Several years ago, the school began looking into how the Internet could be used to provide a totally online LL.M program. After an enormous amount of planning, our online LL.M program in entertainment and media law will be launched this fall. Internet law courses will be an integral part of that program. Information on the program is available here.

Restructuring traditional courses to work online has been – and continues to be – a challenging, but surprisingly satisfying, experience. It has allowed me to rethink each of the courses I have been teaching face-to-face, and to reimagine how the subject matter can be taught online. I have found it necessary to totally redo my syllabus, the way in which I organize my lectures, and what reading materials are best suited for a distance-learning environment. This effort has made me realize how some of these innovations can be integrated back into my traditional courses, which I believe will make the classroom experience significantly more engaging, and in the end more effective.

For many traditional law courses, which change little from year-to-year, once the syllabus is created and the lectures are “in the can,” most of the hard work of an online course is done. But in the area of Internet law, the subject matter is changing virtually every day. One of the major challenges has been to organize the materials and to structure the lectures and assignments in such a way that it won’t be necessary to redo the course entirely every time it is given (which will be three times a year). Instead of long-form lectures, the course has been designed with a series of shorter, topic-specific lectures. Some of the lectures will be usable from term-to-term with little or no updating. Other lectures will need to be re-recorded virtually every term to incorporate the newest developments in case law, statutory provisions and technological developments.

Of course, whether my course design will work online (or not) will be largely theoretical until I have been through the course at least once. Only when I look back at how well the structure worked the first time, and envision how well it will work the second and third time out, will I know if my redesign worked – or whether another redo will be in order. I’ll let you know in six months or so.

The IT Law Wiki has reached an important milestone with the posting of its 5000th article. We are grateful to all of the lawyers, law students and law professors who have contributed to the wiki.

While the work done thus far has been impressive, there is much more to be done. We have thus far been able to summaries only slightly more than 850 cases — most of which were decided in U.S. courts. We hope to continue to expand the number of case summaries and could use help in doing so. We are also looking to expand the number of articles that focus on non-U.S. law.

So we are issuing a general “Call for Articles” to accelerate the growth of the wiki.

If you are a law professor, and you have your students writing papers for your class, consider suggesting to those who write the best papers that they post them to the wiki.

If you are a lawyer that supervises law clerks or young associates who may not be fully occupied due to the slowing economy, consider having them do research for the wiki. It will keep them busy and help them continue to develop their research and writing skills.

Also, if you are a lawyer, law professor or judge writing papers for conferences or your firm’s website, consider posting them to the IT Law Wiki as well.

Authors retain copyright ownership of all materials posted to the wiki, and those postings are made under a Creative Commons license.

If you don’t have the time to post the materials yourself, you can forward them to me at mdscott@swlaw.edu, and I will make sure they are promptly posted.

Onward to 10,000 articles!!

The first ten years of my practice saw a need to learn copyright law, while the second ten years required a working knowledge of patent and trademark law, and some privacy law, with a little international trade law thrown in for good measure (including U.S. export control laws and regulations). It was also the time when state and federal legislators were beginning to craft a specialized field of computer crime laws.

By the late 1980s there was a convergence of sorts between the computer and entertainment industries, primarily through videogames and CD-ROM titles. As a result, computer lawyers needed to learn about how the entertainment industry worked – again, primarily in the contracting area — but also with regard to trademarks, Hollywood guilds and unions (e.g., SAG, DGA) and right of publicity issues. It also required computer lawyers to learn a lot more about copyright and contract law in areas that had previously been limited to entertainment lawyers.

Since the 1990s we have seen the subject matter of computer law expand rapidly. We have had to learn telecommunications law, expand our knowledge of trademark law to deal with domain name issues, cope with the ever-expanding body of federal and state laws that deal with the financial laws and regulations underpinning e-commerce, privacy issues, cybercrimes, and a host of other fields that computer lawyers (now called IT lawyers) never thought they would need to deal with.

Now, cloud computing may require us to learn another body of law – admiralty law. Google has recently filed patent applications for ocean-going data centers that would be housed on large merchant ships and could be moored off-shore or sail blissfully in international waters – avoiding the problems arising from pesky local or national laws. These ships would generate their own power, provide their own cooling, have Internet connectivity (presumably from satellites or undersea cables) and generally be subject to no country’s laws. But underlying this concept is still the fact that we are dealing with ships. And ships are subject to both national and international laws – namely admiralty laws.

Dang. Just when I thought I was done learning new laws, I now find myself having to delve into the esoteric area of admiralty law. Ships containing data centers are no different than, and are subject to the same laws as, any other ship. Thus, they are subject to such things as piracy, salvage and seizure (arrest). Yet their cargoes may be infinitely more valuable than any previous ship that has ever plied international waters – the data of thousands or tens of thousands of corporations, millions of individuals, and numerous governments from around the world. How much would that cargo be worth if it fell into the hands of Somali pirates? And what if the assets of even one customer (or the ship owner itself) were subject to a seizure (arrest) order, and the entire ship was seized and the computers taken off the grid?

Far fetched? It was only a couple of months ago that the FBI, looking for assets of a company that had allegedly defraud the local telephone company, raided and seized all of the servers in several Dallas-based data centers – putting all of the data centers’ customers, not just the target of the seizure, out of business. Now multiply that by thousands of customers whose access to their data could be lost if the ship on which their servers and data are housed is arrested under existing admiralty law.

So to all of you IT lawyers representing clients that have or will be entering into cloud computing “solutions” to their data processing needs – start boning up on your admiralty law. It looks like you’re going to need it.

This summer will be the inaugural program in International Information Technology Law sponsored by Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles, The program will be held at the University College of London Law Faculty building (Bentham House) in the heart of the UCL campus and just off of Russell Square — in the heart of London.

We have an outstanding faculty:

* Prof. Susan Brenner, University of Dayton (International Cybercrimes)
* Prof. Ian Walden, Queen Mary School of Law, London (Comparative Information Privacy Law and Regulations)
* Prof. Michael Scott, Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles (Drafting Information Technology Agreements), and
* Dr. Julia Hörnle, Queen Mary School of Law, London (Comparative Electronic Commerce Law and Regulation).

The program will run from June 21-July 24, 2009. Students will stay in College Hall, a recently opened housing facility, which is only a short walk from the classrooms. Classes go from 9-1:10 from Monday-Thursday, giving students every afternoon to explore all that London has to offer, plus every weekend is a three-day weekend for those who would like to travel outside of London.

Due to space limitations, we can only accept 48 students. So if you are interested, or know someone who might be, please let them know.

1. Tell me about the new Information Technology (IT) Law Summer Program in London?

The program will allow students to earn six units of course credit while enjoying five incredible weeks in London. Each student will choose two of four courses: Comparative Electronic Commerce Law, Comparative Information Privacy Law, International Cybercrimes or Drafting Information Technology Agreements. Classes will be held from 9-1, Monday through Thursday, which makes every weekend a three-day weekend. Classes will be supplemented by field trips, guest speakers and various social events.

2. When did you develop the idea for the IT Summer Law Program?

I have been interested in expanding the school’s offerings in international technology law since I joined the full-time faculty in 2003. There are not a lot of professors in Los Angeles, or even the United States, that have expertise in this area. Because of the growing importance of the European Union, and the enactment of new IT laws in the EU, it made sense to locate the program within the EU where we can hire professors knowledgeable in comparative US-EU IT laws.

3. Is this the first program of its kind?

Yes. There have been summer abroad programs that offer one or two courses in IT law, but this is the only program that focuses exclusively on international IT law. This gives students interested in practicing in this field a great opportunity to learn from professors who are internationally recognized educators in the field. It should give students participating in the program a distinct advantage over other students in getting a job in the IT sector.

4. Why London?

I actually looked at several other cities in Europe first. I had a list of characteristics I was looking for in a host city. None of the other cities had all of those characteristics; London did. In London you have first class housing and classroom facilities, a great transportation system, plenty of cultural, social and educational opportunities, easy access to other European destinations, a safe environment, and the ability to attract a world-class faculty.

London is, in my opinion, the most exciting city in the world. Spending five weeks in London is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There is a dizzying array of things to do in London, from watching tennis stars at Wimbledon to enjoying plays, musicals and outdoor concerts just down the street from the school. We are literally only blocks away from the British Museum, the British Library and numerous historical sites. Stonehenge, Oxford, the Edinburgh Festival (and many other destinations) are easily accessible by train or bus. In addition, most European cities are no more than an hour or two away. For example, there is a train within walking distance of the dorm that will whisk you to downtown Paris in just two hours. You can have lunch overlooking the Eiffel Tower and be back in London in time for dinner, or spend the entire weekend in Paris or another wonderful destination.

5. What makes this such an exciting and timely program?

The Internet and electronic commerce are the fastest growing business sectors worldwide. Every company, whether considered “high tech” or otherwise, understands the importance of being “online.” As a result, there is an enormous demand for tech-savvy attorneys, even when there is a downturn in the economy. These classes are unique and will provide students with an international perspective on IT law that is simply not available elsewhere.

6. How and why was each participating faculty member selected for the program?

Having practiced in the international IT law field for almost 30 years, I have had the opportunity to travel extensively and get to know IT lawyers and academics worldwide. When I was planning this program I contacted dozens of recognized experts in the field and asked them whom they thought were the best educators in IT law in the U.S. and the UK. That search led me to each of the professors who will be teaching in the program. As shown by their biographies, they are all accomplished authors, speakers and teachers. It is a truly an amazing faculty.

7. What are some of the biggest issues in IT law and how will this program help prepare students interested in the field?

When a company establishes a website, it is instantly doing business globally. That means that the company is potentially subject to the laws of every country in which its website is accessible, including contract law, privacy law, and criminal law. It is not sufficient for a company’s lawyers to understand only the laws of the country in which that company is located. They must understand the potential impact of foreign laws on their client’s business, and the potential liability that client may face around the world. This program will provide students with that global perspective.

The four courses being offered and the instructors are:

Comparative Electronic Commerce Law and Regulations
Instructor: Dr. Julia Hornle, Queen Mary College of Law, University of London

Comparative Information Privacy Law and Regulations
Professor Ian Walden, Queen Mary College of Law, University of London

Drafting Information Technology Agreements
Professor Michael D. Scott, Southwestern Law School (me)

International Cybercrimes
Professor Susan Brenner, University of Dayton School of Law

The program will run June 21, 2009-July 24, 2009 and is open to any law student from an ABA-accredited law school in the United States, Canadian law students and other law students who can demonstrate English language proficiency. The brochure is available here.

If you are a law student, a law professor, or someone who knows a law student who might be interested in the program, please let them know about it. Due to limited classroom space, the program is limited to 48 students. Students will be admitted to the program on a rolling basis starting in January 2009, so early application is essential. The application is available here.

For those who may not be as familiar with wikis, a wiki is a web-based encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to. The materials are generally posted under either a GPL or Creative Commons type of license. The ITLaw Wiki is covered by the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which means that all documents remain the property of their creators, while the GDFL license ensures that the content may be freely modified, distributed and reproduced by anyone, so long as the new version grants the same freedoms to others and acknowledges the authors of the ITLaw wiki article.

While several hundred articles have already been posted to the ITLaw wiki, the value of the wiki will increase as more well-written and reliable content is posted. This wiki belongs to everyone, and readers are invited to visit the wiki, poke around and, hopefully, post a new article, improve an existing article, or correct any mistakes that they find. The more readers that actively participate in the development of the ITLaw Wiki, the more accurate, complete and useful it will be.

If you are new to wikis, don’t worry. You cannot accidentally damage the wiki when adding or improving content, since there are other editors around to advise or correct formatting or other errors.

Wikis won’t replace the timeliness and accuracy of articles in newsletters, nor will they replace the carefully written and annotated books and treatises in the field, but they can be a useful source of information. And they give you the opportunity to contribute whenever you have time or the inclination to add to the knowledge base.

So I hope you will visit the wiki as it develops, and participate as you see fit.