Professor Andrew Murray (NAB 7.11)

Dr Orla Lynskey (NAB 6.23)

This course is available on the MSc in Law and Accounting, MSc in Media and Communications (Data and Society), MSc in Media and Communications (Media and Communications Governance), MSc in Regulation, Master of Laws and Master of Laws (extended part-time study). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course is capped at 30 students. Students must apply through Graduate Course Choice on LSEforYou. 

This course does not require an in-depth understanding of contemporary computer technology. 

This course critically analyses the regulation of the Internet and digital devices (such as smart devices and tablets).

It begins by providing a theoretical framework for the regulation of the Internet, examining questions such as whether the internet is capable of regulation, whether such regulation should be neutral and who should assume the task of regulating the online environment. Students taking the course will be expected to develop knowledge and understanding of the different values and interests brought to bear in the regulation of information technologies and communities.

Armed with this theoretical background, students will then be asked to consider how these values are reflected in the regulatory design of the online environment. This examination will be conducted by considering a number of case studies relating to online privacy, defamation, criminal activity and market power. The course concludes by examining the topical and politically charged question of whether Internet Service Providers should be allowed to vary service conditions by types of content.

20 hours of seminars in the MT.

There will be Reading Week in week 6 of MT.

Students should submit an essay plan and working bibliography for the assessed essay. All students are expected to contribute to a series of class and online exercises, and to submit one 2,000 word formative essay.

Murray, Information Technology Law: The Law and Society (OUP, 3rd ed, 2016)

Edwards & Waelde (eds), Law and the Internet 3rd ed (Hart, 2009)

Murray, The Regulation of Cyberspace (Routledge, 2007)

Lessig, Code Ver, 2.0 (Basic Books, 2006)

Zittrain, The Future of the Internet (Penguin, 2009)

Benkler, The Wealth of Networks (Yale UP, 2007)

Sunstein, Republic.com 2.0 (Princeton UP, 2009).

Essay (100%, 8000 words) in the ST.