Information Technology Law - JURD7331
Faculty: Faculty of Law
School: Faculty of Law
Course Outline: See below
Campus: Kensington Campus
Career: Postgraduate
Units of Credit: 6
EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)
Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 4
Enrolment Requirements:
Pre-requisite: 36 UOC of JURD courses for students enrolled prior to 2013. For students enrolled after 2013, pre-requisite: 72 UOC of JURD courses.
Excluded: LAWS3131
CSS Contribution Charge: 2 (more info)
Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule
Further Information: See Class Timetable
Description
The general subject matter of the course is how law deals with the use of information technology,with a specific focus on computer networks, or 'cyberspace' (of which the Internet is the largest and best-known component). The legal content is based on domestic law (Australia and New South Wales), but the international nature of cyberspace requires a consistently broader view as well.
Recommended Prior Knowledge
Prior computing experience or knowledge is not required for this course, except that students will have to acquire the necessary skills to use the subject’s internet resources - ie use of e-mail and use of the world-wide-web. Students should obtain their own e-mail account before the course starts.
Course Objectives
The objectives of the course are:
- To examine whether and to what extent computing and data communications technologies are giving rise to a distinctive new field of law (increasingly called 'cyberspace law') and to attempt to identify the subject matter, legal concepts and analytic techniques particular to such a field
- To provide a reasonably comprehensive survey of the main aspects of existing law which have arisen (or changed) because of these new technologies, or are made problematic by them
- To facilitate an understanding of the interaction between the overall legal and social contexts of cyberspace, as it gains increasing economic, cultural and social importance
Main Topics
Topics covered include:
- Online aspects of internet governance
- Trademarks and domain names
- Censorship and content regulation
- Privacy, copyright and patents
- e-Commerce issues
- Cybercrime
- Security and trust
- Jurisdiction and conflict of laws
Assessment
Research essay (50%)
End-of-session take-home problem assignment (50%)
End-of-session take-home problem assignment (50%)
Course Texts
Prescribed
There is no prescribed text. Specific internet-based resources will be presented in class.
Recommended
- Lim, Yee Fen, Cyberspace Law – Commentaries and Materials, 2nd Edition
- Lawrence Lessig, Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, Ed 1: ISBN 046503912X, Basic Books 1999; Ed 2: http://codebook.jot.com/WikiHome
- Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture, ISBN 1594200068, The Penguin Press 2004 http://www.free-culture.cc/freecontent/