Navigating the thicket of Internet law is fraught with danger for entrepreneurs looking to cash in on their ideas.

What legal obligations do businesses have when going online? What about privacy concerns and data protection? And if you want to expand out of the Bermuda market then it is vital you know your obligations in each country to which you flog products or services.

Enter the Lexelerator (Legal Knowledge Transfer Accelerator), an online resource on Internet law created by European researchers. The resource, created as a wiki, targets small and medium-sized businesses that want to launch e-commerce or internet services.

A wiki refers to a collection of web pages to which registered users can contribute information or modify already existing content. Such collaboration was developed for Wikipedia, for example.

The Lexelerator provides legal knowledge through links to useful sources identified and peer-reviewed by a collection of partners and contributors developed by the European Union-funded LEKTOR project.

Before anyone can make a contribution they are screened by a panel of experts around Europe so as to ensure that the contributor has a sufficient level of expertise to write an article on internet law.

Most of the contributors are from universities or law firms that want to raise their profile. Contributors do not receive any money for providing content.

The online forums at the site (www.lexelerator.eu) offer another way of gleaning information particular to your business.

Right now, the site's information would seem pretty basic for anyone who is somewhat experienced in e-commerce. However it is a useful starting point for anyone who has woken up to the fact that there is money to be made using the internet.

***

One of the great additions to the RealPlayer software is a recording function. This function gives you the ability to record many audio and video streams directly off the net at a very clear quality.

Previously I found that many of the free recorders available to produce poor quality sound or video files, so the RealPlayer addition was very welcome when I updated my RealPlayer last month.

You simply play the stream on RealPlayer and press the record function. What could be easier? There is no need to fool around with adjusting the controls if the stream is a quality one.

However some sites have put up some sort of protection against the feature. For example I cannot use RealPlayer to record BBC streams, especially the detective stories I like collecting.

And I fear that soon RealNetworks, the company behind RealPlayer, will soon face the fallout. The company announced this month that it plans to start selling software that will let you copy DVDs to your computer.

I expect the movie companies will soon clamp down on the software, even though RealNetworks claims RealDVD bars users from illicit disc copying. The software does not remove the CSS (Content Scramble System) encryption system used on commercial DVDs that prevents you from making a copy. Is it time for the industry to rethink its commercial mode?

RealDVD will cost about $30 when released later this month.

***

If you are a game player check out www.wildpockets.com, a site offering a range of 3D games to play online. The site is also designed as a development platform for novices and experienced developers to test out their creations before they launch them on the market. You can also collaborate with other developers in designing games. I have only given the site a cursory test, but I like the concept. If I were a developer or someone with an outstanding idea for a game, I would carefully read the site's legal bits. You don't want to feel out of pocket if your game hits the jackpot.

The site's chief executive is Paul Preece, the developer behind the Desktop Tower Defence game.

This is a $2.25 billion industry according to a report by the Casual Games Association. An estimated 200 million people are playing casual games online each month.