CHAPTER FOUR
MATTERS ARISING FROM ICT UTILIZATION
4.1 Introduction
Having
x – rayed the emergence, meaning, significance and challenges of ICT in Nigerian
legal profession in the preceding chapters, we shall look proper into legal
matters arising from the utilization of ICT in Nigerian legal profession in
this chapter.
Nonetheless,
we shall examine the mode the internet is used to generate defamation. We shall
also see how trademark, copyright and intellectual property laws are violated
in the internet.
We
shall evaluate the meaning of internet/computer crimes and abuses and various
categories of computer crime.
Similarly
however, we shall analyze ICT skills and its relevance to Nigerian legal
profession.
Finally, we
shall look into legal issues associated with the formation of electronic
contracts.
4.2 Defamation in the Internet
Defamation means:
The
publication of a statement which tends to lower a person in the estimation of
right-thinking members of society generally; or which tends to make them shun
or avoid that person.[1]
Notwithstanding
the above definition, to defame means: “to attack the good reputation of some
one by saying something unfavourable about them.’’[2]
Thus,
defamation or libel on the internet is one of the hot topics of internet law.[3]
Any
lawyer looking at the problem of internet libel is struck by the fact that it has an
inherently transactional nature. Because of the international connectivity of
the internet, its speedy transmission of huge amounts of data simultaneously to
multiple destinations, and general lack of respect for national borders, it is
extremely easy for an individual to make a defamatory comment via a computer
situated in England attached to the internet, which can then be read by
thousands if not millions of people similarly equipped in multiple other
national jurisdictions- where the law of and defenses to, defamation may be
very difficult than those found in the English legal system.[4]
In the pre-internet days, such
transactional publication would have, for economic reasons, been almost
exclusively the preserve of a large traditional publisher, such as newspaper,
TV station or book publishing house. But the situation is completely different
today.
When
defamatory statements cross national boundaries, inevitably, problems of
international private law are invoked, with difficult questions raised such as
what country will have jurisdiction to hear any action for damages raised, what
country’s law should govern the action (the choice of law question) and if a
decree is obtained, how can it be enforced if the defender lives outside the
jurisdiction of the court.[5]
In
effect, those libeled on the internet may find that their case is not the
simplest to pursue. By the same token, internet libel defenders may be dismayed
to find that they can be sued in the courts of multiple countries to which they
have little or no connection, and where the law applied is foreign to them in
the extreme.[6]
The
above legal issues are some of the problems associated with defamation in the
internet.
Nonetheless,
some sites of defamation on the internet are, namely:[7]
a. One to one email
message
b. Mailing lists
c. Newsgroup, the
usenet and discussion fora.
d. The world wide
web.
4.3 Trademark, Copyright and Intellectual
Property Law
Trademark
By
section 1 of the Trade Marks Act 1994, a trade mark is
…any sign
capable of being represented graphically which is capable of distinguishing
goods or services of one undertaking from those of other undertakings.[8]
Trade
marks law serves two purposes; first, it protects the good will and reputation
which a trader has built up around the mark involved and, second, it prevents
the public from being deceived as to the origin of goods or services.[9]
However,
in certain jurisdiction, US and UK in particular, the issue of trade mark
infringement has attracted some judicial entertainment thereby establishing the
tendency of an upsurge of litigation with respect of ownership of trade mark
placed on the internet.[10]
Dispute
in this area of law has always been with respect to ownership and use of domain
names in cyberspace. For the purpose of clarity, a domain name is part of the
address assigned to each computer or services on the internet as every resource
thereon, such as web page, or a file of information has its own specific
address. An example of a domain name is lawyers http://martinslibrary.blogspot.com.[11]
Certain
problems have arisen in relation to this system of domain names. It should be
noted that no two domain names are allowed to be identical and hence no two
users can separately set up the same domain name.
However,
cases abound where a particular person could have been trading with a name for
a long time but only to discover that another person has registered it as a domain name with the knowledge that he
would want it. The person registered on the web might then ask for a financial
reward before surrendering the name. These are cases known as “cyber –squatter”
disputes.[12]
Also,
dispute may arise where some one knows a particular trade mark to belong to
another person but registers it as his own domain name. This is to fascinate
customers of the owners of the trade mark to the domain name who later would
just be surprised to discover goods advertised on the web to be different from
what they normally require.[13]
Another
source of dispute is the case of ‘innocent’ registration.
Definitely,
a lawyer needs to look out for situations like this not only as a source of
briefs but as potential areas of interest as in most cases of the courts have
ordered the wrong user of the name to hand it over to the person who is more
entitled to it.[14]
Copyright
The
law of copyright in Nigeria is regulated by Copyright Act.
Thus, section 1 of the Copyright Act,[15]
defines marks eligible for copyright as including but not limited to the
following:
a. Literary works
b. Musical works
c. Artistic works
d. Cinematograph
films
e. Sound
recordings; and
f. Broadcasts.
Therefore,
for a work to subsist as copyright, aside from the need for originality, it
must have also been fixed in any definite medium of expression now known or
later to be developed, from which it can be perceived, reproduced or otherwise
communicated either directly out with the aid of any machine or device.
Accordingly,
the provisions of the Copyright Act, are applicable to materials on the web in
so far as such materials fall within the categories of works eligible for
copyright.[16]
Such
work subsisting in copyright therefore enjoys protection from infringement and
the doing of any act prohibited under the Act in relation to the work by some
one who is not the author would amount to infringement of copyright and
attendant to which are both civil and criminal liabilities.[17]
Intellectual
Property
Intellectual
property is the name given to legal rights which protect creative works,
inventions and commercial good will.[18]
Basically, intellectual property
rights are designed to provide remedies against those who steal the fruits of
another person’s ideas or work.
There
are various kinds of intellectual property. It includes’ copyright, patents and
trade marks. It also cuts across the less familiar ones like the law of
confidence, designs rights and passing off.[19]
Hence,
we intend to look into copyright, trade mark and intellectual property in this
research work. However, having commented on trademark and copyright, we shall
examine domain name as an intellectual property in the internet.
Domain
Names
A domain name is a human
comprehensible alternative to string of number, as 234.532.80.69 called an I.P[20]
address, which web server use to identify each other on the internet.[21]
The creation of memorable domain
names as an alternative to numerical I.P. addresses has spawned a new industry
and a trade in valuable domain names. When a company decides it wants to
establish a website, the first issue it needs to address is the choice of its
domain name.
Ideally,
the company would like to have many highly memorable domain names which would
all map onto the same string of numbers. But domain names are a scarce resource
and disputes arise when more than one company tries to get the same name. This
obviously causes an immediate conflict with the trade mark system.[22]
An
example of domain name, the Nigerian Bar
association www.NBA.Com. In Nigeria, it is not clear whether “Nba” in this
context could not serve for Nigerian Boxing Association. No two domain names
can be identical. The controversy therefore is over who gets that domain name
and why.[23]
Registration
of domain name is meant to be simple procedure of applying to the appropriate
national registry with a registration fee. Traditionally, domain names are
allotted on a “first come first serve” basis. In practice and especially for
commercial companies, it is sensible to use a domain registration agent who
will have established faculties to register domains in national registries all
over the world.[24]
Domain
registration agents all have websites where a potential customer can instantly
check, free of charge, to see if a particular domain registration agents give
detailed advice regarding national registration requirements and administrative
problems.
Country
domains are based upon the international two letter code (the 150 – 3166 list).
Within each country domain are sub-domains for different types of activity. For
example, .com is a sub-domain indicator showing that the name is for a
commercial site within a country domain. The .Ng or .UK stem indicates that the
domain is located in Nigeria or United Kingdom. [25]
One
way in which disputes have arisen is where a third party intentionally registers
a domain name in the knowledge that some one else will want it. A second way in
which disputes arise is where a domain name is registered by some one who knows
it is the same as a trademark belonging to some one else, or very similar to
such a trademark but intends to use it for their own purpose.
Thus,
in Shell International Petroleum Co vs Allen Jones,[26]
a chap, who the tribunal ultimately regarded as a fraud, registered the domain
name www.shell-nigeria.com. . When registering the domain name with the
concerned registrar, he gave a supposed yahoo e-mail address matching that of a
16 year old ‘computer engineer’ called Afez Adeyemi. With this domain name, he
set up a website, which he claimed belonged to a supposed, but in the end fictitious
company called Shell Petroleum NG Unlimited and from where he was offering
consignments of oil at heavily discounted prices. The website copied
information from the website of the well known Shell Oil Company and was
sufficiently similar to the legitimate company’s website that at least one
person intending to enter into a contract to the tune of $25,000 thought he was
dealing with Shell. The legitimate Shell Oil Company’s website address for its
Nigerian business is www.shellnigeria.com that is different from that
registered by the fraud by only the missing hyphen.
The
WIPO panel decided that the registered domain www.shell-nigeria.com infringed
the unregistered/ common law trade mark ‘Shell Nigeria’ belonging to the
genuine Shell Oil, which that company had used as part of its own registered
domain name of ww.shellnigeria.com.
Similarly
however, disputes can arise over “innocent” registration. This is where
registration is made of what would be logical choice of a domain name.[27]
4.4 Computer/Internet Crimes and Abuses
Indeed,
new technologies create new opportunities for crimes. As soon as one avenue is
blocked to the criminal, another is discovered. As information technology has
spread, so too have computer crime and abuse.[28]
The
internet for example, is used not only by innocent members of the public but
also by fraudulent traders, paedophiles, software pirates, hackers and
terrorists.[29]
Hence
in this head, we shall look into the meaning of internet crime and some
internet/computer assisted crimes.
Meaning
of Internet/Computer Crime
The
Telecommunications and Postal Offences Act,[30]
has this to say on electronic crime:
Any person who
inter-alia engages in computer fraud or does anything relating to fake
payments, whether or not the payment is credited to the account of an operator,
or the account of a subscriber is guilty of an offence.
Computer
related fraud has been defined by the United Kingdom’s Audit Commission as:
Any fraudulent
behaviour connected with computerization by which some one intends to gain financial
advantage.[31]
Nonetheless, Internet crime has also
been defined as using:
Unlawful act
using computer as either a tool or a target or both.[32]
Internet
Assisted Crimes
As
stated in the introductory pages, we shall now look at some categories of internet
assisted crimes. Some of them are as follows:
Viruses
Computer virus means:
A self
replicating program that attaches to a computer system, spreading to other
systems via a network and when activated, often at a later date, can corrupt or
destroy data stored on the hard disk.[33]
Viruses are
generally developed with a definite intention to cause damage to computer files
or, at the very least, cause inconvenience and annoyance to computer users.[34]
The virus
usually occupies the first few instructions of a particular program on an
infected’ disk and relies on a user choosing to execute that program. When an
infected program is executed, the virus is the first series of instructions to
be performed.
In most cases,
the virus’s first action is to copy itself from the diskette onto the PC and
hide within obscure files, the operating system code or within unused disk
blocks which are then marked as being ‘bad’ and unavailable for reuse. The
virus can then proceed to perform any of a number of tasks ranging from the
irritating to the catastrophic such as reformating the hard disk.[35]
Some viruses lie
dormant, waiting to be triggered by a particular event or date. The virus then
infects other diskettes, perhaps by modifying operating system programs responsible
for copying programs. From there, the next P C[36]
to use the diskette will be affected[37].
One of the legal
challenges with virus is how to identify the perpetrator of the virus into the
computer.
2.
Hacking
To lack means:
To
surreptitiously break into the computer, network, services or database of
another person or organization.[38]
Hacking
is also defined as unauthorized access to data held on a computer system.[39]
The
extent of hacking is extremely difficult to establish as it is usually only
discovered by accident, with only about two percent of security breaches
discovered as a result of positive action on the part of security staff.[40]
Hacking
is often perpetrated by employees of a company who have acquired inside
knowledge of particular user ids and passwords. The ability of such hackers to
carry out illegal actions without being detected is often hampered by the audit
and monitor software that all computer operating system supply.[41]
The
motive behind hacking can often be mischievous rather than anything more
sinister. Thus, computing students who are learning about operating systems may
take delight in penetrating a University’s security system to prove that it can
be done, or to gain access to exam questions and answers.[42]
3.
Logic Bomb
Logic bomb means:
An unauthorized
program designed to interfere with the operation of a computer system when
inserted into it and activated.[43]
A
logic bomb is similar to a virus and is sometimes delivered by means of a virus.[44]
The
bomb can be written to destroy or, worse, subtly change the contents of an organization’s
computer systems. However, it does not begin this activity until signaled to do
so by the hacker or extortionist, or it may be activated if a cancelling signal
fails to arrive.
In
many cases, the bomb itself is not actually planted. A warning message alerting
to organization to the placing of a bomb is usually sufficient to persuade
vulnerable institutions to hand over huge sums of money.[45]
4.
Cyber Pornography
Pornography means:
Books, pictures,
films, etc designed to be sexually arousing, often offensive owing to their
explicit nature.[46]
Accordingly,
one of the developments most apparent to internet users has been the enormous
growth in undiscriminating distribution of electronic mail messages at a price,
often via websites demanding credit card payments before viewing is allowed.[47]
Attempts
to control the nature of material available on the internet have given rise to
great difficulties in practice. The number of sites on the net is enormous and
many are transient in nature. The internet, remain saturated with unlimited quantity
of unwanted and illegal pornographic materials.[48]
In
many jurisdictions including Nigeria, no prosecution has yet been brought
against ISP – 59.[49]
Hence,
the legal issue for thought is the liability of the author of the pornographic
material and that of the network service provider.
5.
Intellectual Property Crime
Intellectual
property crimes include: software piracy, copyright infringement, trademark
violations, theft of computer source code etc.
The
legal issue associated with intellectual property crime concerns how the owner
of the book, software or music can actually seek redress when his/her
intellectual property has been illegally down loaded from the internet.
In
Nigeria however, intellectual property is governed by the Copyright Act[50]
and the Nigerian case laws respectively.
6.
Financial Crimes
Financial
crimes cover situation where an unknown person opens website with a fictitious
name in the internet with intent to get money from people by false pretense using
internet as a tool/means.
Accordingly,
sections 418 and 419 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act,[51]
make cheating and obtaining property by false pretenses, an offence or
unlawful.
In
Nigeria, it has to be noted that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,
established under the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment)
Act 2002, is charged with the duty of investigating and prosecuting all
economic and financial crimes. In effect, Section 5 (1) (b) of the E. F.C.C
Act,[52]
provides for the function of the Commission. The section provides thus:
The commission
shall be responsible for the
investigation of all financial crimes including advance fee fraud, money
laundering, counterfeiting, illegal charge transfers, futures market fraud,
fraudulent encashment of negotiable instruments, computer credit card fraud,
contract scam etc.
It
has to be noted at this juncture that internet crimes are not limited to the
ones identified in this project work. Other species of internet related crimes
abound.
Thus,
under intellectual property law, cyber crime is provided for in the Nigerian Copyright
Act.[53]
In effect, works eligible for copyright are protected under the Act.
Financial
crimes are regulated by the E.F.C.C Act,[54]especially
section 5 (1) (h) which empowers the commission to undertake investigations of
all financial crimes.
The provision of
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act, is also supported by section
419 of the Criminal Code Act, which make cheating and obtaining property by
false pretense offensive.
Patents and
Designs Act,[55] also regulates cyber crime where the acts
complained of culminates to an infringement of patent rights and design.
Sadly,
apart from intellectual property theft and financial crimes, there is no
Nigerian law dealing with other computer crimes like, viruses, hacking,
pornography, logic bombs etc.
4.5 ICT Skills
In
this sub-head, we shall examine the rationale behind the acquisition of
Information and Communication Technology skills and its relevance to Nigerian
legal Profession.
The
art of getting your message across is a vital part of being a successful
lawyer. Language and style used in oral or written communication tells a lot
about the kind of education and exposure you have had.[56]
The
use of information technology to enhance the oral or written communication
skill of the lawyer is therefore paramount importance.[57]
Communication
is the art of getting your message across effectively whether you are
conducting interview with a client or addressing court or board of directors.
The purpose of effective communication is to convey a message to recipients
audio properly, handle information and improve relationships[58]
Consequently,
good and effective communication skills has the following advantages.[59]:
1. It enables you
to communicate your ideas clearly.
2. It enhances your
corporate and social life.
3. It helps to
facilitate activities in the corporate and business environment.
4. It can earn you
promotion
5. It endears you
to people.
6. It is a mark of
intelligence
7. Your audience
will be more patient with you.
8. When you talk,
people tend to listen
9. Your writing
will make interesting reading.
Notwithstanding,
in this age where attention span is short, communicators have to get to the point
more quickly or they will lose their audience. It is therefore necessary to use
any technology available to achieve these objectives.
The
numerous advantages in using modern information communications technology for communication include:[60]
a. Speed
b. Low cost
c. Accuracy
d. Efficiency
e. Expansion of
Business
f. Knowledge
g. Automation
Apart
from improving your communication skills with continuing education, you can
also rely on modern information technology to enhance your communication skill.
In line with modern trends in law office management, it is necessary for a
lawyer who wants to be efficient with a
comparable style of practice with counterparts abroad to introduce some, if not
all available information and communication technology in his practice.[61]
With
the increase in demand for legal service
across the globe, lawyers need to be abreast with the law and practice
in jurisdictions other than theirs. More and more lawyers now want to use
services of lawyers outside their jurisdiction and Nigerian lawyers have not
been left out of this trend. Therefore, the use of better information and
communication equipment is a must.
As
we enter the age of the new electronic lawyer, information technology is
clearly shaping both legal practice and also the legal profession.[62]
Some
of the advantages of introducing I T into our practice are:[63]
i. Production of
error-free documents with the use of spell and grammar check facilities of the computer.
ii. Communication by e-mil
iii. Research on the Internet
iv. Study on the Internet.
v. Proper keeping of client’s records
and matters using relevant software.
vi.
Production of legal documents using precedence stored on computer.
The
use of the following technology will enhance communication and communication
skills in our practice.[64]
a. The Computer
b. Legal IT
software
c. Networking
d. The internet
e. Modern office
equipment
4.6 Formation of Electronic Contracts
Turning
to substantive matters concerning the formation of an electronic contract, the
basic rules concerning the formation of a contract apply equally to electronic contracts. Thus,
among other things, there must be an offer which is met with a matching and
unconditional acceptance.
After
identifying the party who makes the acceptance, the questions following then
are where and when did the acceptance
become effective? This has a bearing on determining the precise moment that a
contract was made as well as, in the case of contract connected to more than
one country especially, where the contract was made- the latter possibly
having an effect on which country’s law should govern the contract.[65]
For
example, Dave in Lagos sends an offer by e-mail to Jane in Amsterdan. Jane
sends an acceptance by e-mail from Amsterdam to Lagos. The e-mail is sent in
Amsterdam at 1100GMT but does not reach Lagos until 11.15 GMT and is not seen
by Dave until 1300 GMT. The legal issue for determination is whether the
contract was made in Lagos or Amsterdam? Also, was it made at 1100, 11.15 or
1300 GMT?[66]
Similarly,
as the practice of concluding contracts electronically grows and evolves,
another interesting issue that the courts are likely to encounter at some point
in the future is that of whether a contract can be concluded between two
computers operating at the time of the exchange without human input. In other
words, can one computer make a contract with another computer and render that contract
binding on the proprietors of the computers, that is, the computers being seen
as electronic agents of the proprietors.[67]
A
contract is of course regarded as requiring a meeting of the minds of the parties
concerned although of course, the law has long recognized the ability to enter
into contracts through agents, but that recognition was traditionally limited
to agency capacity by human beings or recognized judicial persons such as companies
and so on.[68]
In
the United States, the possibility of contracting through electronic agents is
now legally recognized. Section 102 of the U.S Uniform Computer Information
Transaction Act 1999, defines an electronic
agent as:
A computer
program, or electronic or other automated means used independently to initiate
an action or respond to electronic messages or performances without a review or
action by an individual at the time of the action, response or performance.[69]
The
Act,[70]
then goes on to provide rules for attributing the actions of an electronic
agent to its owner. Thus, section 107 of UCITA,[71]
provides that a person that uses an electronic agent that it has selected for
making an authentication, performance, or agreement, including manifestation of
assent, is bound by the operations of the electronic agent, even if no
individual was aware of or reviewed the agent’s operations or the results of the operations.[72]
Accordingly,
the above legal issues, are matters that will have to be addressed by future
e-commerce legislation in Nigeria.[73]
For instance, when is contract said to have been validly made in e– commerce,
and the issue of whether one computer can make a contract with another computer
and render that contract binging on the proprietors of the computers.
[1] Bryan A. Garner, ‘Black’s law Dictionary”. Ninth Edition.
[2] Chambers 21st
Century Dictionary’ Revised Edition
[3] Dr. Epiphany Azinge, ‘Informant Technology law’ continuing
legal Education Workshop series 2003/2004 A journal of the Nigerian Association
p 87.
[4] Dr Epiphany Azinge ‘Information Technology law’ Continuing Legal Education
Workshop Series 2003/2004 A journal of the Nigerian Bar Association p. 87.
[5] Ibid Dr Epiphany Azinge.
[6] Op.cit. Dr Epiphany Azinge. P 88.
[7] Op.cit. Dr Epiphany Azinge. P 88.
[8] Op.cit. Dr Epiphany Azinge. P 88.
[9] Op.cit. David Bainbridge, p 100
[10]Mr. Kanyinsola Ajayi, ‘Information Technology and Legal Practice.’
Continuing legal Education workshop series 2003/2004 p 12.
[11] Ibid Mr. Kanyinsola Ajayi p 13.
[12] Op.cit. Mr. Kanyinsola Ajayi.
[13] Op.cit. MR. Kanyinsola Ajayi
[14] Op.cit. Mr. Kanyinsola Ajayi p 15.
[15] Copyright Act .
[16] Op.cit. Mr. Kanyinsola Ajayi p 12.
[17] Op.cit. Mr. Kanyinsola Ajayi p 12.
[18] David Bainbridge, ‘Introduction
To Computer Law’ Third Edition, pitman Publishing 1996 p 7.
[19] Ibid David Bainbridge p7.
[20] Abbreviation for Internet Protocol
[21] Dr Epiphany Azinge, ‘Information
Technology Law.’ Continuing Legal Education Workshop Series 2033.2004
Journal of the Nigerian Bar Association P 73.
[22] Ibid Dr Epiphany Azinge
[23] Op.cit. Dr Epiphany Azinge P74.
[24] Op.cit. Dr Epiphany Aznge
[25] Op.cit. Dr Epiphany Azinge
[26] Wipo Case No D 2003-0821 of 18 December 2003, text available
online as of 29/04/04 at: http://www.arbiter.wipo.int/domains/decisions/html/2003/d2003-0821.html
(visited 24th May, 2013).
[27] Op.cit. Dr Epiphany Azinge p 74.
[28] P.M. Heathcoat, ‘A
Level ICT’ Second Edition, Copyright
@ P.M. Heathcoat, 2000 p 44.
[29] Ibid P.M. Heathcoat p 44.
[30] Section 3 (h) Cap T4 LFN 2004.
[31] Dr Epiphany Azinge, ‘information
Technology law’ Information Technology & Legal Practice: Continuing
Legal Education Series 2003/2004 p 92.
[32] Toun Adebiyi, ‘Internet
Crime’ Modern Practical Journal for Investment Law vol. 9 No 1-2, 2005 p
148.
[33] ‘Chambers 21st
Century dictionary’ Revised Edition.
[34] P.M. Heathcoat, ‘A Level
ICT’ Second Edition. Copyright @ P.M. Heathcoat, 2000 p 45.
[35] Op.cit. P.M. Heathcoat p 45.
[36] Acronym for personal computer Mbam, B.C.E; ‘Fundamentals of
Computer & Informant Technology’ Published in Nigeria by: Real, Production
Co. 2007 p9.
[37] Op.cit. P.M. Heathcoat p 46.
[38] Bryan A. Garner, ‘Black’s
Law Dictionary’
[39] P.M. Heathcote, ‘A Level ICT’ Second Edition, Copyright @ P. M. Heathcoat,
2000 p 44.
[40] Neil Barrett, ‘Digital Crime ‘ .p40 :A
Level ICT , Second Edition, Cpyright @ P.M. Heathcote 2000 p44.
[41] Op.cit. P.M. Heathcote P 44.
[42] Op.cit. P. M Heathcote p 44.
[43] ‘Chambers 21st
Century Dictionary’ Revised Edition.
[44] P. M. Heathcote, ‘A Level
ICT’ Second Edition Copyright @ P. M. Heathcoat 2000 p 46.
[45] Ibid P.M. Heathcote P 46.
[46] ‘Chambers 21st
Century Dictionary’ Revised Edition.
[47] Dr Epiphany Azinge, ‘Information
Technology Law’ Information Technology & Legal Practice’..Continuing Legal
Education workshop Series 2003/2004,
p95.
[48] Ibid Dr Epiphany Azinge p 95.
[49] Acronym for Internet Service Provider
[50] Cap 68 LYN 1990.
[51] Criminal Code Act .
[52] Abbreviation for Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
[53] Cap C28 LFN 2004.
[54] Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act
[55] Cap 344 LFN 2004
[56] Mrs. Roli Harriman, ‘Information
Technology and Communication Skills’ Information Technology & Legal
Practice: Continuing legal Education Workshop Series 2003/2004. A Journal of
the Nigerian Bar Association p . 105
[57] Ibid Mrs. Roli Harriman p 105.
[58] Op.cit. Mrs. Roli Harriman p 105.
[59] Op.cit. Mrs. Roli Harriman p 105.
[60] Op.cit. mrs. Roli Harriman P 106
[61] Op.cit. Mrs. Roli Harriman p 106.
[62] Op.cit. Mrs. Roli Hrriman p 106
[63] Op.cit. Mrs. Roli Harriman p 106.
[64] Op.cit. Mrs. Roli Harriman p 107.
[65]Gbenga Bamodu, ‘Information Communications
Technolgy and E – Commerce: Challenges and Opportunities For The Nigerian Legal
System and Judiciary.’ (Jilt) http://www.2warwick.ac.UK/fac/soc/law/elj/Jilt/2004-2/bamodu/.
(Visited 24th May, 2013).
[66] Op.cit. Gbenga
Bamodu.
[67] Op.cit. Gbenga B[modu
[68] Op.cit. Gbenga Bamodu
[69] Op.cit Gbenga Bamodu
[70] Uniform Computer
Informationation Transaction Act,1999 of the United States.
[71] Abbreviation for
Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act, 1999.
[72] Op.cit Gbenga Bamodu.
[73] Op.cit. Gbenga Bamodu.