Cyberspace Law Seminar Spring 2007 Nicholas Johnson University of Iowa College of Law Iowa City, Iowa

NOTE: This page, and those to which it links, provide the administrative regulations, reading assignments, writing requirements and deadlines, and other information relevant to the University of Iowa College of Law Spring 2007 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. (If other Web sites link to a paper that is here, rather than copying it, that will ensure that any subsequent revisions will be reflected in the link.) (d) Any commercial, or other use, requires permission from the author. (If you are unable to reach the author directly, you may communicate with him or her through the instructor.)

If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments please e-mail them to me:  -- Nicholas Johnson, January 5, 2007, January 23, 2007, January 26, 2007.

In this table, "Date" refers to the date when the participant's topic was submitted originally (or finally, if revisions were involved). "TConf" refers to the date when the "topic conference" was held with the instructor. "OConf" refers to the date of the "outline conference." "1stDConf" to the date of the "first draft conference."
 

Participant	Topic, as of . . .	Date	TConf	OConf	1stDConf
KB	The threat of internet predators does not make it necessary to ban children from the Internet in general, or from social networking sites like MySpace.com in particular.	070126
DD	The importance of having antivirus software and of safe computer practices have become common knowledge to the extent that privacy violations resulting from succumbing to common Internet threats should be found to be violations under a negligence standard of liability.	070126
GD	End User Licensing Agreements (EULAs) regarding online gaming should be modified to provide for a cognizable system of property rights for users.	070126
EE	The Fair Use doctrine should be expanded to protect user-submitted content uploaded and displayed on Web 2.0 sites from censorship by copyright holders.	070126
MF	Congress should amend the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) to allow for damage suits against government actions who breach citizens' constitutional rights of privacy through the negligent exposure of personal data on the Internet.	070126
AF	Congress should not impose new requirements on Internet service providers in the name of "net neutrality," but instead should allow the Supreme Court's decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Ass'n v. Brand X Internet Services, which upheld the FCC's exemption of broadband Internet service providers from regulation as common carriers, to stand.	070126
CM	Because the anti-circumvention exemption procedure of the DMCA has been consistently underinclusive in effectuating its statutory purpose the amendment to restore Fair Use (HR 1201) should be adopted.	070126
RP	Federal legislation should be enacted to extend tortuous interference liability to Bulletin Board owners who implicitly encourage their users to "raid" other Websites.	070126
FP	Protecting your trademarks and the market over the Internet in China: A strategic use of domain name dispute resolution to fight online counterfeits	070126
CP	In order to combat the increasingly grave threat botnets pose to Internet security, states should (1) impose statutory negligence liability upon individuals or organization whose failure to take reasonable steps to prevent their computers from being incorporated into botnets results in harm to third parties and (2) require all individuals and organizations who connect to the Internet to purchase liability insurance against this risk.	070126
MS	Webloggers should be afforded qualified journalist protection derived from both constitutional and non-constitutional sources.	070126

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.)

Chris Patton: http://del.icio.us/christopherpatton