Module Identifier
LAM7610
Module Title
REGULATION OF THE TRANSNATIONAL INTERNET
Academic Year
2008/2009
Co-ordinator
Professor Diane Rowland
Semester
Semester 3 (Dissertation)
Other Staff
 

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment One assignment of 5,000 words  Learning outcome 1,2,3,4,5,6,7  100%
Supplementary Assessment One assignment of 5,000 words 

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

1. Explain the general nature of the legal challenges posed by the conflict between the paradigm of national law and the transnational nature of the Internet.
2. Explain the broad regulatory framework for allocating regulatory competence between States in respect of private/civil and public/criminal matters and the similarities and differences between those broad legal areas.
3. Explain the historical development of rules determining personal jurisdiction in the US and UK and identify common trends and problems in those developments.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the country-of-destination approach and the exclusive country-of-origin approach to allocating regulatory competence and their specific application to various substantive areas of law.
5. Demonstrate, by reference to examples, such as gambling regulation, an understanding of the legal, social and economic conditions under which the exclusive country-of-origin approach may be an acceptable solution to competence over online activity.
6. Explain, by reference to examples, such as hate speech regulation, the challenges posed by the restrictive nature of the enforcement jurisdiction and the measures taken by States to overcome those limitations.
7. Critically evaluate and compare the fundamental solutions available to States to resolve the conflict between national law and the transnational Internet.

Brief description

Rationale:
The module will enable students to study cross-border regulatory issues in the context of online activity. As the nature of the topic cuts across innumerable substantive areas of law, a wide range of potential students already in employment in the business or regulatory IT sector are provided with access to the generic legal issues arising from transnational online activity, providing them with a basis from which more specialized studies may be undertaken.

Brief Description:
This module will consider the way in which traditional national legal regimes can be, and are in fact, applied to transnational online activities and the generic problems arising from such application. The module will assess the approaches taken to online regulatory competence both in respect of private and public matters and how these different regulatory concerns have been accommodated in jurisdictions, such as the UK, France, Germany, the EU, Australia and the US, and the common trends emerging from those case studies. It will evaluate to what extent the problems presented by the transnational Internet are truly novel and indeed threaten the notion of the sovereign State, or alternatively whether existing frameworks can be adjusted to effectively deal with the new social, economic and political phenomenon of the Internet.

Content

1. Introduction to the necessary legal framework and key concepts for the allocation of regulatory competence in respect of private/civil and public/criminal matters in the transnational context and to the challenges posed to these concepts by all transnational activity, including online activity.
2. Locating competence approaches to online activity in the UK, Germany, France, the EU, US and Australia within the historical development of jurisdictional concepts and within the national law paradigm.
3. Case studies: competence approaches in particular substantive legal areas such as defamation law, hate speech regulation, gambling regulation and a critical evaluation of the common trends emerging from these studies.
4. Evaluation of the efficacy and feasibility of actual and potential 'private' and 'public' solutions to resolving the conflict of national law and transnational online activity e.g. substantive harmonization, harmonization of competence rules, code, territorial blocking and the exclusive country-of-origin approach.

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Application of Number N/A
Communication Written communication is developed by the presentation of information and argument in written answers and in a more informal way by the use of Blackboard to encourage communication among students and between students and staff. Oral communication skills are developed at the residential study schools.
Improving own Learning and Performance Distance learning, by its very nature, requires strong individual learning and performance structures and this module further develops key skills in this area.
Information Technology The module is delivered almost entirely by distance learning which relies heavily on the use of electronic information resources and on-line learning and teaching.
Personal Development and Career planning Independent learning enhances time management skills. Studying the module will also develop an enhanced capacity for critical thought and the ability to work independently.
Problem solving By the examination and discussion of actual and hypothetical case studies.
Research skills Students will be encouraged to read and study beyond the set module texts and to locate further materials and research findings on the subject.
Subject Specific Skills This module provides students with the opportunity to identify, analyze, evaluate and practise a series of skills with respect to the legal issues arising out of transnational online activity.
Team work Team working skills will be encouraged and developed in group activities and discussions at the residential study schools.

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7