General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6170 / JDOC6170 |
| Course name: | Law and the Internet |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | First |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credits / 6 credits |
| Remarks | Priority to LLM(T&IPL) students |
1.2 Course description
Network information technologies are now a part of the very fabric of contemporary societies. Their understanding and mastery are a required form of literacy in the 21st century. Social dynamics everywhere have changed because of them and in their image a new social paradigm has been formed. Sociologist Manuel Castells has termed this new social paradigm “informationalism”, in contrast with the idea of “industrialism” that characterized 20th-century societies. As a social science, law is not immune to these transformations but is rather profoundly reshaped by them. This course examines how so, with a particular focus on the main locus of such transformations—the Internet.
The goal here is to conceptually and empirically assess some of the transformations which the law in contemporary societies has been undergoing with the emergence of the Internet. Empirically, the aim is to provide an introductory overview of the concrete, practical shifts that the institutions of law have been experiencing in a number of different areas – from freedom of expression to data protection, and from online transactions to copyright. Conceptually, the course explores the ways in which law itself — as an institutional normative order centred on the authority of the Nation-State — is changing in its very image.
The focus of our course is on major common law jurisdictions, taking the law in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong as a starting point. Nonetheless, occasional – and in some areas extensive – references to the law in the European Union will be made.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Marcelo Thompson | marcelo.thompson@hku.hk | N/A | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Be able to grasp central concepts and ideas in the relations between law and network information technologies and apply them to solve important legal problems of contemporary information societies.
CLO 2 Develop a critical and comparative appreciation of the ways in which different jurisdictions tackle these problems.
CLO 3 Be familiar with a number of substantive topics that will be relevant for further research in this field.
2.2 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
JD – https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Mid-term essay | 1 Nov 2024 | 35% | 1, 2, 3 | |
| Research essay | 16 Dec 2024 | 65% | 1, 2, 3 |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Lecture: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/