• Course description

 

This course will present an overview of key regulatory challenges that the Internet poses for the global information economy. The course will emphasize topics that are the focus of current litigation, legislative initiative or regulatory action. These include methods of regulating the Internet, issues of territorial jurisdiction, the protection of intellectual property, the protection of personal data, and the imposition of civil and criminal liability for Internet activity. The course will explore the unique interdependence of the emerging legal and technological rules for the regulation of Internet activities.

 

• Course Materials




The basic readings for the course will be made available through this web page as the course progresses.  Supplemental readings will be circulated by email.  Students are strongly encouraged to subscribe to a cyberlaw news list.   One excellent list is Professor Michael Geist's Internet Law News.  Registration for a free subscription is available at http://ecommercecenter.bna.com/.

• Class Meetings




Class will meet on Wednesdays from 10:30 to 12:20pm in Rm. 207.
 

• Class Participation and Preparation

 

All students are expected to prepare in advance for class and to participate in class discussions. In the event that any of the links to course reading become outdated, students should either inform the instructor or find an alternate path to the same reading.
 

Because the Internet often faces traffic slowdowns and the servers storing class readings may have occasional problems, students should plan to access course readings well in advance of class.
• Grading
 
This course will have a take-home exam based on class readings and discussions.  The course grade will be determined by the take-home and may in exceptional circumstances be increased for class participation.   Please note that any student who is repeated absent from class or regularly unprepared for class will receive a grade penalty and may become ineligible for course credit.
 
 
• Office Hours and Appointments

 

My regular office hours are Wednesday afternoon from 3:30-5pm, though I do occassionally have to reschedule.  In that event, I will make an announcement in class.  I am also available by email <reidenberg@sprynet.com > and by appointment.

 

• Course Readings

 

 

PART I:  INTRODUCTION

 
This introduction will present the outline of the course and explore the basic composition of the Internet and some of the organizations involved in designing the infrastructure.  The subsequent course readings are grouped around three themes: (I) Network Rule-Making; (II) Information Flows; and (III) E-commerce.  Each class session will address topics within these themes.  The readings for each theme and topic are indicated below.   During the course of the semester, some of the reading assignments may be prospectively modified.

        Reading:

 
        Barry M. Leiner et. al , Brief history of the Internet  version 3.32 (Dec. 10, 2003)

        Browse these important Internet instititutions

           http://www.ietf.org
           http://www.isoc.org
           http://www.w3c.org
           http://www.icann.org

Some useful tools and places

http://www.google.com
http://www.findlaw.com
Professor Jessica Litman's Collection of Sources

Readings

         FTC Letter to Commercial Alert (June 27, 2002)
         Consumer WebWatch News False Oracles: Consumer Reaction to Learning the Truth About How Search Engines Work (June 30, 2003)

Use your favorite search engine and time how long it takes for you to find something that (a) you do not believe should be available to children under the age of 13; (b) you do not believe should be available at all on the Internet; (c) you believe should definitely be accessible to all and available on the Internet.  If you access the Internet from an employer's computer, you should not do this research there.  Use only your personal or school access for this assignment.

 

PART II:    NETWORK RULE-MAKING





This part of the course will focus on the sources of rules and rule-making for network activity.  The topics emphasize the technology and the relationship between technology and rule-making authority.
 

A.    Sources of Regulation (Jan. 19 & 26)
 
 
        This topic will examine sources and theories of regulation for Internet activities.
 

          White House, Framework for Global Electronic Commerce (July 1, 1997)
           IETF, The TAO of IETF     June 18, 2001 (skim)
          Joel R. Reidenberg, Governing Networks and Rule-Making in Cyberspace , 45 Emory L. J. 912 (1996)
          Michael Froomkin, The Internet as a Source of Regulatory Arbitrage in Borders in Cyberspace (Brian Kahin
            and Charles Nesson, eds.) (MIT Press,  1997)
          Joel R. Reidenberg, Lex Informatica: The Formulation of Information Policy Rules through Technology, 76 Texas L. Rev. 553 (1998)
           Lawrence Lessig, Foreword: Conference on Internet Privacy 52 Stanford Law Review 987 (2000)
           Lawrence Lessig, Code is Law, On liberty in Cyberspace , Harvard Magazine, January-February 2000
           Michael Geist, Cyberlaw 2.0 , B.C. L. Rev. 324 (2003)

 
B.    Jurisdictional Conflicts (Jan. 26 & Feb. 2)

This unit will review the evolution of principles of jurisdiction for activities on cross-border  networks.
 

People v. World Interactive Gaming Corp ., 714 N.Y.S.2d 844 (1999)

MSNBC, Antigua claims win over US in Gaming Dispute, MSNBC.com, March 24 (2004)
Playboy Enterprises v. Chuckleberry 939 F. Supp. 1032 (SDNY, 1996)
Michael Geist,  Is There a There There? Towards Greater Certainty for Internet Jurisdiction , 16 Berkeley Tech. L.J - (2001)
The Yahoo Case:

TGI Paris Ordinance en référé (Nov. 20, 2001):   Original      English translation submitted to the US courts

Joel R. Reidenberg, Yahoo Case and Democracy on the Internet, 42 JURIMETRICS 261 (2002)

Yahoo! Inc. v. La Ligue Contre le Racisme et L'Antisemitisme , 145 F. Supp. 2d 1168 (N.D.Cal. 2001)  rev'd 379 F.3d 1120 (9th Cir., 2004)  (be sure to read both the District and 9th Circuit decisions)

 Joel R. Reidenberg,  States and Internet Enforcement, 1 UNIV. OTTAWA TECH. L. J. 213 (2004)

 
Of interest:
Italian Court of Cassation (Section V) Penal Judgment No. 4741 (2000)
Materials on The Hague Conference on Private International Law
EU Treaties on Jurisdiction
 

 
The second part of the course will study the regulation of information flows on the Internet.  The readings will focus on the allocation of the rights to control information access, dissemination and use.
 
 
A.     Intellectual Property  (Feb. 9 & 3/2)

            Copyright

Universal Studios v. Eric Corley , 273 F.3d 429 (2nd Cir., 2000)
Kelly v. Arribasoft , 336 F.3d 811 (9th Cir, July 7, 2003)
A& M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., US Court of Appeals, 9th Cir., Docket #00-16401 (Feb. 12, 2001)  (skip Parts II; VI; VII(A))      Gnutella News, What is Gnutella? (2001)  (read entire page)
In re Aimster Copyright Litigation , 334 F.3d 643 (7th Cir., 2003)
Metro Goldwyn Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, 380 F.3d  1154 (9th Cir., 2004)

Trrademark
 
Panavision Int'l v. Toeppen , 141 F.3d 1316 (9th Cir. 1998) (skip II.A)
Playboy Enterprises v. Netscape Communications , 55 F. Supp. 2d (CD Cal), aff'd mem 202 F.3d 278 (9th Cir. 1999)


Domain Names

        ICANN Watch, ICAAN for Beginners (2003)
        The Coca Cola Company v. The Holy See , FA0304000155454   (July 3, 2003)
 

B.   Content (March 9)
 
U.S. v. Thomas 74 F.3d 701 (6th Cir., 1997)
Reno v. ACLU , 521 U.S. 844 (1997)
U.S. v. American Library Assoc. , No. 02-361. ( June 23, 2003)
 
C.  Privacy  (March 16 and Apr. 6)

       US West v. FCC, 182 F.3d 1224 (10th Cir., 1999)
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998     [browse.  Note specifically Sections 1302(2) and 1303(a)(1)]
FTC Announces Settlements with Web Sites That Collected Children's Personal Data Without Parental Permission

World Wide Web Consortium Issues P3P v1.0 as a Recommendation (April 16, 2002)

Jefferson Graham, Privacy vs. Internet Piracy , USA Today, June 11, 2003
Verizon, RIAA v. Internet Services-- It's about privacy- not piracy
RIAA v. Verizon, 351 F. 3d 1229 (DC Cir., 2003)
Joel R. Reidenberg, Ecommerce and Trans-Atlantic Privacy , 38 HOUSTON L. REV. 717 (2001)

Orin Kerr, Internet Surveillance Law After the USA Patriot Act: The Big Brother That Isn’t,
97 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 607 (2003)

Daniel Solove, Reconstructing Electronic Surveillance Law, 72 Geo. Wash. L. Rev.   (2004)

 
D.    Intermediary Liability  (April 13 & 20)

          N.Y. Attorney General, Press Release: Ten Banks End Online Gambling with Credit Cards (Feb. 11, 2003)

India Blocks almost all Yahoo Forums, ABCNews.com, Sept. 29, 2003
Blumenthal v. Drudge, 992 F. Supp. 44 (DDC 1998)
Doe v. GTE Corp, (7th Cir., 2003)
Jonathan Zittrain, Internet Points of Control, 44 B:C. L. Rev. 653 (2003)
 
 

 
The last part of the course will focus on the problem of spam.
 
Lorrie Faith Cranor & Brian A. LaMacchia, Spam! , Comm. of A.C.M. (Aug. 1998)
Jo Twist, Microsoft aims to make Spammers Pay, BBC News (Dec. 26, 2003)
        See also Microsoft, The Penny Black Project
White House Press Release: President Bush Signs Anti-Spam Law (Dec. 16, 2003)
        Skim CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
Two guilty in first felony spam conviction, Forbes.com, Nov. 3, 2004

 
 
Last modified: Jan. 13, 2005
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