turn on a computer. Web-related legal and business issues will be examined in detail in the next several columns.