Revised September 2, 2013

Law 897: The Law in Cyberspace Seminar

List of potential topics

This list is a work in progress; expect to see possible topics appearing and disappearing between now and the first day of classes. The topics overlap, and their order is somewhat arbitrary. 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. If you're signed up for the seminar and would like to suggest a topic that isn't on the list, please email it to me with an appropriate link.

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

     

  1. Big data: FTC Chair Edith Ramirez’s Keynote speech (Aug. 19, 2013)

  2. The NSA’s secret surveillance of US Citizens: The Guardian’s NSA Files feature (August 2013)

  3. The digital divide: Pew Internet & American Life Project Report overview (April 13, 2012)

  4. Borders: Congressional Research Service Report (Jan. 17, 2013)

  5. Internet Regulation in Russia: RIA Novosti story (July 5, 2013)

  6. Private surveillance: Luis v. Zang (SD OH 2013)

  7. Online profiling: Wall Street Journal story (Dec. 7, 2012)

  8. Data privacy in the EU and US: Privacy Europe blog post (Feb. 19, 2013)

  9. Geolocation: H.R. 1312 (March 21, 2013)

  10. Liability for data breach: Bell v. Blizzard (C.D. Cal., July 2013)

  11. FTC regulation of privacy: Commisioner Julie Brill’s Keynote Speech (June 26, 2013)

  12. Internet regulation in Australia: Brisbane Times story (June 24, 2013)

  13. Computer crime: Federal Times story on "spear phishing" (Feb. 20, 2013)

  14. Sexting: Clark v. Roccanova (ED KY 2011)

  15. Cyberharassment: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Cox (Pa. Super. Aug. 2, 2013)

  16. Cybersecurity and Cyberterror: US Department of Defense American Forces Press Service news article (June 27, 2013)

  17. 5th amendment protection for data: c|net news story (June 4, 2013)

  18. Internet regulation in China: Internet Society of China blog post (June 28, 2013)

  19. Antitrust: European Commission Press release (April 25, 2013)

  20. Taxation of Internet transactions: Politico story (June 23, 2013)

  21. Bitcoin: Ars Technica story (Aug. 13, 2013)

  22. Virtual property: Abreu v. Slide (ND Cal 2012)

  23. Internet gambling: Forbes Op Ed (June 25, 2013)

  24. Internet Regulation in Saudi Arabia: CNN News Story (July 31, 2013)

  25. Online Copyright Enforcement: The Wrap report on Chris Dodd’s speech at CinemaCon (April 24, 2012)

  26. Removing or blocking allegedly infringing material under U.S. and E.U. law: Guardian news story (Aug. 13, 2013)

  27. Circumvention of technological protection measures: Congressional testimony of Steve Metalitz (June 6, 2013)

  28. Copyright law and digital resale: Capitol Records v. Redigi (SDNY 2013)

  29. Music licensing: Register of Copyrights 2005 testimony (July 12, 2005)

  30. Mass digitization: Authors Guild v. HathiTrust (SDNY Oct. 10, 2012)

  31. Internet regulation in Brazil: Reporters without Borders story (Oct. 2, 2012)

  32. Operation In Our Sites — ICE Seizure of Internet domain names: ACLU Blog Post (June 20, 2012)

  33. Digital estates: PBS Newshour (March 11, 2013)

  34. Internet regulation in Japan: JDSupra Law News blog post (June 12, 2013)

  35. Internet censorship: Berkman Center Essay Collection, published as a special issue of IEEE Internet Computing (May 2013)

  36. Hate Speech (choose only one of the following sites):

  37. Gripe sites: PissedConsumer.com

  38. Defamation: Internetreputation.com

  39. Search engine liability: Google Spain v. Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (June 25, 2013)

  40. Spam: Kramer v. Cash Link Systems (8th Cir 2013)

  41. Bloggers and journalists: TooMuchMedia v. Hale (NJ 2011)

  42. Internet regulation in France: NY Times article (Feb, 24, 2013)

  43. Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 USC §§ 2510-2522: S. Rep. 113-34 (2013)

    44.
  44. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 USC § 1030: Information Week story (June 24, 2013)

  45. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, 47 USC § 230: Okeke v. Cars.com (NY 2013)

  46. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act [COPPA], 15 USC §§ 6501-6506: Eric Goldman blog post for Forbes (Dec. 20, 2012)

  47. The Stored Communications Act, 18 USC §§ 2701-2712: Lazette v. Kulmatycki (D OH 2013)

  48. AntiCybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, 15 USC § 1125(d): Gioconda v. Kenzie (SDNY 2013)

  49. Internet regulation in Qatar: Blouin News blog post (May 30, 2013)

  50. Personal jurisdiction: Penguin Group v. American Buddha (2d Cir. 2011)

  51. EDiscovery: Practical Ediscovery Blog

  52. Internet regulation in Singapore: Reuters news story (May 28, 2013)

  53. End User License Agreements: PCWorld story (Feb 6, 2012)

  54. Social media: Wall Street Journal story (Oct. 13, 2012)

  55. Online trespass to chattels: Eric Goldman blog post (April 4, 2013)

  56. Schools and students: Letter from a lawyer at Davis Wright to the Lodi Unified School District (August 12, 2013)

  57. Online romance: Bonhomme v. St James (IL 2012)

  58. Internet regulation in India: Engadget news story (May 8, 2013)

  59. ICANN: Harold Feld blog post (July 15, 2013)

  60. Network Neutrality: FCC Guide (Jan. 28, 2013)

  61. International Telecommunication Regulations Treaty: PCWorld story (Dec. 14, 2012)

  62. Internet Regulation in Vietnam: Voice of America news story (Aug. 29, 2013)

 

If you are ready to sign up for your topics, you can find the signup sheet here (pdf) or here (doc).

 

Return to the seminar overview.

Return to the tentative syllabus.

Send me an email message:   jdlitman [at] umich.edu