Programme of Studies.- School of Law, Erasmus University Rotterdam

 

Name of the course unit. – Computer Law in an International Perspective

 

Type of course (e.g. major, minor, elective). – Elective

 

Level of the module /course unit (e.g. BA, MA, PhD). – BA/MA

 

Prerequisites – NA

 

Number of ECTS credits. – 6 ECTS (average student working time: 180 hours)

 

Competences to be developed

 

1.            Characteristics of the Information Society

2.            Understanding of data protection

3.            Understanding of electronic signature

4.            Interpretation of legal texts in context

5.            Application of legal texts in context

 

In this course topics will be dealt with from an international perspective, meaning attention is paid to developments within the European Union and within the United States, and to other international regulations and treaties, such as WIPO, TRIPS and GATT, Council of Europe and OECD.

Learning outcomes

Educational activities

Estimated student work time in hours

Assessment

A survey on the applicability of laws on the (global) internet.

1 Lecture – Anarchy on the internet?

In this lecture we look at the internet without using metaphors and examine the applicability of known laws and legal norms.

2 hours

The course will be assessed by a written (‘closed book’) exam, that consists of five open questions.

Students may obtain a full credit point in participating a discussion group, where they have to submit 1 question and 1 reply to somebody else’s question every week.

Reading assignment on the lectures

5 hours

Working in small groups

0 hours

Personal reflection of themes presented in the lectures

10 hours

An introduction to the problem and possibilities of the ‘Information Society’.

1 Lecture – A rational approach to legal questions on the internet.

In this lecture we look briefly at the technical side of the internet, what aspects of IT have produced the basis of the EU programme dedicated to building an ‘information society’ and the potential legal problems arising from the internet.

2 hours

Reading assignment on the lectures

5 hours

Working in small group

0 hours

Personal reflection of themes presented in the lectures

10 hours

Legal qualification of electronic data

2 Lectures.- The legal status of electronic documents;

– Evidential value of electronic documents, a matter of cryptography.

In these two lectures we examine the legal qualification of electronic data files to be either ‘goods’ or ‘rights’, we relate the evidential value of ‘paper documents’ to that of ‘electronic documents’ and we discuss whether so called ‘temporary files’ should be qualified as ‘copies’ under copyright

4 hours

Reading assignment on the lectures

10 hours

Working in small groups

0 hours

Personal reflection of themes presented in the lectures

20 hours

The digital agenda in intellectual property law

4 Lectures.- In these lectures we will deal with the legal protection of chips, software, data and databases. Attention will be paid to ‘domain name grabbing’.

The complex legal status of the so-called file share downloads will be discussed.

8 hours

Reading assignment on the lectures

20 hours

0 hours

40 hours

2 Lectures.- The purpose of these lectures is to give an overview of e-commerce-trends and of the basic ideas in cryptography and public-key infrastructures (PKI) dealt with before.

4 hours

10 hours

0 hours

20 hours

1 Lecture – We look at attempts to legislate for privacy and it’s related opposite, freedom of expression. Europe is particularly divided on this, and further, the US is even more divergent from Europe.  What policy underlies privacy and freedom of expression in the Information Society?

2 hours

5 hours

0 hours

10 hours

Crime, public safety and security

1 Lecture – In this lecture we look at some of the problems caused by these kinds of transformations of the nature of information. We also look at the trend to enlarge State powers and the needs of the State to observe its populations.

2 hours

Reading assignment on the lectures

5 hours

100%

 

Program of Studies – Degree in Computer Engineering

 

Name of the course unit –Computer Law

 

Type of course (e.g. major, minor, elective) – Mandatory

 

Level of the module /course unit (e.g. BA, MA, PhD) – BA

 

Prerequisites – none, but the previous study of the Principles of Law and Ethics course is seen as a necessary introduction to the basics of Law and legal methodology

 

Number of ECTS credits – 3 ECTS (average student working time: 81 hours – 30 contact and 51 autonomous work)

 

Competences to be developed

 

1 Awareness and knowledge of the fundamentals of the various regulations concerning the Information Society, at a National, European and International levels, with a special emphasis on Intellectual Property, according to the Software Engineering oriented profile of the Degree.

 

2 Interpretation and application of legal texts in context

Learning outcomes

Educational activities

Estimated student work time in hours

Assessment

To know the Data Protection Regulations

Lectures on the Council of Europe Convention, the EU Directives and the Portuguese Laws concerning Data Protection, including Electronic Communications

3 hours

Students must do three written case law analysis at home and a written exam in class

-The grade is between 1 and 20, passing who obtains ten points at least

-The grade is the average of the written exam (40%), the case law analysis (40%) and the oral performance in class and/or the posts written at the course forum (10%), being indispensable to pass the written exam.

-The written exam consists on two case law analyses

Reading assignment on the lectures

5 hours

Discussion about relevant cases

1 hours

Preparing and solving the first case study assessment

3 hours

To know the Intellectual Property Laws

Lectures on the property rights and contracts concerning data bases, software and digitalized works copyright

7 hours

Reading assignment on the lectures

14 hours

Discussion about relevant cases

4 hours

Preparing and solving the second case study assessment

5 hours

To know the Regulation on the Internet and E-Commerce

4 hours

Reading assignment on the lectures

8 hours

Discussion about relevant cases

2 hours

Preparing and solving the third case study assessment

4 hours

To know the Law on Computer Crimes

Lectures on the Computer Crimes Law, with a brief reference to the Council of Europe Cyber Crimes Convention

2 hours

Reading assignment on the lectures

4 hours

1 hours

4 hours

Preparing for the written exam

8 hours

2 hours

100%