The Catholic University of America
Columbus School of Law
CYBERLAW 2000
Professor Susanna Fischer
HOME PAGE
Welcome to Cyberlaw! I hope you will enjoy your study of this exciting, cutting edge subject. This home page will be updated on a regular basis throughout the course (last updated 4/24/00/00).
Please click here to access Announcements (last updated 4/24/00)
To access the class threaded discussion forum, please access this link: http://home.cua.edu/forums/forum.cfm?ID=1
Here is a picture of the Cyberlaw 2000 class celebrating the final day of class on April 28, 2000:
This is a "green course" which will save many trees, because most of the course materials are online.
Here are links to the Course Syllabus:
Course Syllabus Part I (Weeks One-Three) (1/10/00-1/28/00) [TOPICS: Introduction to Cyberlaw, History and Background of the Internet, Lessig "Code is Law" I, Lessig "Code is Law" II, The Libertarian Response to Lessig, Theories of Internet Governance I, Theories of Internet Governance II]
Course Syllabus Part II (Weeks Four-Five) (1/31/00-2/11/00) [TOPICS: Theories of Internet Governance III, Open Access, Protecting Children on the Internet: The Problem of Cyberstalking, Anonymity in Cyberspace, Internet Taxation, Digital Cash and Other Internet Payment Systems]
Course Syllabus Part III (Weeks Six-Seven) (2/14/00-2/25/00) [TOPICS: Personal Jurisdiction in Cyberspace, More on Jurisdiction: Foreign Defendants and Foreign Courts, Internet Gambling, Trade Secrets on the Internet: The Scientology Cases, Trade Secrets on the Internet, the First Amendment and Prior Restraints (The Ford v. Blue Oval and DVDCCA disputes), Internet domain names]
Course Syllabus Part IV (Weeks Eight-Ten) (2/28/00-3/24/00) [Cybersquatting, Business Method Patents, Search Engines: Some Legal Issues, Copyright Infringement and the Internet: Linking and Framing, First Amendment and the Internet: Is the Internet a Public Forum?, Copyright Infringement and the Internet: MP3, First Amendment and the Internet: Hate Speech, First Amendment and the Internet: Indecency/Obscenity; Copyright Infringement and the Internet: The Problem of Streaming Video (the iCraveTV case)]
Course Syllabus Part V (Weeks Eleven-Twelve) (3/27/00-4/7/00) [TOPICS: Online Service Provider Liability, Online Litigation and Electronic Case Filing, Internet Crime, Contracting Online, The Problem of Data Privacy for Online Data], Copyright Law and the Internet: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Copyright Management Systems and Technological Protections]
Course Syllabus Part VI (Weeks Thirteen-Fifteen) (4/10/00-4/28/00) [TOPICS: The Problem of SPAM, Guest Lecture on Internet Technology, The Employer's Right to Monitor Employee E-mail, Practicing Law Online: Legal Advice on the Internet, The Future of the Law Review in an Electronic Age, The Digital Divide and the Problem of Internet Access - with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, Guest Lecture on Export Controls and Encryption, Looking Ahead: The Future of the Internet, Cyberlaw and Legal Education]
If you have trouble following any links, or have any other questions about this course, please e-mail me at fischer@law.edu
Only one old-fashioned paper book is a required text for this course. This is Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, by Lawrence Lessig (Basic Books 1999). It is available for purchase at the CUA bookstore, or, of course, through a variety of online booksellers.
You are strongly encouraged to go beyond the readings by spending some time surfing the Web, which is a goldmine of information on cyberlaw (and everything else). If you find anything of particular relevance to a particular topic to be covered in class, it would be very helpful if you post the URL on the class threaded discussion forum and/or e-mail the Class Maven for that class.
Click on the Course Outline for more information about the course, including attendance, grading, and the qualifying paper.