| CODE | MCT2012 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Introduction to Legal Informatics | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Media, Communications & Technology Law | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | At the dawn of the 21st century Western societies witnessed a major revolution in the process of creation, dissemination and processing of information. After decades of evolution within the premises of public institutions (including the military), the Internet became available to the wider public and irreversibly transformed the way we socialize, do business and interact with institutions. It created, in other words, an entire new socio-economic paradigm that could be summarized in four (at least) points: - borderless: the Internet is not only a medium that defies geographical boundaries, but also a medium that goes beyond social, economic and national limits; - open and free: the Internet is open in the sense that there are no barriers when it comes to having access to it and that, contrary to traditional media, it runs against information monopolies; - zero marginal cost: the Internet has substantially lowered the cost of information processing activities, thus democratising the ability to impart and receive information; - interactive: the Internet allows a two-way communication and every user is not only a passive recipient of information but also an active creator of content. Study-Unit Aims: The aim of this study-unit is to introduce students to the regulatory challenges posed by new technologies, using the Internet as the basic working example. Starting with an overview of the methodological debates at the early stages of the commercialisation of the Internet, it will guide the students through the regulatory aim of IT Law, which is to monitor the challenges, repercussions and applications of information technologies within society. It will do so by introducing the basic fields of law that refer to Information Technology and by examining such key questions as: how do we do commercial transactions on-line?, what are the legal requirements in order to set up an e-shop?, will I be protected if I buy on-line?, can I post whatever I wish on social media?, who controls my personal information?, do I have the right to copy my digital content?, do I have any rights to the digital content I create? etc. The overarching aim of the study-unit is to prepare students for a career where questions of IT Law will be part of their day-to-day activities, offering them the skills to advise clients doing digital business, litigate digital cases and follow the developments in that particular field of law. In addition, the study-unit will also serve as the necessary academic basis for those students who wish to expand their knowledge in IT Law, especially those who wish to follow other, more advanced, study-units offered by the MCT Department during the third and fourth year of studies. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Explore the legal challenges posed by new technologies, especially the Internet; - Examine the necessity of the methodological adaptations of law in order to tackle the challenges posed by the Internet; - Recognise the regulatory norms that legal science has developed in order to better regulate the Internet and information technologies; - Discuss the necessity of the interaction between traditional legal instruments produced by governmental regulatory bodies with other modern regulatory modalities, especially with the forces of the market, the technological architecture of the Internet and the social norms of the digital world; - Investigate the policies and legislative initiatives of the EU in IT Law; - Identify and examine the existing legislative instruments of EU Law that aim to regulate digital activities. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Monitor the development of the field of IT law; - Navigate through the crucial fields of law (such as e-commerce, consumer protection, platform regulation, privacy regulation etc.) for each digital regulatory and legal challenge to be encountered in day to day activities; - Arrange, review and process the basic bibliography of IT Law; - Perform case law research and analysis within the area of IT law; - Apply the acquired knowledge in day-to-day scenarios and litigate and/or advise on IT Law cases. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: - Easterbrook, F.H. (1996) "Cyberspace and the Law of the Horse"; accessible at https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2147&context=journal_articles. - Johnson, D.R., Post, D. (1996) "Law and Borders: The Rise of Law in Cyberspace" 5 Stanford Law Review 48, pp. 1367-1402. - Goldsmith, J. L. (1999) "Against Cyberanarchy"; accessible at https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1001&context=occasional_papers. - Lessig, L. (2006) "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace 2.0"; accessible at https://lessig.org/product/codev2. - Murray, A., (2019) Information Technology Law: Law and Society, (4th ed.) (Oxford University Press). |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Independent Study | ||||||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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