Law and Information Society in Europe

This course will focus on European and global trends in the legal regulation of information and communication. Specific attention will be attributed to privacy, data protection, platform regulation, AI-regulation and information security in a globalized information society. We will work in particular on the relevant European regula tions, directives and case law and will compare them with other legal, technical and social approaches.

Topics:

• Law as Code and Code as Law? The relations between technical, social, economical and legal forms of regulation
• Regulation of Information: The European approach
• Transparency, Privacy, and Data Protection: outdated concepts in an information society?
• Platforms and their control
• AI and their control
• Identity, Authenticity, and Security in a globalized network-environment

Recommended Reading: Lawrence Lessig, Code and other Laws of Cyberspace; additional texts and cases will be distributed throughout the course.

Requirements: Regular attendance and active participation in class discussions (40%) and an open-book essay exam (60%).