JJUA55226U Introduction to Digital Law in the EU and the US - NOTE: THE COURSE IS CANCELLED IN THE SPRING SEMESTER 2018

Volume 2017/2018
Content

Digitization has transformed the legal and contractual relationships between undertakings, citizens and governments. As more data is being collected, stored, exchanged and used electronically, business opportunities and concomitant risks and duties arise, with respect to data privacy and security. The digital revolution is changing the concepts of property, liability, commerce, public space, currency and dispute resolution. At the same time it is creating new ethical concerns and requires specifically designed regulations and remedies. The course introduces the students to a wide variety of topics brought by digitization, helps them identifying the digital risk areas and meeting the legal challenges thereof.

The course is case law and research based. The course leader reserves the right to amend the course readings provided more updated or relevent data occurs between the proposal and the implementation of the course.

Learning Outcome

The course seeks to familiarize students not only with the understanding of black letter law but also to discuss the rationale behind this particular field of law. Thus, it is focused both on theoretical and practical issues, as well as possible solutions, as they appear from legislation and relevant case law.

 

In terms of knowledge, students will be able to:

- describe and explain concepts as defined by law and developed by case law                                       
- explain various policy considerations (i.e.: need for regulation, for remedial action, for consumer protection)                                                                                   
- gain knowledge of ethical and moral issues concerning various aspect of digitzation and automatization                      

 

Skills:                                                                                                                                                
As a result students will develop the ability to:                                                                                            

- understand general rules and principles of "digital" law and to apply them in national and cross-border scenarios                                                                    
- identify and understand the different aspects and implications of digital environment and products, as well as the transformation of legal concepts and institutions due to digitization and automatization                                                                                                                                         
- analyze the policy rationales underlying the different regulatory choices and to argue on their strengths and weaknesses                                                                                                                                                  

 

Competences:                                                                                                                                  
At the end of the course, students will have acquired a number of competences which will enable them to:                                                                                                                                                    

- identify abusive practices in the digital environment and possible remedies for aggrieved consumer in real life scenarios,                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
- individually and/or jointly plan, work and handle complex cases, carry out jurisprudential analysis and prepare competent legal advice on practical issues or hypotethicals
- critically reflect on current and future developments in the field in both a Danish and international context.

 

Topics:

  1. Digital Privacy/Security – Data protection, identity theft, spoofing, computer hacking (link to Personal Data Law in Danish)

    Andrej Savin & Jan Trzaskowski – Research Handbook on EU Internet Law, Edward Elgar, 2014, 'Data protection reform and the Internet: the draft Data Protection Regulation', pp. 543-569 – 26 pages

    Maurice Dawson & Marwan Omar – New Threats and Countermeasures in Digital Crime and Cyber Terrorism, IGI Global, 2015, Chapter 6 ‘Legal Issues – Security and Privacy with Mobile Devices’, pp. 95-105 – 10 pages

    John A Spanogle et all -  Consumer Law. Cases and Materials, 4th edition, West, 2013, 'Online Privacy' pp 530-553 – 23 pages

    Total number of pages 59.

  2. Digital contracts – E-terms and conditions, standard terms (link to Information Technology Course in Danish)

    Gene K Landy – The IT Digital Legal Companion. A Comprehensive Business Guide to Software, Internet and IP Law, Elsevier, 2008, Chapter 17 ‘Terms of Use for Web Sites and Online Applications’, pp 441-453 – 12 pages

    Jan Trzaskowski et all – Introduction to EU Internet Law, EX Tuto Publishing, 2015, 'Contracts' pp 265-283 and 'Performance of Contracts: Sales Law & Payment', pp. 285-302 – 35 pages

    John A Spanogle et all -  Consumer Law. Cases and Materials, 4th edition, West, 2013, ' What are the terms of the deal? – Herein of Shrinkwrap, Clickwrap, Browserwrap and Rolling Contracts' pp. 317-337 – 20 pages

    Total number of pages 67

  3. Digital commerce – E-commerce, E-warranty (link to Consumer Protection Law in the EU and the US in English)

    Andrej Savin & Jan Trzaskowski – Research Handbook on EU Internet Law, Edward Elgar, 2014, 'E-Commerce in the Single Market context – the invisible framework', pp. 285-312 and 'Commercial communication in social media', pp. 411-431 – 47 pages

    Total number of pages 47

  4. Digital justice – E-dispute resolution (link to Consumer Protection Law in the EU and the US in English), E-judicial action

    Pablo Cortes – Online Dispute Resolution for Consumers in the European Union, Routledge, 2011, Chapter 2 ‘Online dispute resolution: An emerging option for consumer redress’, pp. 51-93, Chapter 5 ‘A legal framework to develop consumer ODR in the EU’, pp. 181-212.

    Sutatip Yuthayotin – Access to Justice in Transnational B2C E-Commerce, Springer Law, 2015, Subchapter 7.3.2. Dispute Settlement Mechanisms, pp. 236-240.

    Total number of pages – 77

  5. Digital property – E-property, a new concept

    Daniel Martin – Dispersing the Cloud: Reaffirming the Right to Destroy in a New Era of digital Property, 74 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 467 (2017), pp. 467-

    Anusha Wijewickrama – Dixon v R – Property in Digital Information?, https:/​/​papers.ssrn.com/​sol3/​papers.cfm?abstract_id=2979863##, 33 pages.

    Total number of pages 33

  6. Digital IP rights – Use of file-sharing files, digital piracy (link to Information Technology Course in Danish)

    Andrej Savin & Jan Trzaskowski – Research Handbook on EU Internet Law, Edward Elgar, 2014, 'Limitations to copyright in the digital age', pp. 110-143 – 33 pages

    Jessica Reyman – The Rhetoric of Intellectual Property, Routledge, 2010, Chapter 1 ‘Copyright, Authorship, and the Internet’, pp 1-25 – 24 pages

    Total number of pages 57

  7. Digital Public Space – Use of social networks

    Jacquelyn Burkell & all – Facebook: public space, or private space?, Information, Communication and Society Journal, Volume 17, 2014, Issue 8, pp. 974-985,

    Jean Camp & Y.T. Chien – The Internet as public space: concepts, issues and implication in public policy, ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, Volume 30, Issue 3, September 2000, Pp 13-19.

    Jan Trzaskowski et all – Introduction to EU Internet Law, EX Tuto Publishing, 2015, ' Freedom of Expression, Content Control and ISP Liability, pp. 43-53 – 10 pages.

    Total number of pages 27.

  8. Digital Citizenship – Public digital services – e-tax, e-administration.

    Karen Mossberger & all – Digital Citizenship. The Internet, Society and Participation, the MIT Press, 2008, Chapter 1 ‘Defining Digital Citizenship’ pp 1-21, Chapter 6 ‘Broadband and Digital Citizenship’ pp. 123-139.

    Andrej Savin & Jan Trzaskowski – Research Handbook on EU Internet Law, Edward Elgar, 2014, 'Legal evidence in a digital context: will signatures disappear?' pp 432-459 – 27 pages

    Total number of pages 64.

  9. Digital Regulatory Law

    Andrej Savin & Jan Trzaskowski – Research Handbook on EU Internet Law, Edward Elgar, 2014, ' EU Internet policy', pp. 3-37 – 34 pages

    Douglas J Whaley – Problems and Materials on Consumer Law, 7th edition, Wolters Kluwer, 2013, 'Consumers in Cyberspace' pp. 747-769 – 22 pages

    Total number of pages 56.

  10. Digital Currency and Payment Services – Bitcoin

    James Cox – Bitcoin and Digital Currencies. The New World of Money and Freedom, Laissez Faire Books, 2013, Chapter 8 ‘What is Bitcoin?’, Chapter 9 ‘The Bitcoin Economy’, Chapter 15 ‘The Future of Digital Currency and the Death of Bitcoin 1.0’, pp. 38-48, 76-83 – 17 pages.

    John A Spanogle et all -  Consumer Law. Cases and Materials, 4th edition, West, 2013, 'Internet Payment Services' pp. 635-642, 7 pages

     Jan Trzaskowski et all – Introduction to EU Internet Law, EX Tuto Publishing, 2015 'Performance of Contracts: Sales Law & Payment', p 302-307 – 5 pages

    Total number of pages – 29.

  11. Digital Media – e-News, fake news, news piracy

    Victoria Smith Ekstrand – News Piracy and the Hot News Doctrine. Origins in Law and Implications for the Digital Age, LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC, New York, 2005, Chapter 1 ‘Introduction: The Scope of Piracy’, pp. 6-10; Chapter 5: NBA v Motorola and the New Boundaries of Hot News’ pp. 119-153, - 28 pages

    Andrej Savin & Jan Trzaskowski – Research Handbook on EU Internet Law, Edward Elgar, 2014, 'EU Internet law in the era of convergence: the interplay with EU telecoms and media law' – pp 60-81 and 'Hate and harm: the law on hate speech' pp 488-508 – 41 pages

    Total number of pages 69.

  12. Digitization and Automatization – Self-Driving Cars, Robots, Drones

    Emma Wright – The Legal Challenges for Autonomous Vehicles, https:/​/​betanews.com/​2016/​10/​21/​legal-challenges-self-driving-cars/​, 2 pages

    Peter M Asaro – Robots and Responsibility from a Legal Perspective, online source, 5 pages

    Chris Holder & all – Robotics and Law: Key Legal and Regulatory Implications of the robotics age, Computer Law & Security Review 32 (2016) pp. 383-402. – 19 pages

    Total number of pages 26.

  13. Digital Remedies – Reporting wrongdoings, civil/criminal redress

    Chris Reed (ed) – Computer Law, 7th edition, Oxford, 2011, 'Computer Crime and Information Misuse', pp. 681-728 – 47 pages

    Total number of pages 47 pages.

     

TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES FOR THE COURSE - 658

Minimal research skills are needed to complete some of the assignments.
The course takes the format of lectures and active class participation. Hence, whenever possible, the participation of the students is expected, encouraged and appreciated. Students are therefore required to prepare themselves by:

- reading the assignments for each class in advance,
- deliver presentations and provide feedback to their peers,
- working on assignments (either individually or in groups, as the case may be),
- working out solutions for the cases and hypoteticals distributed,
- engaging in the exchange of ideas throughout the classes and other activities required by the professor.
The courses in "Introduction to Digital Law in the US and the EU" and "IT-ret" are mutually exclusive. It is therefore only possible to follow and be examined in one of these two courses during the course of study
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Preparation
  • 356,5
  • Seminar
  • 56
  • Total
  • 412,5
Individual
Collective
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Feedback by final exam (In addition to the grade)
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)

The course aims to make use of multiple types of feedback in order to ensure, on the one hand, the constant communication between teacher and students, and, on the other hand, that students understand what is expected of them and learn the outcome of their work througout the course.

Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written examination, 4 hours under invigilation
Written exam, 4 hours with invigilation
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period

May 30, 2018

Re-exam

August 21, 2018