Excellent text examining the creation of the first police forces, which took place in England and the US in just a few decades in the mid-19th century. And explaining that they were not brought into being to prevent crime or protect the public, but primarily to control crowds: the working class, white and black.
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in New York Times v. Tasini, 533 U.S. 483 (2001), was an early ruling addressing the application of copyright law to the then nascent digital world.