Professor Andrew Murray NAB 7.11

Dr. Orla Lynskey NAB 6.23 

This course is available to LLB and Law and Anthropology students. It is also available as an outside option to students in other departments and to General Course Students. Students from other Universities should contact the course convenor regarding participation in this course.   

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 survey course, which is divided into six modules, introduces students to a selection of fundamental legal issues in the field of Information Technology (IT) Law. It begins by examining ongoing debates regarding the appropriate theoretical framework applicable to internet regulation and governance, tackling questions such as whether the internet should be controlled and, if so, by whom. It then examines substantive legal topics, such as data protection, cybercrime, intellectual property and online freedom of expression, against this theorectical backdrop. In particular, students are encouraged to consider both how the law has responded to the challenges of information technologies, and the extent to which legal issues have shaped the development of information society policy.

The focus will be initially on English law, although the increasingly global nature of IT law means that there are already strong EU and US legal influences upon the English system, so comparative aspects will be introduced in places, and readings will include materials drawn from, amongst others, US law journals.

At the end of the course, students should be able to assess critically ongoing developments in law relating to information technologies and to evaluate the internal coherence of these developments and their doctrinal and political implications.

Indicative Content:

Michaelmas 2015

• Introduction to Internet Regulation and Governance  

• Data Protection and Online Surveillance 

• Freedom of Expression Online

Lent 2016

• Cybercrime

• E-Commerce

• Intellectual Property Rights Online 

For a more detailed outline, please visit the course Moodle page.

20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the MT. 20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the LT. 2 hours of lectures in the ST.

Students will be expected to produce 2 essays in the MT and LT.

**Murray: Information Technology Law: Law and Society 2nd ed, 2013, OUP.

Reed (ed): Computer Law 7th ed., 2011, OUP.

Klang & Murray (eds) Human Rights in the Digital Age, 2006, Cavendish.

Lessig: Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace ver.2.0, 2006, Basic Books. Edwards & Waelde (eds): Law and the Internet 3rd ed, 2009, Hart. 

** Recommended for purchase.

Exam (100%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.