Cyberlaw (Desai) Syllabus

Cyberlaw
Syllabus and Course Description
National Taiwan University – Spring 2006
Professor Anuj C. Desai
acdesai@
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This is a course about the law of cyberspace. The principal goal of the class is to have students learn to think seriously about a broad variety of legal and policy problems that arise because of changes in information and communication technologies. We will primarily study United States law, where many of these issues are highly developed, although there will be materials from other jurisdictions as well. However, because many of the legal and policy problems raised by new information and communication technologies transcend national borders, the type of questions raised in the course will be of direct relevance to Taiwanese law as well. Moreover, one of the principal questions the course will address is the impact that the transnational nature of the Internet has on domestic law, a question that is of great importance to Taiwanese law.
COURSE MATERIALS:
Readings for the course will come from three different sources.
1.Books: We will be using two short books written by Jonathan Zittrain,
a prominent scholar at Harvard and Oxford. These books were
published in September 2005.
a.Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Jurisdiction (Foundation Press,
2005)
b.Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Technological Complements to
Copyright (Foundation Press, 2005)
2.Supplement: I have prepared a class supplement of materials. I will
provide this supplement to everyone in an electronic format. Students
should print these materials out for class.
3.Online materials: Some of the class materials are online. The reading
list (part of this syllabus) has hyperlinks to those materials. BECAUSE THE LAW IN MANY OF THESE AREAS IS CHANGING SO QUICKLY, THE READINGS MAY CHANGE DURING THE COURSE OF THE SEMSTER. IF ANYTHING DOES CHANGE, I WILL LET THE WHOLE CLASS KNOW VIA E-MAIL.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
1.CLASS ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: Students are expected to complete all required readings and to attend all classes. Students are also required to participate in class discussions.
2.TAKE-HOME EXAM: There will be a take-home examination covering the topics covered in the class.
GRADES:
Final grades will be computed based on the following distribution:
Class participation (based on quality, not simply quantity):30% Take-home exam:70%
Reading List
Weeks 1 & 2 - Introduction
Berkman Center, Orientation materials (especially
Berkman Center, How the Internet Works and
Berkman Center, How the Web Works, though feel free to browse the rest of these “Orientation materials” and work through other links if you’re interested) Kevin Werbach,Digital Tornado: The Internet and Telecommunications Policy, FCC Office of Plans and Policy Working Paper No. 29 (March 1997), pp. 10-25
[Note: if you are printing from this link, pages 10-25 of the Working Paper are
pages 22-37 of the .PDF file]
Anuj C. Desai, Cyberlaw Supplement [hereinafter “CS”], pp. 2-13
Week 3– The Internet and the Problems of Geography and Sovereignty: Part I – Introduction
Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Jurisdiction, pp. 1-9
CS, pp. 14-27
Week 4 – The Internet and the Problems of Geography and Sovereignty: Part II – Jurisdiction to Adjudicate
Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Jurisdiction, pp. 10-22
CS, pp. 28-40
Week 5 – The Internet and the Problems of Geography and Sovereignty: Part III – Conflicts of Law/Jurisdiction to Prescribe and Enforcement of Judgments
Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Jurisdiction, pp. 22-46
CS, pp. 41-42
Week 6 – The Internet and the Problems of Geography and Sovereignty: Part IV – Case Study LICRA/UEJF v. Yahoo!
Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Jurisdiction, pp. 94-100;
Ben Laurie, An Expert’s Apology, 21 November 2000
Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Jurisdiction, pp. 100-110; 69-75; 46-53 Week 7 – No class
Week 8 – Freedom of Expression on the Internet: Is it a Global Value? The Case of the PRC
Christopher Cox, Tear Down This Firewall
Shanti Kalathil & Taylor Boas, Wired For Modernization in China Chapter 2 of
Open Networks, Closed Regimes: The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian
Rule (Carnegie Endowment for Peace 2003)
Suggested additional reading for those especially interested in this topic:
Michael S. Chase & James C. Mulvenon, You’ve Got Dissent!: Chinese
Dissident Uses of the Internet and Beijing’s Counter-Strategies, (Rand 2002) Week 9 – The Relationship between Legal and Technological Regulation: Part I – Introduction to Copyright
Stacey L. Dogan, Copyright in Cyberspace: An Introduction
Stacey L. Dogan, Copyright in Cyberspace: Introduction to Copyright Law
National Research Council, The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property Rights in the Information Age (2000), Executive Summary
Week 10 - The Relationship between Legal and Technological Regulation: Part II – Encryption Technologies and Copyright Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Technological Complements to Copyright, pp.
1-20
CS, pp. 43-47
Week 11 - The Relationship between Legal and Technological Regulation: Part III – Encryption Technologies in Industry
Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Technological Complements to Copyright,
(Internet Law Series 2005), pp. 21-54
Week 12 - The Relationship between Legal and Technological Regulation: Part IV – The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Technological Complements to Copyright,
pp. 55-65; 76-97; 112-19
Week 13 - The Relationship between Legal and Technological Regulation: Part V – Embedding Law into Technology
CS, pp. 48-52
Jonathan L. Zittrain, Internet Law: Technological Complements to Copyright, pp.
121-35
Week 14 – Liability of Internet Intermediaries: Part I - Defamatory Content
CS, pp. 53-65
Week 15 – Liability of Internet Intermediaries: Part II - Copyright CS, pp. 66-95
Week 16 – Online Contracting CS, pp. 96-110
Week 17 – Review
No additional reading。