Finding Jurisdiction to Regulate Google and the Internet
Abstract
In the recent case of Football Dataco v Sportradar, the High Court determined that questions of online jurisdiction hinge on the location of the web-server at hand.This paper aims first to highlight the flaws of this approach and, using Google's privacy policy as an example, to draw attention to the online dangers that it facilitates. This paper aims secondly to show that a better alternative would be to premise jurisdiction on the effects, as opposed to presence, within a particular forum. The issues of policy, certainty and enforceability will be considered, in relation to personal jurisdiction law as applied in the EU and US, so as to conclude that questions of online jurisdiction should instead hinge on the commercial effects of the conduct in question.
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