Internet and the State: 
Social and Political Regulation 
Course Outline

U. Miami School of Law Fall 2001

Unless otherwise marked, all required reading assignments will be available from the distribution center. Some, but not all, are also available on line. Optional readings are not included in your packets, but will be placed on reserve in binders in the library.

I will be teaching "Internet and the Market: E-Commerce and Intellectual Property" Spring 2002.  I strongly recommend that you take "Internet and the State" (or have taken "Internet Law" in a past year) before enrolling in "Internet and the Market".

Don't forget the (optional) references to places you can go for breaking news at the end of this document.

Part 1: Introduction to the Internet

1. Introduction
2. Some Background on Internet Tech
3. "Nettiquette" and informal rules
4. The Big Picture
5. (continued)

Part 2: Internet Governance Around the State

6. ICANN Basics
7. UDRP controversy
8. Alternate Roots Controversy
9. ccTLDs and Country Names on the Internet
10. The Problem of Represenation on a Global Scale
11. More on Elections

Part 3: State Assertions of Jurisdiction

12. Jurisdiction: US
13. (continued)
14. Jurisdiction: International
15. (continued)

Part 4: Anonymity and Identification

16. Cryptography as a Threat to the State
17. Anonymity Control
18. (continued)

Part 5: Content/Access Control

19. Introduction to Filtering
20. Forbidden Filters? Required Filters?
21. Spam Control
22. Info war

Part 6

NOTE: This list is subject to change- Check back for final assignments
 
23. Hacking/Cracking
24. UPDATE: the new anti-terror legislation

Good sources of breaking news

• BNA Internet Law News and BNA E-Commerce Law Daily
• Cybertimes (free subscription required)
• Jessica Litman's "New Developments in Cyberspace Law"
• Phil Agre's Red Rock Eater -- details and archives at http://commons.somewhere.com/rre/
• The irregular (about once a week, more or less) RISKS Digest -- The Forum on Risks to the Public In Computers and Related Systems . Interesting news items on computer-aided screwups and some of the world's worst puns.
• Dave Farber's Interesting People list (to them, and often about about them).
• Bytes in Brief , a useful and gently opinionated weekly roundup of legal developments.
• Eben Moglen's Spot News About Leopards .
• Cryptome .for the latest in crypto and security news. ("Cryptome welcomes documents for publication that are prohibited by governments worldwide, in particular material on cryptology, dual-use technologies, national security and intelligence, but not limited to those.")
• Worth a quick look, but a bit frothy, Wired News .
• Another source, although somewhat duplicative of sources listed above, is ACM's TechNews . The bad thing, or good thing, about TechNews is that it only comes out three times a week.
• If three times a week is too much, there's the weekly e-commerce newsletter from Steptoe and Johnson. In addition to the same US stuff many other sources have, it tends to cover major events in both West and,-- more unusually -- East Europe relating to e-commerce and crytpo.
• For news about ICANN, see the ICANN Blog and ICANNWatch .
• And for the really hardcore, try Slashdot

You may also want to visit some of the other Internet Law and related courses collected by Jessica Litman

Return to class policies .

Links to selected previous year's courses

This document last modified: Oct. 24, 2001