Columbus School of Law

The Catholic University of America

Spring Term 2000

CYBERLAW SYLLABUS PART VI: WEEKS THIRTEEN-FIFTEEN

Professor Susanna Fischer

Office Room 412

Office Telephone 202-319 5568

E-mail: fischer@law.edu

Link to Syllabus Part I: Weeks One-Three

Link to Syllabus Part II: Weeks Four-Five

Link to Syllabus Part III: Weeks Six-Seven

Link to Syllabus Part IV: Weeks Eight-Ten

Link to Syllabus Part V: Weeks Eleven-Twelve

Link to Course Outline

WEEK THIRTEEN (April 10, 2000-April 14, 2000)

April 10: The Problem of SPAM: Regulating Through Statute [Class Maven: Jen Olinger] ALSO: YOUR SECOND DRAFTS OF YOUR PAPER ARE DUE IN CLASS TODAY!!

Required Reading:

• Lydia Loren, "Regulating Cyberspace -- a Case Study in SPAM" http://www.cyberspacelaw.org/loren/index.html [includes information on an important case, Compuserve, Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc., 962 F. Supp. 1015 (S.D.Ohio 1997)] Read the introduction, Phase Two and Phase Three. Skim Phase One.

• Jonathan Byrne, "Squeezing Spam Off the Net: Federal Regulation of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail," 2 W. Va. J.L. & Tech. 4 (Feb. 14, 1998). http://www.wvjolt.wvu.edu/v2i1/byrne.htm *Read only sections I. "Introduction", II. "Junk Mail and the Law: A Historical Perspective," and III. "Current Attempts to Regulate Spam." 

Recommended Reading:

1.  Pending Federal Legislation

• THOMAS -- U.S. Congress on the Internet http://thomas.loc.gov/
  -"Can Spam Act," H.R. 2162, 106th Cong. (1999).
  -"E-Mail User Protection Act," H.R. 1910, 106th Cong. (1999). -"Inbox Privacy Act of 1999," S. 759, 106th Cong.
  -"Internet Freedom Act," H.R. 1686, 106th Cong. (1999).
  -"Internet Growth and Development Act of 1999," H.R. 1685, 106th Cong. -"Netizens Protection Act of 1999," H.R. 3024, 106th Cong. -"Unsolicited Electronic Mail Act of 1999," H.R. 3113, 106th Cong.
  -"Protection Against Scams on Seniors Act of 1999", H.R. 612, 106th Cong.

2.  Special Interest Group Web Sites

• Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) http://www.epic.org/; see EPIC Archive - Privacy at http://www.epic.org/privacy/ and "SPAM - Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail" at http://www.epic.org/privacy/junk_mail/spam/
• "Frequently Asked Questions to the CDT", The Center for Democracy & Technology
  http://www.cdt.org/faq/index.shtml
• "IP Spoofing and Other Header Fraud Resources", The Center for Democracy & Technology
  http://www.cdt.org/spam/ipspoof.html

3.  Just for Fun

• You can download and listen to the Complete Spam song at "Full Songs and Full Sketch Sounds"
  http://www.montypython.net/fullsounds.php3
• To find out some basic information on Monty Python, try: "Monty Python dot com...always look on the bright side of life" http://www.montypython.com/

Class of April 12:  Internet Technology [Guest Lecturer: Kent Cheng (Assistant Manager in our Law School Computer Services Department and a graduate student in Computer Science at CUA)]

Required Reading: 

• Whatis: A Tour -- How the Internet Works http://www.whatis.com/tour.htm [do the whole tour]

• Russ Haynal, "The Big Picture" http://www.navigators.com/internet_architecture.html

• The Internet From Backbone to End-User http://backofficesystems.com/tips/internet/backbone.htm

Recommended Reading:

1.  General

• Web Developers Virtual Library: "About the Internet" http://wdvl.com/Internet/About.html [lots of helpful links]

• RFC 1935 (1996) "What is the Internet Anyway?" http://info.internet.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc/files/rfc1935.txt

2.  Organizations Relating to The Internet:

• Internet Society http://info.isoc.org/ [click on "All About the Internet" for lots of helpful information]

• Association for Computing Machinery ("ACM") http://www.acm.org/

• National Telecommunications and Information Administration (at Department of Commerce) ("NTIA") http://www.ntia.doc.gov/

3.  Internet Standards:

• Internet Engineering Task Force ("IETF") http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/home.html

• World Wide Web Consortium http://www.w3.org/

Class of April 14:  The Employer's Right to Monitor Employee's E-mail [Class Maven: Marianne Roach Casserly]

Required Reading:  

• Christopher P. Reynolds, "Employment Litigation in the New Millennium -- Technology Considerations" National Employment Law Council Conference April-May, 1999 http://www.mlb.com/spc62999.htm

Recommended Reading: 

• "E-MAIL MONITORING IN THE WORKPLACE: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY",  67 Def. Couns. J. 32 (January, 2000) 67 DEFCJ 32 [please download from Westlaw www.westlaw.com]

• Note, "Employer Liability for Employee Online Criminal Acts", 51 Fed. Comm. L.J. 467  (March, 1999) 51 FCLJ 467 [please download from Westlaw www.westlaw.com]

• Mark S. Dichter & Michael S. Burkhardt, "Electronic Interaction in the Workplace: Monitoring, Retrieval and Storing Employee Communications in the Internet Age" http://www.mlb.com/art61499.htm

• Mark L. Goldstein & Lisa S. Vogel, "Can You Read Your Employees' E-Mail?" Feb. 24, 1997 http://ljx.com/securitynet/articles/0224email.html

• Susan H. Confair, "Do You Know Your Employer's E-Mail Policy?" http://www.reageradlerpc.com/articles/email.html

• http://www.wyattfirm.com/labor/summer98/issue.htm (click on MONITORING EMPLOYEE E-MAIL AND THE NEED FOR AN E-MAIL POLICY)

• http://nsls1.nslsilus.org/MEMBERS/netissue/mailpol.htm

WEEK FOURTEEN (April 17, 2000-April 19, 2000)

April 17:  Practicing Law online: Legal Advice on the Internet [Class Maven: Debra Cromwell]

Required Project:

• Go to "Ask a Lawyer" on uslaw.com at:  http://www.uslaw.com/ask-a-lawyer/ Proceed to the instant messenger phase.  You will have to fill out a minimal registration form using an email address (feel free to us a made up one if you wish) and talk to the lawyer about a problem (real or fictional) and see if, in your opinion, the line of attorney/client relationship is ever crossed. If so, does the site's disclaimer solve the problem?

Recommended Reading:

1.  Attorney-Client Relationship

• Catherine J. Lanctot, "Attorney-Client Relationships in Cyberspace: The Peril and the Promise", 49 Duke L.J. 147 (1999) http://www.law.duke.edu/shell/cite.pl?49+Duke+L.+J.+147

• ABA White Paper, "A Re-Examination of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct Pertaining to Client Development in Light of Emerging Technologies" (July, 1998) http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/whitepaper.html

2.  Attorney Web Pages

• Mark Hankins, "Ambulance Chasers on the Internet: Regulation of Attorney Web Pages", 1 J. TECH.
  L. & POL'Y 3 (1996) http://journal.law.ufl.edu/~techlaw/1/hankins.html

• Links to state ethics rules re: lawyer advertising, solicitation and marketing at http://www.abanet.org/adrules/

3.  E-Mail Communication Between Lawyer and Client

• Mass Bar Ethics Opinion 00-1 (Jan., 2000) http://www.massbar.org/ethics/00-1.html

• In Re Technology, Red-Letter Day for E-Mail Client http://www.abanet.org/journal/jun99/06tkfred.html

4.  Legal Ethics Sites

• Legalethics.com at http://www.legalethics.com/

• ABA Center for Professional Responsibility at: http://www.abanet.org/cpr/home.html See also, for helpful links: http://www.abanet.org/cpr/links.html

• Cornell Legal Information Institute Legal Ethics Library http://wwwsecure.law.cornell.edu/ethics/ ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct are available at http://www2.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/RPC-OVERVIEW?

• Findlaw Ethics and Professional Responsibility Guide http://www.findlaw.com/01topics/14ethics/index.html

• Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism http://www.txethics.org/

5.  Attorney Professionalism and Discipline

• National Organization of Bar Counsel http://nobc.org/

• American Inns of Court http://www.innsofcourt.org/

Class of April 19:  The Future of the Law Review in an Electronic Age (Class Maven: Donna Sheinbach) 

Required Reading:

• Bernard J. Hibbitts, "Last Writes? Reassessing the Law Review in the Age of Cyberspace", 30 Akron L. Rev. (1996) available at http://www.law.pitt.edu/hibbitts/lw_p1.htm [skim Part I; read carefully Parts III, and IV]; also available at  http://www.uakron.edu/lawrev/hibb.html

• Archie Zariski, "Never Ending, Still Beginning": A Defense of Electronic Law Journals From the Perspective of the E-Law Experience" http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2_6/zariski/

Recommended Reading:

• Articles in 30 Akron L. Rev. (1996) concerning the future of the law journal and Hibbitts' "Last Writes" articleb http://www.uakron/edu/lawrev/w96v30n2.html

• USC Law School Guide to Legal Journals on the Web http://www.usc.edu/dept/law-lib/legal/journals.html (useful collection of links to online legal journals)

• University Law Review Project http://www.lawreview.org/

• Peter W. Martin, Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (1999-2000 ed. based on 16th ed. of the Blue Book) http://wwwsecure.law.cornell.edu/citation/citation.table.html

• E-journals Coalition http://www.urich.edu/~jolt/e-journals/

• James Gerlach, "The Effect of the Internet on Legal Scholarship" (1997) http://wings.buffalo.edu/Complaw/CompLawPapers/gerlach.htm

• Michael Geist, "Changing the Face of Legal Scholarship" (1998) http://lsprod.mtcibs.com/lawtech/archive/199803.htm

• "Student editors cast 'fresh
  eyes' on respected legal
  publications", Newark Star-Ledger, 1/30/00
  http://www.nj.com/columns/hand/e5df56.html

• Stanford Law Review also has a few interesting articles on student-edited law reviews in its Summer 1995 Special Issue -- Law Review Conference. There's an article by Richard A. Posner at 47 Stan. L. Rev. 1131 (1995), and two others at 47 Stan. L. Rev 1139 (1995) and 47 Stan. L. Rev. 1147 (1995) which may be of interest, available on LEXIS or Westlaw.

WEEK FIFTEEN (April 25, 2000-April 28, 2000)

Class of April 25 [Administrative Monday]:  The Problem of Internet Access With a Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa [Class Maven: Fatima Fofana]

Required Reading: 

Jennifer Myers: "Human Rights & Development: Using Advanced Technology to Promote Human Rights in sub-Saharan Africa" 30 Case W. Res. J. Int'l L. 343 (1998) [please download from Westlaw at www.westlaw.com]

Recommended Readings:

1.  Internet Access in Africa

• Mike Jensen: "African Internet Status" http://www3.sn.apc.org/africa/afstat.htm

• Mandla Langa: "The Revolution is Not Being Televised In Africa" Times Media Limited, p.9 (Dec. 8, 1999) (available in Lexis-Nexis: www.lexis.com)

• Kerstin Fischer: "Heart of Darkness: Internet in Africa Expensive and Shackled", Deutsche Presse-Agentur, (Jan. 9, 2000) (available in Lexis-Nexis www.lexis.com)

2.  The Digital Divide in the United States

A.  Statistics/Studies/Surveys on the Digital Divide

• "Bridging the Digital Divide: The Impact of Race on Computer Access and Internet Use"
  http://www2000.ogsm.vanderbilt.edu/papers/race/science.html

• Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, Digital Steppingstones Project http://www.trpi.org/dss/

• NUA surveys
  http://www.nua.ie/surveys

• "Web Users are Looking More Like Americans"
  http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/pubper/pdf/pp93b.pdf

• Civil Rights Forum on Communications Policy
  http://www.civilrightsforum.org/

B.  Initiatives to Overcome the Digital Divide

• Clinton Announces Initiative to Close Digital Divide, April 17, 2000, http://www.trpi.org/dss/clinton.html Archived webcast of the event is at: http://corp.aol.com/cgi/newmarket/index.html

• The Digital Divide Network 
  http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org

• DigitalDivide.gov 
  http://www.DigitalDivide.gov

• Softbank/World Bank Group Initiative http://www.softbank.com/sbem/english/english.html

• OneNetNow.com www.OneNetNow.com

C.  Technology Training Resources

i.  National

• National Urban League
  http://www.nul.org

• Community Technology Centers Network (CTCNet)
  http://www.ctcnet.org

• Boys & Girls Clubs of America
  http://www.bgca.org/

• Urban Technology Center
  http://www.urbantech.org

• Alliance for Community Media
  http://www.alliancecm.org

• AmeriCorps*VISTA 
  http://www.americorps.org/vista_tech

ii.  Local

• Silicon Valley CA: Plugged In, Inc.
  http://www.pluggedin.org

• Seattle WA: Technology Access Foundation
  http://www.techaccess.org

• Los Angeles CA: Break Away Technologies
  http://www.breakaway.org

• San Francisco CA: OpNet
  http://www.opnetwork.org/

• Across CA: Computers in Our Future
  http://www.compfuture.org/compfuture

• Oakland CA: Women's Economic Agenda Project (WEAP)
  http://www.sriconsulting.com/weap

• New York, NY: East Harlem Tutorial Program 
  http://www.east-harlem.com/ehtp.htm

• Washington DC: Kids Computer Workshop
  http://www.kcw.org

• Cambridge, MA: CitySkills 
  http://www.CitySkills.org

Class of April 26: [Export Controls and Encryption: Guest Lecturer: Eric Hirschhorn]

Required Reading:

• Bernstein v. U.S. Department of Justice (9th Circuit May 1999) http://www.eff.org/bernstein/Legal/19990506_circuit_decision.html

• Bernstein v. U.S. Department of State, 974 F. Supp. 1288 (N.D. Cal. 1997) http://www.cdt.org/crypto/litigation/bernstein3.html

Recommended Reading:

• EFF Bernstein case file http://www.eff.org/bernstein/

• Center for Democracy and Technology Encryption links (links to Karn, Bernstein and Junger cases) http://www.cdt.org/crypto/litigation/

Class of April 28: Looking Ahead: The Future of the Internet, Cyberlaw, and Legal Education 

• REMEMBER: FINAL PAPERS ARE DUE ON MAY 5.  YOU SHOULD SUBMIT THEM TO THE RECEPTIONIST ON THE FOURTH FLOOR.

Recommended Reading: There is no required reading for this final class.  But I hope you may take a look at some of the following:

1.  Future of Legal Education:

• Concord University School of Law (wholly online law school) http://www.executivejd.com/

• Shelley Ross Saxer, One Professor's Approach to Increasing Technology Use in Legal Education 6 RICH. J.L. & TECH. 21, (Winter 1999-2000) http://www.richmond.edu/jolt/v6i4/article4.html

2.  Future of the Internet:

(a)  Extensible Markup Language ("XML")

• Chris W. Higgins, "Legal Issues of Electronic Commerce:Activity Policies, Intelligent Agents and Ethical Transactions" http://www.hytime.org/papers/higgins1.html

• LegalXML http://www.legalxml.org/

• World Wide Web Consortium XML site is at: http://www.w3.org/XML/

• XML Zone http://www.xml-zone.com/

• XML.com http://www.xml.com/pub/r/Legal_Issues_of_Electronic_Commerce

• Robin Cover, The XML Cover Pages http://www.oasis-open.org/cover/xml.html

• Utah Electronic Law and Commerce Partnership XML Working Group http://www.uelp.org/topics/XML.cgi (exploring use of XML standards for electronic filing/exchange of legal documents)

(b) Wearable Computing

• MIT Wearable Computing Page http://mevard.www.media.mit.edu/projects/wearables/
• MIT Ideo Wearable Computing Project http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/mit-ideo/Kio1.html
• About.com Smart Clothes (1/28/00) http://ai.about.com/compute/ai/library/weekly/aa012800a.htm

(c) Smart Homes and Pets

• About.com Virtual Pets http://ai.about.com/compute/ai/msubpets.htm
• About.com Smart Homes (12/1/99) http://ai.about.com/compute/ai/library/weekly/aa120199a.htm

(d)  Nanotechnology

• About.com Nanotechnology http://ai.about.com/compute/ai/msubnano.htm

(e)  Intelligent Agents

• About.com Intelligent Agents http://ai.about.com/compute/ai/msubintelligent.htm
• BotSPOT.com http://www.botspot.com/