Course modules, with an outline of their key themes are provided below. Please note that owing to the changing nature of the subject area the contents of modules may be adjusted to keep abreast with legal developments.
This module is compulsory for all Postgraduate LLM and Diploma students in the School of Law. The aim of the module is to help postgraduate students enhance their research abilities and skills with a view to improving their performance in their courses.
- finding, assessing and using legal information
- understanding different approaches to legal scholarship
- introduction to social science research methods
- writing a law dissertation
The module focuses on legal developments in electronic contracting, from current legal problems with contract formation and e-signatures, to consumer protection, e-commerce regulation and jurisdiction and applicable law for online contracts. The module also takes in topics of current interest such as e-money, self-regulation, privacy and unsolicited e-mail, liability of e-commerce suppliers, and taxation on the Internet. Teaching combines class discussion, case studies, small group problem solving and often heated plenary debate, with a smile.
- Business Innovation and E-Commerce
- Legally Binding Electronic Contracts
- Consumer Protection and E-Commerce
- Liability for Content
The general academic aim of the course is to examine the basic principles and rules concerning legal issues that relate to Internet Governance. With the issue of Internet Governance reaching the United Nations Assembly for its resolution, Internet Governance constitutes one of the most important aspects of Internet studies. The course is designed to allow the students to get a clear understanding on the rule of law within the Internet as well as the way other regulatory theories are applicable in the context of Internet technologies. The course has been recently updated to add current issues, such as the role of intellectual property in driving the Internet governance debate, the recent revolutions in the Arab world and the role of the Internet, the Internet ‘kill switch’ and its potential ramifications as well as Network Neutrality. The course also discusses institutions, like ICANN and their role in shaping how we perceive Internet governance.
- Cyberlaw and Regulation
- (Internet) Governance Issues
- Intellectual Property as a Driver for Internet Governance
- The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
- The Internet 'Kill Switch'
- The basics of e-communications EU e-communications law & UK e- communications law
- Main regulatory issues including data protection in e-communications
- Competition and e-communications
- E-communications in the international arena
The general academic aim of the course is to examine the basic principles and rules concerning the legal nature of domain names. This will be a unique course and one that is not offered in any other university in the world. Currently, the law school offers courses related to the Internet, which, however, only mange to cover small aspects of the regulation of domain names. Nevertheless, the legal standing of domain names constitutes a topic that deserves special attention. Considering that the whole operation of the Internet depends on domain names and the Domain Name System (DNS), this class will complement the existing classes but it will also provide a more detailed insight into the current technological and legal challenges in the area. With the eminent uncontrolled expansion and the creation of an unlimited number of domain names, the legal and intellectual property issues that are generated constitute points that should be incorporated in a Master’s course dealing with the Internet and its associated technologies.
- Domain names and Property Rights
- The Institutionalisation for Domain Names
- Free speech and Domain Names
- The Regulationof Domain Names at a National and International Level
This course covers the systems and institutions that form a part of the International Intellectual Property System (IIPS). As part of this course, we will be particularly looking at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and their role in the IIPS. We will examine the key aspects of the various international treaties involved in copyright, patents, and trademarks and how they impact individuals, businesses, and governments around the world.
The overall aim will be to develop a deep and thorough understanding of the way in which insights from the expanding field of international intellectual property can illuminate contemporary developments in intellectual property in association with the Internet.
- IP Institutions
- Systems of International IP
- Enforcing IP in a Global Environment
- Future Evolution of International IP
This aims to give students a broad introduction to intellectual property law in the United Kingdom, the European Union and internationally.
The course will focus on the following intellectual property rights (IPRs):
- patents and trade secrets
- trademarks
- copyright law
- software and databases
The overall aim will be to develop an understanding of the way in which insights from the emerging field of surveillance studies can illuminate contemporary developments in criminal justice, and pose complex challenges to and for human rights. The specific objectives will be to deliver the following:
- Knowledge and understanding of the conceptual and theoretical debates that enable the parameters of surveillance practices in contemporary society to be identified and understood
- Detailed knowledge of several particular types of surveillance in criminal justice, their socio-technical origins, forms and trajectories
- Knowledge and understanding of contemporary debate on the changing nature of and possibilities for privacy, and their utility and limitations in respect of surveillance practice
- Knowledge and understanding of the part that human rights are playing (and could play) in promoting, resisting and regulation different forms of surveillance
The module includes issues such as: the nature and powers of regulatory agencies within the telecommunications sector; interconnection and access to electronic communications networks; issues that deal with regulation and competition as well as telecommunications regulation in the context of global markets.
- Background and Fundamentals
- Competition and regulations
- Telecommunications, ICTs and Development
- Challenges of the Changing communications
This course will introduce students to the core ideas and legal regimes governing privacy and data protection online, in an EU and UK context, as well as looking at the global issues around transnational data flows.
Further seminars will deal with particular domains where these rules are important, including regulation of spam, cookies and spyware; targeted advertising; and other venues for commercial collection of data.
The course will then look at privacy and the state/public sector; considering the regulation of surveillance techniques such as online interception (“wiretapping”), data retention, and surveillance by CCTV. Surveillance in the workplace by employers may also be examined. Techniques of encryption and rules relating to decryption to aid criminal investigation will be discussed.
Finally the cybercrime part of the class will look at well-established crimes such as hacking and virus dissemination; newer emergent cybercrimes such as denial of service and wi fi theft; the major global problem of stopping the spread of child pornography and criminal material via the net (Eg hate speech); and cyber security issues. If time allows we may look at the emergence of cyberwar and robowar.
Since Internet law is a global and transnational discipline, sources will be drawn from the globe but with an emphasis on the legal systems of the UK, the USA, the EU and Australia. Particular attention will be paid to the current efforts of the EU to respond to information and communication technologies, and Internet trust and security. Topics will also be explored against the emergence of an agenda for global digital human rights.
- Privacy and Data Protection Law
- Challenges to Privacy: Social Networks and Online Behavioural Advertising
- Privacy and State Surveillance
- Cybercrime
- Cybersecurity