|
Professor Michael A.
Geist
Room 362
Telephone - 562-5800,
x3319
Email - mgeist@uottawa.ca
OFFICE
HOURS
METHODS OF
EVALUATION
- Major
Paper or Web Site Project
- Class and
Online Participation
- Class
Presentation
COURSE
MATERIALS
OFFICE
HOURS
Wednesdays 1 - 2:30
Fridays 12:00 -
1:30
Or any time by
email
METHODS OF
EVALUATION
1.
MAJOR PAPER OR WEB SITE PROJECT -
70%
Paper may focus on any
aspect of Internet commerce law. Students
should submit a short proposal indicating
their desired topic prior to commencing
significant work on the project no later
than October 8th. The paper or Web site
project must be submitted no later than
December 9th (the first day of the exam
period). Late papers will be penalized at
a rate of 2% per day.
Potential topics
include:
- Online advertising
&endash; possible focus on attorney or
pharmaceutical advertising
- Consumer protection
issues
- Attorney-client
privilege and email security
- International
e-commerce legal initiatives
- Regulation of digital
signatures
- Taxation issues
including sales tax, jurisdictional
questions, international harmonization
efforts
- Securities regulation
including online IPOs,
(mis)information, corporate disclosure
practices
- Regulation of banking
include electronic cash, foreign banks
operating solely on the Web, home
banking
- Domain name
administration and dispute
resolution
- Antitrust issues
- IP issues including
copyright in the digital era, the power
of technology, patents on the
Web
- The changing face of
law practice including access to legal
information, law firm web sites, and
promotion
- Enforceability of
shrinkwrap licenses
- Critique of ULCC or
government initiatives
- Linking and
framing
- Cryptography
regulation
- Criminal worries
including money laundering, ISP
liability, crypto
- ISP liability for
copyright or criminal violations
- Telemedicine
regulation
- Online Gambling
- Internet
telephony
- Access issues
- Spam
The web site project
option allows students to create a web
site devoted to their research topic.
Although much of the writing will be the
same, it will enable students to insert
hyperlinks, images, and take advantage of
other features of the Web. For a good
example of such a project, check out this
student web project on Internet
libel.
2.
CLASS AND ONLINE PARTICIPATION -
20%
Attendance and
participation at all classes is mandatory.
Students will be expected to have read the
required materials and to have completed
the "stuff to do" for each week.
The class will also
feature an online discussion forum.
Students are expected to participate in
the online forum in the same manner as in
class. To join the list, send an email to
netcomm-subscribe@egroups.com or
click on the Discussion Forum page.
Please note that students
that regularly miss class or do not
contribute to the in-class and online
discussions, will face a lower
participation grade that may adversely
impact their overall grade.
3.
CLASS PRESENTATION - 10%
Students will be asked to
conduct a presentation on their area of
research. This may take the form of a
short in-class presentation (the final
four weeks of the course are blocked off
for this purpose) or by conducting a
week-long online moderated discussion
supported by regular postings designed to
increase online discussion. Students
interested in the online moderation option
should discuss their plans with me as soon
as possible.
COURSE
MATERIALS
Course materials will be
posted online on a weekly basis.
Unfortunately, due to copyright concerns,
the materials will only appear during the
week of the class.
Many of the materials for
the class involve exploring sites found on
the Web rather than just reading cases,
legislation, or secondary source
materials. Accordingly, the materials are
generally best experienced online.
Accessing the course
materials require only a Web browser that
supports frames. Although this includes
version 2.0 or higher of Microsoft Internet
Explorer or
Netscape
Navigator,
version 4.0 or higher is recommended.
Please note that some materials are found
in Adobe Acrobat or PDF format. You should
install this free plugin (available from
Adobe)
if you do not already have it installed on
your computer system.
| 
