Law 897
The Law in Cyberspace Seminar

Topics

This list is a work in progress; expect to see possible topics appearing and disappearing between now and the first day of classes.
If you're signed up for the seminar and would like to suggest a topic, email it to me with an appropriate link.

I have listed more than 60 possible topics below. I've assigned them to broad categories, but since many of the topics cut across category lines, the categorization is a little arbitrary. You'll also notice considerable overlap among topics. Next to each topic, I have posted a link to something that will give you a quick and dirty introduction to one facet of the topic. There's no expectation that your assignment or paper will concentrate on that facet; rather, I'm trying to give you a very brief introduction to some of the issues raised by each of the topics.

Caution: Some of the linked items are less objective than others.

    E-Commerce

  1. The enforceability of online clickthrough or browsewrap contracts and terms of use -- Mark Lemley law review article abstract

  2. Taxation of Internet transactions -- Institute for local self-reliance one pager

  3. Internet banking -- AP story

  4. Click fraud -- c|net news story

  5. Auction site regulation -- c|net news story

  6. Antitrust -- c|net news article

    7. Internet Governance and Electronic Democracy

  7. Regulation of the domain name system, and ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) -- ICANNwatch blog intro

  8. Electronic and online voting -- EFF webpage on Evoting

  9. The digital divide -- Wikipedia entry

  10. The Internet in China --James Fallow's story for The Atlantic

    11. Government Regulation of Internet-mediated activities

  11. Regulating Social Networking sites -- Washington Post story

  12. Cybersecurity -- excerpt from the 2003 White House "National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace"

  13. Internet gambling -- American Spectator column by Eli Lehrer

  14. Cybercrime -- DOJ Press release

    15. Freedom of Expression

  15. Content regulation: pornography, indecency, hate speech and nazi paraphernalia -- National Post story

  16. Can anything be done about Spam?-- MX Logic June, 2008 threat forecast report

  17. 1st amendment protection for software code -- 6th Circuit opinion in Junger v. Daly

  18. Regulation of library-based Internet access and use -- USA today story

  19. Gripe sites -- UDRP decision in Red Bull v. Gamel

  20. Bloggers and journalist privileges --- Mercury News story

    21. Jurisdiction and Procedure

  21. Jurisdiction --State court opinion in Shisler v. Sanfer Sports Cars

  22. The dormant commerce clause and state Internet laws -- 2d Circuit opinion in American Booksellers Foundation v. Dean

  23. Cross-border enforcement and extraterritorial application of national laws --9th Circuit opinion in Yahoo! v. LICRA

  24. Electronic dispute resolution -- Cybersettle Press release

    25. Privacy

  25. Anonymity -- EFF's Anonymity page

  26. Data Privacy -- Washington Post story

  27. Data Security -- CDT policy post

  28. Radio Frequency ID Tags -- CDT policy post

  29. Biometrics, global unique identifiers, digital signatures and other identification technologies -- EPIC's biometric identifiers page

  30. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act -- EPIC's Children's Online Privacy Protection Act page

  31. eMail privacy -- 9th Circuit decision in Quon v. Arch Wireless

  32. Government surveillance of Internet activity-- Times Online Story

  33. Corporate Surveillance of Internet Activity -- EPIC's deep packet inspection page

  34. Online profiling -- Business Week article

    35. Telecommunications

  35. Internet telephony -- FCC VOIP webpage

  36. Network neutrality -- SaveTheInternet.com FAQ

  37. Broadcast flag -- EFF Broadcast Flag page

  38. Municipal free wifi -- c|net news article

  39. CALEA -- Susan Crawford blog entry

    40. Torts

  40. Common law trespass to computers and networks -- Pamela Samuelson column

  41. Self help -- Wired News story

  42. Defamation on the Internet -- ABA Journal story

  43. Search engine liability -- Chilling Effects DMCA safe harbor page

  44. Internet service provider liability -- BitLaw ISP liability page

    45. Intellectual Property

  45. Trademark infringement online -- decision in Standard Process v. Total Health Discount

  46. Cybersquatting -- CADNA home page

  47. The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy ["UDRP"] -- panel opinion in No. D2001-1391

  48. KeyWord advertising -- Eric Goldman's Blog post

  49. Peer to peer file sharing -- British news story

  50. Liability for hyperlinking -- D-Lib article by Maureen O'Rourke

  51. Creative commons licenses -- website

  52. Digital Rights Management -- Wikipedia entry

  53. Google Book Search -- New Yorker story by Jeffrey Toobin

  54. Internet business method patents -- EFF's patent busting project

  55. Music licensing -- Register of Copyrights' testimony

  56. Open source and free software -- Free Software Foundation home page

  57. Trusted computing -- Wikipedia entry

  58. Viacom v. YouTube -- amended complaint

  59. Virtual property -- MTTLR Blog post

  60. Webcasting -- SaveNetRadio.org website

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