Handbook

The course focuses on legal and regulatory aspects of the Internet and related technologies. It covers topics of concern to individuals as well as business and government, including protection of intellectual property in a digital environment, electronic contracts, computer and information security, and cyber crime.  

The interaction between traditional law and modern technology plays a central role in the course. In order to analyse the impact and application of traditional legal principles in a new technological environment, the principles must be translated into the language of the technologies involved. The translation must preserve the original meaning and policy rationale. It is the aim of the course to teach, encourage and nurture such thinking. Examples of problems we shall encounter and analyze in the course include the connection between enabling technologies of cyber crime and the contours of liability of cyber criminals and their enablers; how an understanding of the Internet informs whether notice of electronic contractual terms is properly provided by a hyperlink; and determining whether an implied term of fitness for purpose can be read into a contract to download software.

A statement by Professor Lawrence Lessig captures the essence of the course: “[w]hen dealing with cyberspace, judges are to be translators; different technologies are the different languages; and the aim is to find a reading of [legal principles] that preserves [their] meaning from one world’s technology to another. This is fidelity as translation.”[1] Lawyers who fail to understand the translation will likely pursue sub-optimal litigation strategies, face speculative recovery prospects, and may overlook effective and potentially powerful defences.

Main Topics

• Introduction to the Internet and related technologies
• Information technology patents
• Translation
• Electronic contracts
• Computer and information security
• Cyber crime: Law and enabling technologies