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Aims and Objectives
The aim of
this course is to examine the impact digital technologies such as
computerisation and Internet Communications are having, firstly, on substantive
law, and, secondly, on the legal process and the nature of law. The subject of
“Computer Law” developed in the 1970s from a patchwork of specialist
applications of ordinary rules of contract, criminal law, torts etc to form a
rapidly growing specialist cognate discipline. It has now expanded to embrace
(or be subsumed by) the emergent field of legal regulation of the Internet. This
course intends to examine the legal ramifications of digitisation, and the
Internet. It includes topics such as e-commerce, intellectual property rights in
digital content, privacy rights in relation to electronic information, content
liability, censorship and freedom of expression, digital property and computer
crime. Themes relevant throughout the course will be discussed such as
globalisation, trans-jurisdictionality, enforcement issues, regulatory forms
(including self-regulation and soft law) and the competing lobbies for
consumers, corporations, industry players, rights-holders and
cyber-libertarians. Sources will be drawn from the legal systems of the UK, the
US, the EC and Australia.
The objectives of the course are to enable students:
(a) to understand and deal
with the legal issues associated with digitisation, digital content and the
Internet, and
(b) to consider the impact of
digitisation on law, society, and individual.
Teaching Methodology
This class will be taught by
one two-hour seminar per week which meets on Tuesday
afternoons between 2pm and 4pm in Room A.698.
Students are expected to carry out the reading contained on the reading list and
be in a position to discuss the issues raised in the reading at the following
meeting of the class. Each class will consist of a short lecture and discussion. The lecture materials will pertain to the following
week’s class.
The teaching programme uses the Socratic method to approach issues of
contemporary significance. The Socratic Method is used for two reasons (1) As a
subject of contemporary value and international significance the discourse this
opens among a truly international student body is more illuminating and
instructive than to use a method of direct instruction; and (2) the belief that
interrogating the facts will reveal the truth. There are no prerequisites for
this course.
NOTE: THERE ARE NO LECTURES FOR THIS CLASS.
Course Texts
All texts recommended for purchase may be bought
online through the On-line Bookshop.
The recommended texts for purchase for this class are:
Also recommended:
Course Assessment
The
course will be assessed by means of one assessed essay of no more than 8000
words and a two-hour unseen examination to be held during the
examinations period at a date and time to be advised in the LSE examinations
timetable.
The essay will be on a topic of the candidate’s choice as approved by the Course
Convenor by at latest Week 10 of the Lent Term.
The assessed essay will be due for submission on Thursday 19th August 2010.
OR
Alternatively
Candidates may elect to complete a 15,000 word dissertation on a topic related
to the Legal Regulation of IT. This must be approved by the Programme
Director.
All Essays MUST be submitted with a signed
plagiarism statement and
cover
sheet.
External Examination Procedures
The external examiner is
Professor Robert Clark of University College Dublin.
LL.420 - Class Timetable
|
Michaelmas Term 2009
|
Subject |
Date |
|
An Introduction to IT Law |
An introduction to the subject matter and content
of the course. |
Tue 6 Oct. |
|
The Technology of the Information Society |
Basic terminology and Technology.
-
An introduction to
Computers, Cyberspace and Internet Technology
-
How they developed
and what role they play in modern society.
|
Tue 13 Oct. |
|
Law and the Digital Society |
Digitisation and Law.
-
The worlds of
Atoms and Bits
-
The move from
Atoms to Bits
-
Digital
Convergence
-
The Cross-border
challenge of information law
|
Tue 20 Oct. |
|
Law, Commerce and Digitisation 1 |
Branding and Trade Marks in the Information
Society 1
-
Trade Marks and Branding
-
Trade Marks in the Global Business
Environment
-
Domain Names as Badges of Identity
-
Trade Mark/Domain Name Disputes
-
The ICANN UDRP
-
The Nominet DRS
|
Tue 27 Oct. |
|
Law, Commerce and Digitisation 2 |
Branding and Trade Marks in the Information
Society 2
-
Initial interest Confusion
-
Search Engines
-
Secondary Markets
-
Dilution
|
Tue 3 Nov. |
|
Law, Commerce and Digitisation 3 |
Electronic Contracting
-
Contracting
Informally
-
UNCITRAL Model Law
-
E-Commerce
Directive
-
Formal Contracts
|
Tue 10 Nov. |
|
Law, Commerce and Digitisation 4 |
Electronic Signatures
-
Electronic
Signatures
-
Advanced
Electronic Signatures
-
E-Signatures
Directive
-
PKE and Encryption
|
Tue 17 Nov. |
|
Law, Commerce and Digitisation 5 |
Electronic Payments and Taxation
-
Electronic
Payments
-
The Electronic
Money Directive
|
Tue 24 Nov. |
|
Law, Society and Digitisation 1 |
The Electronic Public Sphere
-
Introduction: The Public Sphere
-
E-government
-
The Digital Divide.
-
The Democratic Divide
|
Tue 1 Dec. |
|
Law, Society and Digitisation 2
|
Information Technology and the Legal Profession
-
Knowledge Management
-
Gottschalk’s Knowledge Matrix
-
The use of
information technology in the legal profession.
-
Susskind’s ‘Grid’
-
Susskind’s Alternate Legal Services Market
|
Tue 8 Dec. |
|
Lent Term 2010 |
Subject |
Date
|
|
Intellectual Property Rights 1
|
Software Copyright
-
Copyright in
Computer Software.
-
Literal
Copying
-
Non-Literal
Copying
-
Permitted Acts
|
Tue 12 Jan. |
|
Intellectual Property Rights 2
|
Patent Protection for Computer Software
-
Software Patents and Business Methods Patents
-
The European Patent Convention
-
VICOM/Merrill Lynch
-
Pension Benefits/Hitachi
-
Macrossan
|
Tue 19 Jan. |
|
Intellectual Property Rights 3
|
Supply Contracts for IT Hardware and Software.
-
Software Good or Service?
-
Shrink-wrap licences
-
Click-wrap agreements
-
Defective Software
-
Repairs and Upgrades
|
Tue 26 Jan. |
|
Intellectual Property Rights 4
|
Online Business Models and IPRs
-
IPRs and Digitisation
-
Linking, Caching and Aggregating
-
Peer-To-Peer Networks
-
Information and the Public Domain
|
Tue 2 Feb. |
|
Intellectual Property Rights 5
|
Databases
-
Copyright and the Database Right
-
The Database Right
-
Databases and the Information
Society
|
Tue 9 Feb. |
|
Dissertation Reading Week |
N/A |
|
Data Privacy 1 |
Data Protection Part 1
-
Digitisation, Personal Data and The Data
Industry.
-
Data Protection Act 1998: Background and
Structure
-
The Data Protection Principles, Processing
and Fairness
|
Tue 23 Feb. |
|
Data Privacy 2 |
Data Protection Part 2
-
Conditions for Processing of Personal Data
-
Supervision of Data Controllers: Data Subject
Rights
-
State Supervision of Data Controllers
|
Tue 2 Mar. |
|
Data Privacy 3 |
Surveillance and Supervision.
-
Enhanced CCTV
-
RFID Tracking
-
Data Retention and Identity
|
Tue 9 Mar. |
|
Future Developments in Law and the Digital
Society |
Future Developments
-
Virtualisation of Property
-
Centralisation of Data
-
Multi-source data
-
Web 3.0
-
Law 2.0
|
Tue 16 Mar. |
|
The Course Handbook which contains full details of all of the above may be accessed
HERE
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