Cyberspace Law Seminar Spring 2005 Nicholas Johnson University of Iowa College of Law Iowa City, Iowa

NOTE: This page, and its links, provide the administrative regulations, links to reading assignments, writing requirements and deadlines, and other information relevant to the University of Iowa College of Law Spring 2005 Cyberspace Law Seminar. Once students' seminar papers are available they will be linked from this page.

Anyone not enrolled in the seminar is free to use this site -- subject to the usual copyright restrictions with regard to material prepared by the instructor and students: (a) all rights are reserved by the author, with, usually, (b) permission granted for individual use (viewing, linking, downloading, and printing limited to one copy), (c) but not for posting to other Web sites. (Linking, rather than posting will, among other things, ensure that any subsequent revisions will be reflected in your link.) (d) Any commercial, or other use, requires permission from the author.

If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments please e-mail them to me:  -- Nicholas Johnson, November 16, 2005; revised 20050126.

"Credits" (for the papers, which are in addition to credits for the seminar as such) refers to the UI College of Law system of "writing" and "academic" credits (based on the length of papers); the College's default minimum for a seminar is one of each.
 
 

Author	Title	Power Point	Credits

In this table, "Date" refers to the date when the participant's topic was submitted originally (or finally, if revisions were involved). "Hrs" refers to total academic credit hours; two for the seminar plus the one (or more) for the paper. It is listed here to encourage participants to make sure the instructor's records conform to those of the main office and the participants' expectations. "TConf" refers to the date when the "topic conference" was held with the instructor. "OConf" refers to the date of the "outline conference."
 

Participant	Topic, as of . . .	Date	Hrs	TConf	OConf
NA (1)	Section 512(h) [Subpoena Clause] of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as applied to the gathering of information of subscribers of internet service providers who participate in copyright infringement should be amended to provide requirements of notice to alleged infringers, and protections against due process, jurisdiction and improper joinder concerns. Such amendments will prevent the current practice of copyright holders to sue infringers that either violate the DMCA or are too costly to actually litigate, such as mass 'John Doe' filings.	Jan 26	4	Jan 25
NA (2)	The prevalent multijurisdictional nature of virtual property cases, where the property is not a mere reference to a real world object, necessitates a harmonization of, at the very least, choice of law law.	Jan 26	3	Jan 25
SB	Malicious internet advertising, such as adware, spyware, pop-ups, and spam, which cause damage to and misappropriation of private property, can be effectively controlled through legislation regulating such conduct and making advertisers and the companies whose product they advertise liable for such harm.	Jan 26	4	Jan 25
TF	This Article will address the growing concern regarding the convergence of identity and technology. In particular, this Paper will briefly categorize the development of legal doctrines used to respond to supposedly unique problems created by the internet. I will most likely argue that in an increasingly mediated culture, there has been a recent trend toward the regulation of an online "environment" itself. I will use the specific example of a famous 1993 Virtual Rape that was committed by a participant in an early online role-playing game. The Paper will analyze the increasingly harsh socio-psychological effects of rape to a fictional cyber-identity. I will argue that identification with an online persona will only continue to grow in our society, and that current legal responses to problems affecting ones cyber-identity are inadequate. The Paper will discuss both advantages and disadvantages to a variety of legal responses to this problem and give a conclusion of where we can expect to be headed in the legal future.	Jan 26	4	Jan 25
CH	Lawyering in the 21st Century: Revising Model Rule 5.5 to allow lawyers to provide a multijurisdictional practice via the internet without fear of ethical violations under former Model Rule 5.5 in light of the increased need among the public for a multijurisdictional legal internet presence.	Jan 26	4	Jan 25
DH	The U.S. government's restriction on offshore Internet gambling are virtually unenforceable because of jurisdictional limitations, the first amendment, the right to privacy, and technologic limitations.	Jan 26	5	Jan 25
MM	Stopping Hackers: Changes in U.S. Code, U.S. law enforcement spending, and west coast code (sandboxing) that will stop hackers in their tracks.	Jan 26	3	Jan 25
CO	The principles of INS, regarding one news service's misappropriation of another's timely news, should equally apply to the misappropriation of time-sensitive information on the Internet.	Jan 26	4	Jan 25
KR	In an era of instant and easy wholesale copying via the internet, databases are inadequately protected; the recent misappropriation based proposal is the wrong solution.	Jan 26	3	Jan 25
DT	The "reporter's privilege" (to withhold the identity of confidential sources) should be extended to cover online "specialized content information sites" (covering industries and companies) to encourage the "whistle blowers" who will only divulge important information on the condition of anonymity, and because of the journalistic contribution made by these small online publications.	Jan 26	3	Jan 25

Although it is neither a seminar requirement nor a source of extra credit, participants who do not already have a personal Web page but would like to have one, are encouraged to prepare and post a personal Web page while enrolled in the seminar. The URLs for any Web page sites they already have, or may now create, will be listed here. -- N.J.)