599 Digital Law (Szigeti)

LAW599

Digital Law

(Szigeti)

Prerequisite courses:

Prerequisite for:

Instructor(s): Professor Peter Szigeti

Course credit: 3

Method of presentation: Seminar

METHOD OF EVALUATION

Evaluation will combine IT tests and legal reflection papers (subject to modification).

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is an experimental interdisciplinary seminar about “digital law” – what that means and what that can and should mean in the near future. The course will begin with an introduction to the legal foundations of property rights in information: copyright and patent law. It will then consider the history of the Internet and some of the regulatory issues in which it has (or has not) wrought major change: democracy, international jurisdiction, freedom of speech and copyright protections. Students will then learn some basics of coding from guest lecturers from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and compare the achievements of machine learning and AI with the basic problems of the interpretation of legal texts. The third part of the class will feature guest lecturers from the Government of Alberta regarding current challenges and solutions that the provincial government (and government more generally) faces regarding digital information flows.

SPECIAL COMMENTS

Description updated 2020-21. Please contact the instructor for any specific questions you may have related to this particular course section.

REQUIRED TEXTS (IF ANY):

TBA