Course

Law in the Information Age 2.0 - GENL0231

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: http://www.cyberlawcentre.org/genl0231/outline2013.pdf

Campus: Kensington Campus

Career: Undergraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

Available for General Education: Yes (more info)

View course information for previous years.

Description

This course will give students an overview of the operation of new media and communications services under Australian law, examining both the legal requirements and the policy reasoning behind the way in which media and communications are regulated.

It will cover five broad areas:

1. how laws are made, changed, interpreted and enforced, with cybercrime among the examples
2. laws governing licensing, ownership and control of telecommunications, radiocommunications and broadcasting enterprises, and whether these laws are appropriate and effective to deal with new technologies and services;
3. electronic commerce and what it means for business, consumers and the community;
4. restrictions on media and online content, including classification and censorship, and regulation of content; and
5. protecting intellectual property and reputation, covering copyright, trademarks, and defamation.

The 2.0 extension of this course also focuses on issues arising from the Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 phenomena of social networking, user generated content, mass personalisation, semantic net, and “the cloud”. These are addressed in workshops after each of the main classes.

[NB: this is a new 6 unit course in 2010.]

Convenor
David Vaile
Executive director, Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre, Faculty of Law
Email: d.vaile@unsw.edu.au

Recommended Prior Knowledge

Basic awareness of the legal and regulatory system. While some knowledge of technologies is useful, there will be no assumption that students possess such knowledge prior to commencing the course. Basic legal knowledge can be covered by a short recommended text.

Course Objectives

  • Articulate the main elements of regulatory models and legal regimes
  • Understand the unique challenges posed to users, regulators, policy makers and online service providers
  • Appreciate the level of technical complexity and evolving issues in communications convergence
  • To be able to engage in debate on policy reform in the area
  • Explain and provide better instruction to a legal advisor
  • Completion of a independent research of an inter-disciplinary nature

Main Topics

  • how laws are made, changed, interpreted and enforced, with cybercrime among the examples
  • laws governing licensing, ownership and control of telecommunications, radiocommunications and broadcasting enterprises, and whether these laws are appropriate and effective to deal with new technologies and services;
  • electronic commerce and what it means for business, consumers and the community;
  • restrictions on media and online content, including classification and censorship, and regulation of content; and
  • protecting intellectual property and reputation, covering copyright, trademarks, and defamation.

Assessment

Media Diary - 30%

Research paper plus annotated Bibliography - 60%
OR
Online contribution (Wikipedia etc.)- 60%

Participation - 10%

Course Texts

Prescribed
Course materials from UNSW Bookshop.

Recommended

Either:
Carvan, J Understanding the Australian Legal System, Thomson Lawbook Co, 6th ed, 2010
OR
Richard Chisholm, Garth Nettheim, Understanding Law: an introduction to the Australia's legal system, 7th ed., Sydney: LexisNexis Butterworths, 2007, 213 pp., ISBN 9780409323467

Resources

Announcements, detailed classes timetable, and further links are available at the courses' home page at www.cyberlawcentre.org/genl0231

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