An Introduction To The Internet And Related Technologies


An Introduction To The Internet And Related Technologies	.
Darrell F. Cook and Dwight H. Merriam, AICP	Author Info

Abstract

In an effort to encourage and facilitate the use of the Internet by lawyers and planners who have yet to explore its advantages, this article provides an overview of the Internet and its origins, electronic mail ("e-mail"), "listserv" lists, newsgroups, World Wide Web ("Web") sites, and legal and planning resources on the Web. A basic understanding of these technologies will place an enormous amount of information at your fingertips, enable you to remain up-to-date on emerging developments in the law and planning practice, and increase your ability to communicate with practitioners, current and potential clients, governmental agencies, and others.

Reprinted with Permission of Zoning and Planning Law Report

The Internet

The Internet, sometimes referred to as the "information superhighway" or "cyberspace," is the world's largest computer network. A computer network is system of interconnected computers that allows for the exchange of information between the computers. The Internet, which links together an innumerable number of smaller networks and computers, is a giant network of computer networks. See American Civil Liberties Union v. Reno, 929 F. Supp. 824, 830-31 (E.D. Pa. 1996) [hereinafter "ACLU v. Reno"]; Erik J. Heels, The Legal List § 0.2.1, at 9 (1995). From the enormous amount of recent publicity on the Internet, one might think that the Internet popped up overnight. Its origins, however, go back approximately twenty-five years to an experimental project by the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects (ARPA).

Created in 1969, the "ARPANET" was a network that linked computers and computer networks owned by the United States military, defense contractors, and university laboratories conducting defense-related research. Messages over the ARPANET were broken into smaller "packets" of information, sent independently to the message's destination, and then reassembled upon arrival. The ARPANET was designed such that a message "packet" could travel any number of routes between its origin and destination. Thus, if part of the network was damaged, such as might happen in a nuclear attack, the message "packet" would be re-routed automatically over another of the multiple routes to its destination. See Shea v. Reno, 930 F. Supp. 916,925-26 (S.D.N.Y. 1996) [hereinafter Shea]; ACLU v. Reno, 929 F. Supp. At 831-32.

The ARPANET gradually evolved beyond its limited origins to connect universities, corporations and other persons around the world. With these changes, its name changed as well-from the "ARPANET" to the "DARPA Internet" to just the "Internet." See ACLU v. Reno, 929 F. Supp. At 831. See also Shea v. Reno, 930 F. Supp. At 925-26 (summarizing the development of the Internet).

The growth of the Internet has been extraordinary, especially in the past seven years. In 1981, fewer than 300 computers were linked to the Internet. By 1989, approximately 90,000 computers were connected. Today, an estimated 9.4 million host computers worldwide are connected to the Internet. See ACLU v. Reno, 929 F. Supp. At 831. In fact, in just the three months from October 31, 1994 until January 31, 1995, an estimated one million host computers were added to the Internet. See G. Burgess Allison, "Technology Update, " Law Practice Management, Vol. 21, No. 3 at 12 (April 1995). The actual number of persons using the Internet is far greater-an estimated forty million people-which is likely to grow to two hundred million by the year 1999. See ACLU v. Reno, 929 F. Supp. At 831.

Electronic Mail

Electronic mail, or "e-mail," is an increasingly popular means of communicating with clients and other practitioners over the Internet. E-mail allows one user on the Internet to send a message to another user on the Internet. The message is addressed to the intended recipient's e-mail address, e.g., dmerriam@rc.com or dcook@law.columbia.edu, and, with a few keystrokes or clicks of the mouse, the message is on its way (an e-mail address may be thought of as a mailbox, or post office box, into which the message is placed).

A single message also may be addressed to multiple e-mail users. Thus, if you are working with several individuals on a project, e-mail is an excellent method to keep all of the project members up-to-date on developments as they occur. Further, in the event that you receive an e-mail message that you wish to share with other individuals, messages may be easily forwarded.

One problem with using e-mail to communicate with clients over the Internet is that your message might be intercepted by a third-party. E-mail uses the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to enable different machines to understand messages from each other; messages are not automatically encrypted, and thus, a third-party would readily understand an intercepted message. Solutions to these confidentiality problems are not within the scope of this article, and you should check with your technical support staff or computer consultant in this regard. See Albert Gidari, "Privilege and Confidentiality in Cyberspace," "The Computer Lawyer," Vol. 13, No. 2, at 1 (Feb. 1996) (providing an introduction to confidentiality and the attorney-client privilege on the Internet); Charles R. Merrill, "E-mail for Attorneys from A to Z," N.Y. St. B.J., May/June 1996, at 22-23 (addressing the "Dark Side" of e-mail via the Internet).

"Listserv" Lists and Newsgroups

A "listserv" list is an automated form of e-mail that allows a user to participate in discussion groups on various topics. See Erik J. Heels, the Legal List, § 0.2.4.1, at 12-13, § 0.2.4.6, at 18. A user subscribes to a discussion group by sending an e-mail message, typically containing the term "subscribe," to the "listserv" program. The program processes this term, and adds the user to a subscription list. Any e-mail sent to the "listserv" program is then distributed to all of the individuals on the subscription list. See Guy Alvarez, "Mailing Lists and Newsgroups, The Real Treasures of the Internet, "N.Y.L.J., Feb. 6, 1996, at 5 [hereinafter Alvarez]; Shea, 930 F. Supp. At 927.

A "listserv" list that may be of interest to land-use lawyers is "DIRT." Although primarily a real-estate lawyers' discussion group, land-use issues often pop up for discussion. The administrator of DIRT, Professor Patrick A. Randolph, Jr. of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, posts a "Daily Development" on DIRT, which is designed to inform and to provoke discussion. The "Daily Development" includes the pertinent facts and holding of a recent court decision, and it offers Professor Randolph's comments and opinions on the decision. Subscribers to DIRT are then invited to respond with comments of their own.

To subscribe to DIRT, an e-mail message containing only the word "subscribe" as the body of the message is sent to DIRT-request@cctr.umkc.edu. If you don't like what you see after you've joined DIRT, simply send an e-mail message containing the term "signoff" to the same address to unsubscribe. For a comprehensive list of other law-related resources on the Internet, including "listserv" lists, see Heels, supra, or visit http://www.lcp.com/The-Legal-List on the Web.

A cautionary note is in order with respect to "listserv" lists: if you subscribe to such a list, be prepared to receive plenty of e-mail. There are inevitably several subscribers to every "listserv" list who apparently have an abundance of time on their hands and feel the need to comment on every message, no matter how mundane or insignificant their comments.

If you with to participate in discussion groups without the flood of e-mail that often accompanies subscription to a "listserv" list, newsgroups may be the answer. Unlike a "listserv" list, any posting to a newsgroup resides in a centralized location, and a copy of the posting is not distributed to individual subscribers. Internet users may browse through and review newsgroup postings that they find interesting, rather than receiving a copy of every posting and respond if they wish. See Shea v. Reno, 930 F. Supp. At 927-28. The choice is yours-"[i]f you would rather get all posts sent to your mailbox, then mailing ["listserv"] lists are for you. If you do not want to clutter up your mailbox and would rather go browsing, then choose newsgroups". Alvarez, supra, at 5.

With the increasing popularity of "listserv" lists and newsgroups among lawyers, ethical considerations have become paramount. Before an attorney solicits group members' comments on a legal issue, or responds to another group member's question, she/he should contemplate whether client-confidentiality obligations will be violated, whether an attorney-client relationship will be created, and whether the attorney will be "conflicted" out of representing an existing or prospective client in a particular matter. A lawyer who chats on the Internet with laypeople, for instance, runs the risk that the person will "seize upon a statement, rely upon it, and apply it to a situation that was never intended by the professional who gave the advice." John P. Patella, "Some Attorneys Warn Colleagues of Repercussions," The Record, June 2, 1996, at N04 (quoting the vice chairman of the malpractice insurance committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association). Attorneys also run the risk that their queries or comments will be monitored by opposing counsel. As observed by two Villanova University law professors, "[s]avvy opposing counsel could create a search mechanism for the lawyer's e-mail address and any posting by that lawyer in a [news] group thereby could be accessed. "See Todd Woody, "Netting Business on the Net, " The Connecticut Law Tribune, May 13, 1996, at 24 (quoting Professors Catherine Lanctot and James Edward Maule). The ethical issues generated by lawyers' growing use of the Internet even prompted the California State Bar to present a seminar entitled "Blasting Off in Cyberspace-Surfing the "Net's Ethical Issues" at a recent statewide ethical symposium. See Todd Woody, "How to Survive the Data Deluge," The Recorder, May 9, 1996, at 4.

The World Wide Web

Of all the Internet-related technologies, the World Wide Web ("the Web") perhaps has generated the most discussion. Developed to ease the difficulty of maneuvering around the Internet, the Web allows Internet users to view elaborate textual and graphical information on-line, and move smoothly between documents containing related information. Prior to the Web, Internet users were only able to exchange messages and access basic text information. See Harry Herington, "Legal Research on the World Wide Web, " Municipal Lawyer, Vol. 37, No. 3, at 28-29 (May/June 1996).

The Web and its accompanying features are made possible through a special computer markup language ("hypertext markup language" or "HTML"). Using this language, words, phrases, and images in a document may be designated as "hypertext" links to other related documents or information. When such a document is displayed on a user's screen, the hypertext links appear as highlighted words or images. By placing the cursor over the highlighted word or image and clicking the mouse button, the user is automatically connected to information related to the text they are reading. The related information may be on another computer on the Internet, possibly located in another state or even a foreign country. See Shea, 930 F. Supp. At 929.

A program called a "Web browser" (e.g., Netscape Navigator(r)) is necessary to view documents created using the computer markup language, and to guide you around the World Wide Web. Reduced to its essential features, a Web browser prompts its user to enter a document's address on the Internet (known as the document's " Uniform Resource Locator" or "URL"), properly displays documents containing hypertext links and HTML formatting codes, and connects users to related information when a hypertext link is clicked upon. See G. Burgess Allison, A Lawyer's Guide to the Internet 60 (1995) (explaining the URL system for locating Internet resources). For example, to visit the American Planning Association's ("APA") web site, a user would type http://www.planning.org at the Web browser prompt, and the Web browser connects the user to that site.

What if you don't know the address of a Web site? Fortunately, most sites may be located by using commercial search engines such as Yahoo(r) (http://www.yahoo.com) or Webcrawler(r) (http://www.webcrawler.com). These programs allow users to enter a search string containing key words or terms, and then return a list of documents on the Web relating to those words or terms. For example, a user could type "American Planning Association Utah" at the Yahoo(r) search prompt, and thereby obtain the location of the Web site operated by the Utah APA Chapter. Search engines are also useful because even if you already know the location of a Web site, their addresses often change. A search engine will often enable you to track down the site's new address.

Although Yahoo(r) and Webcrawler(r) are for-profit services, searches may be conducted at no cost-they are sustained primarily by advertising revenues. See Shea, 930 F. Supp. At 929 n. 10. Unfortunately, a use is not always able to locate a site on the Web directly using these services. For example, typing "American Planning Association" at the Yahoo(r) prompt returns the location of the Utah Chapter's site, but not the location of the national site. The Utah site contains however, a hypertext link to the national site.

As discussed in the following sections, "surfing" from link to link throughout the cyberspace environment of the World Wide Web will open the door to a treasure trove of legal and planning resources.

Legal and Planning Resources on the Web

Many lawyers are finding that the Web offers alternatives to traditional research methods. For instance, the United States House of Representatives hosts a Web site at http://law.house.gov. At that site, attorneys may view the United States Code, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and other legal resources, and they may conduct searches at no cost. However, the searches are fairly simplistic, the on-line codes are not annotated, and researchers should carefully confirm that the codes are not out of date. The site itself contains the following words of caution: "if you are using [the site] for legal research, we urge you to verify your results with the printed Code of Federal Regulations [or U. S. Code] available through the U. S. Government Printing Office." Thus, although the site may be a good starting point, especially to track down a hard-to-find regulation in the vastness of the CFR, users must resort to the printed code or for-profit services such as LEXIS(r) or WESTLAW(r) to ensure accuracy. See Don MacLeod, "The Internet, LEXIS and WESTLAW: A Comparison of Resources for the Legal Researcher," Database, Vol. 19, No. 1, at 50-57 (Feb. 1996) (addressing the pros and cons of researching on the Internet, and stating that reliance by a legal researcher on the text of the codes at the House's web site "would be a breach of professional diligence").

Another site of interest is THOMAS, located on the Web at http://thomas.loc.gov. A service of the United States Library of Congress, THOMAS first went on-line in January of 1995. Unlike the outdated information provided at the House of Representative's site, THOMAS offers up-to-date information on Congress's activities, and it contains bill summaries and texts, committee reports, historical documents, the full text of the Congressional Record, and links to other congressional Internet services. For a detailed synopsis of THOMAS and its offerings, visit the site and click on the link entitled "About THOMAS."

We've discussed several sites of general interest, particularly to lawyers. Now we turn our attention to sites that may be of special interest to planners and land-use and zoning lawyers. Perhaps the greatest repository of information relating to land use, zoning, and planning is the Planning and Architectural Internet Resource Center (PAIRC) at the University of Buffalo. Located on the Web at http://www.arch.buffalo.edu/pairc, the PAIRC offers a variety of information covering topics such as urban planning, architecture, and landscape architecture.

[EDITORS NOTE 7/1/98 ]
Since this article, Dan Tasman, the creator of PAIRC has changed the name of this site to Cyburbia.org, Internet Resources for the Built Environment which can now be reached at http://www.cyburbia.org. It is now even better and worthy of a bookmark.

Once at the site, and index of topics greets the Internet user. A simple click on "Land Use" leads to a list of hypertext links to miscellaneous land-use information, and a click on "List of Links-Planning" brings up a list of links to planning information. The user may also click on "Ordinances and Regulations" to discover a list of links to over fifty zoning codes, ordinances, and regulations. Some of these codes are quite elaborate. For instance, the City of Portland, Oregon offers their full zoning code in an on-line format, complete with zoning district maps and hypertext inks to move among interrelated sections of the code. Boulder County, Colorado's Land Use Code also contains hypertext links enabling the user to jump to related topics as well as definitions while perusing the Code. These sites may be reached directly at, respectively http://www.europa.com/pdxplan/zoning/zonetoc.html and http://www.boco.co.gov/lu/lucode/contents.htm.

Municipal planning departments are also entering the world of cyberspace. Cyburbia offers the most complete list of Planning Departments online at http://www.ap.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/pairc/plan_dep . Many of these provide information on the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) and members, the PZC's meeting schedule and agenda, recent actions by the PZC (i.e., permit approvals), proposed amendments to the zoning regulations, lists of new applications for zoning approval, projects and documents of the department, contact lists, events and other related information. Regional planning agencies are also going "high-tech." For instance, the Southern California Association of Governments is launching its "ACCESS Project" to provide "data on population, employment, housing forecasts, streets and addresses, and other vital planning material for all of [its] 184 member municipalities." G. Berton Latamore "Spinning the Web, "Planning, July 1996, at 20. See id. At 19-22 (describing additional web sites that may be useful in planning practice).

Bar Association Web Sites

Many state and local bar associations have established Web sites. For instance, the Connecticut Bar Association ("CBA") operates a Web site at http://www.ctbar.org. The site offers an on-line version of the CBA's calendar of events, as well as a list of continuing legal education seminars. It also highlights recent Connecticut decisions that may be of interest to Connecticut practitioners, and contains links to other legal resources on the Web. Other state bar associations have established similar sites.

Not to be outdone by state and local bar associations, the American Bar Association ("ABA") has also entered the world of cyberspace. The ABA site contains an excellent set of links to other legal-oriented Web sites containing legislative and judicial resources, such as those discussed in the preceding section. For instance, an individual can jump from the ABA site, located at http://www.abanet.org, to sites containing various state and federal court decisions (e.g., Alaska Kansas, Washington, the United States Courts of Appeal, and many more). Of course, these sites can be reached directly, but it is nice to have a centralized list such as that provided by the ABA.

Law Firm Web Sites

It would be misleading to suggest that a lawyer's use of the Internet and the World Wide Web is limited to legal research or to keep current on bar association events. At an increasing rate, law firms are creating Web sites of their own to market their services or to communicate with clients. As of November 1994, only five law firms had Web sites, however, seven months later the number had jumped to an estimated 500. See William E. Hornsby, Jr., "Ethics Rules for Ads May Cover Web Sites," The National Law Journal, January 29, 1996, at CI. According to a recent report, of the largest 250 law firms in the United States, more than 85 percent now either have or are constructing a home page. Se Miryam Strassberg, "For Research, Marketing Lawyers Spinning the Web; Firms, Bars Find There's No Place Like a Home Page," The Legal Intelligencer, July 3, 1996 at S1.

A typical law-firm Web site may include a history of the law firm, biographies of its partners and associates, an on-line newsletter, articles written by fir members, a summary of the firm's practice areas, and, in some cases, a description of major transactions or litigation in which the firm has been involved. See Lorien L.M.M. Golaski, "Five Chicago Firms Test the Net with Home-Pages; Home-Pages a New Medium for Marketing," Ill. Legal Times, April 1996, at 14 (recommending the content of a Web site homepage). The marketing potential of a firm's Web site, however, may be directly related to the type of legal practice. For example, intellectual property attorneys, immigration lawyers, and those with international dealings may have greater success in gaining new clients with a Web site than would a local probate or divorce lawyer. Se Miryam Strassberg, "For Research, Marketing Lawyers Spinning the Web; firms, Bars Find There's No Place Like a Home Page," The Legal Intelligencer, July 3, 1996, at S1. Nevertheless, with so many law firms establishing an on-line presence, attorneys are rushing to create Web sites so as not to be left behind.

In establishing a Web site, lawyers must meet their ethical obligations. Advertising on theWeb is no different that advertising in any other public media-both a printed and an on-line advertisement shall not contain false or misleading statements, nor shall such ads create unjustified expectations of the lawyer's or law firm's services. See Model Rules of Professional Conduct 7.1(a) and 7.1(b). Nothing about marketing legal services on the Internet precludes the application of state rules of professional conduct. See William E. Hornsby, Jr., "Ethics Rules for Ads May Cover Web Sites," The National Law Journal, January 29, 1996, at C1.

A unique problem arises, however, because the Internet is without geographical boundaries, and there are variations in each state's rules of professional conduct. Thus, determining which state's rules govern a particular Web site in the somewhat unchartered territory of the Internet is a difficult issue. At least one author has opined: "To determine which state rules apply to a law firm marketing its services on the 'Net, the important factors involve the states in which members of the firm are admitted to practice; the states in which the firm is seeking clients; and the states in which the firm in fact practices." Id.

This problem is particularly important in light of several jurisdictions' enactment of specific rules governing lawyer advertising on the Internet. For instances, the Florida and Texas bars have moved to require attorneys to file their Web pages and to seek pre-approval. See Todd Woody, "An Internet Free-for-All, "The Connecticut Law Tribune, June 10, 1996, at 26, Carol McHugh Sanders, "Rush to marketing via Internet could snare law firms in web of advertising rules, "Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, November 17, 1995, at 1. Thus, if attorneys from a Massachusetts' law firm are admitted to practice in Texas, pre-approval of the firm's Web site in accordance with the Texas bar's rules might be required.

Further, just as a lawyer should contemplate the possibility of creating an attorney-client relationship through participation in "listserv" lists and newsgroups, the operator of Web site also runs this risk. As one author questioned, "[i]f a lawyer responds to an e-mail inquiry prompted by her Web page, for instance, has she established an attorney-client relationship? What if the attorney fails to notice that the e-mail is from out of state, and proceeds to provide legal advice. Is she liable for malpractice or for the unauthorized practice of law?" Todd Woody, "Online Law: The Virtues of the Virtual Practice, "The Recorder, April 25, 1996, at 4. Accordingly, disclaimers are a common feature at such sites. "Disclaimers generally inform visitors that the information provided by the Web site is not legal advice, that an attorney-client relationship is created, and so on and so forth. "Id. At 26. For example, a recent message by an attorney to the DIRT discussion group contained the following disclaimer: "Any information in this transmission is intended only as general information and not as legal advice. This transmission is NOT CONFIDENTIAL and does NOT CREATE an attorney-client relationship." As in other areas of the law, a disclaimer may not always provide complete protection.

Conclusion

For those lawyers and planners who have yet to discover the benefits of the Internet, we hope we have sparked your interests. Obviously, there is much more to learn than what we have covered in this introduction to the various technologies and emerging issues. Lawyers who are interested in the Internet and its impact on the practice of law are encouraged to consult G. Burgess Allison, The Lawyer's Guide to the Internet (1995), and planners may with to read G. Berton Latamore, "Spinning the Web, "Planning, July 1996, at 19. Those of you with immediate access to a Web browser are highly encouraged to visit the PAIRC's site at http://www.cyburbia.org.

See you in cyberspace.

NOTE: This article first appeared in the December 1996 issued of Zoning and Planning Law Report and is reprinted with the permission of the publisher. Subscriptions are available by calling (800) 328-4880.

Dwight Merriam
dmerriam@rc.com
is a lawyer with the firm of Robinson & Cole in Hartford Connecticut.

Darrell Cook
dcook@law.columbia.edu
a former colleague of Dwight's, is working on his LL.M. degree at Columbia University.