Prof Andrew Murray CKK.6.07

This course is available on the Executive Master of Laws (ELLM). This course is not available as an outside option.

Available to Executive LLM students only. This course will be offered on the Executive LLM during the four year degree period. The Department of Law will not offer all Executive LLM courses every year, although some of the more popular courses may be offered in each year, or more than once each year. Please note that whilst it is the Department of Law's intention to offer all Executive LLM courses, its ability to do so will depend on the availability of the staff member in question. For more information please refer to the Department of Law website.

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.

24-26 hours of contact time.

All students are encouraged to produce one 2,000 word formative essay during the course.

Murray, Information Technology Law: The Law and Society (OUP, 5th ed, 2023)

Reed & Murray, Rethinking the Jurisprudence of Cyberspace (Edward Elgar, 2018)

Murray, The Regulation of Cyberspace (Routledge, 2007)

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

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

Reed: Making Laws for Cyberspace (OUP, 2012)

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

Assessment path 1
Essay (100%, 8000 words).

Assessment path 2
Take-home assessment (100%).