Internet Law (LAWS70396)

The internet turns 26 in 2017, and remains the fastest-growing medium of communications. It is also a uniquely democratic means of communication, blurring the traditional boundaries between publisher and reader. It has created unparalleled opportunities for sharing, fully duplex peer communications and novel types of social media. Nevertheless the legal rules governing it remain unsettled and are arguably too old-fashioned for the modern environment. These developing legal rules and norms are the focus of this subject. Topics include copyright laws related to user-generated content, the regulation of social networks, privacy, libel tourism, online obscenity and collaborative internet-based contracting.

Principal topics include:

• Overview of technology and avenues of distribution
• Copyright and allied rights in online services
• Commissioning and licensing material
• Regulation of transnational online products and services
• Internet contracting and consumer protection issues
• Censorship of material distributed via online services
• Defamation and privacy
• Obscenity
• Journalists and the internet
• Theoretical issues such as the nature of democratic governance in a borderless world, regulatory arbitrage and the appropriate basis for liability where internet businesses encourage others to offend.