Professor Andrew Murray 

This course is available on the BA in Anthropology and Law, BSc in Data Science and LLB in Laws. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

This course does not require an in-depth understanding of contemporary computer technology – we are primarily interested in the implications of the use of information technology, and the intended and unintended consequences of regulating that use. 

This course examines and discusses topical issues in relation to the law and digital data information storage, access, and exchange through digital information devices (computers, smartphones, tablets etc.). It examines issues relating to network regulation or control by addressing questions such as “can internet-enabled communications be regulated?” and “who is competent to police online content and activity?” It concludes its examination of structural controls by examining the highly topical and politically charged issue of enshrined network neutrality: by asking the question: should Internet Service Providers be allowed to vary service conditions by types of content? It will also address cutting edge issues such as algorithmic regulation, profiling, deceptive content, the regulation of AI, legal technologies and dispute resolution, and online safety. 

The course is delivered in two parts: (1) An introduction to technology regulation and governance (Code as Law) and (2) Governance of and by Algorithms.

Aims and Objectives:

At the end of the course, students should be able to:  

• Critically evaluate ongoing developments in law relating to information and communications technologies (ICTs);
• Display an understanding of how these developments relate to one another; 
• Examine areas of doctrinal and policy debate surrounding rules and theories; 
• Evaluate those rules and theories in terms of internal coherence and practical outcomes; 
• Draw on the analysis and evaluation contained in primary and secondary sources.

Indicative Content:

1. Digitisation, Datafication and Law 
2. How We Regulate the Internet: Lawrence Lessig’s Modalities and their Critiques
3. How We Regulate the Internet: Contemporary Approaches
4. Net Neutrality 
5. Surveillance Capitalism and Personal Data Privacy
6. Dominant Platforms: Market Regulation
7. Dominant Platforms: Platform Governance
8. Regulating Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning I: Legal Risks and Challenges
9. Regulating Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning II: The Regulatory Landscape
10. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Legal Practice

This is an indicative programme.

This course will be delivered by lectures and classes each week, totalling 30 hours in Autumn Term. This course includes a reading week in Weeks 6 of Autumn Term.

• Murray: Information Technology Law: Law and Society 5th ed (Oxford: OUP, 2023) 
• Phillip Hacker, Andreas Engel & Marco Mauer: Regulating ChatGPT and other Large Generative AI Models Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT ’23) June 2023.
• Lessig: Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace ver.2.0 (New York: Basic Books, 2006).

Suggested Initial Reading:

Murray: Information Technology Law: Law and Society 5th ed, Ch.1.

Exam (100%, duration: 2 hours and 30 minutes) in the spring exam period.

This exam will consist of discursive essay questions.