TE PIRINGA FACULTY OF LAW
Law and Information Technology 2014 Outline
1.
Identification of Paper
Paper: LAWS574-14B (HAM)
This paper carries 30 points
2.
Staffing
[Wayne Rumbles
(Convenor)
Phone: 858 5007
Room: Law G25
email: wayner@waikato.ac.nz
Email for appointment
\
3.
Description and Structure of Paper
The Internet has quickly become integrated into many aspects of people’s lives. The Internet has
allowed us to do many things with greater ease and speed, and allows people’s virtual actions to have
trans-jurisdictional effect. While the Internet brings new challenges for law, it also puts a new spin on
existing aspects of the legal arena.
The primary goals of this paper are to examine the impact of the internet on law; how the internet is
influencing the interpretation of current law and the development of new law. This paper will use
current topical issues to explore the internets impact. Emphasis will be placed on critical and
comparative jurisdictional analysis. Students are encouraged to develop their area of research beyond
the confines of the formal classes.
This paper will explore current developments within a theoretical context and give students an
opportunity to critically analyse an area of interest.
Students will be exposed to an online learning environment to augment the lectures and need to have
basic computer literacy.
(b) Structure of the Paper
General
This is an A semester paper. The teaching component comprises lecturers and online environment
through Moodle (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz)
The lecture hours are Tuesday 3:00-5:00 held in K.G.01
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4.
Learning outcomes
This paper aims to provide students with the opportunity to undertake advanced study in current
issues in Information Technology law. The paper will enable students to gain insights into current
issues, current trends and possible future developments.
This paper aims to:
• Enable students to describe and critically analyse laws regulating the Internet;
• Enable students to understand the issues and concepts behind the on-going development
of internet regulation;
• Facilitate the use of electronic media to support presentation of ideas;
• Enable students to develop a deeper understanding in a chosen area relating to
information technology and law;
• Explicitly give the students an opportunity to be producers of knowledge5
5.
Workload
Students should expect to spend 300 hours in total on this paper. In addition to lecture
attendance, significant time will need to be spent on background and complementary reading.
Students should allow for periods of more-focused research time in the preparation of
assignments and/or presentations.
6.
Required and Recommended Reading
All law students are required to purchase, for use in all law papers, a copy of McLay, Murray &
Orpin, New Zealand Law Style Guide, Thomson Reuters (2011). This is available from Bennetts, at
an approximate price of $18.90.
Materials as distributed in class or online
Further material may be provided on the paper site on Moodle (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz), the
University of Waikato’s online learning system. Any such material is provided on the following
terms:
University of Waikato owns the intellectual property rights, including copyright, in and to this site,
or has acquired the necessary licenses to display the material on the site. As a student of the Te
Piringa Faculty of Law, you are granted a limited license to use (access, display or print a single
copy) the material from the papers in which you are enrolled for the purposes of participating in
the paper only, provided the information is not modified. Materials may not under any
circumstances be copied, stored, distributed or provided in any form or method whatsoever to
any third party. Any other use of the material is prohibited. None of the material may be
otherwise reproduced, reformatted, republished or re-disseminated in any manner or form
without the prior written consent of University of Waikato. To obtain such consent, please
contact the Te Piringa Faculty of Law.
7.
Online support
Online support for this paper is provided via Moodle.
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8.
Assessment
a)
Requirements for assessed work
School procedures for the presentation of course work are set out in the Te Piringa Faculty of Law
Graduate
and
Postgraduate
Handbook
which
is
available
from
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate.
See also paragraph 12 below on referencing guidelines and plagiarism.
Assignment resources are available online at http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/student/
b)
Coursework: Final Examination Ratio: 100/0
c)
Assessment Components
Component
1. Seminar
Percentage of Final Mark
20%
Due Date
TBA
Proposal for Research essay (Essential
Requirement)
3. Presentation, for research essay
(Essential Requirement)
10%
Due 4:00pm 12 September
10%
30 September and & 7
October
4. Research essay
60%
28 October
i) Seminar:
Details to be finalised in the first class –
Students will be allocated a question within the scope of the paper, Law and Information Technology
on the first day of class. Students are expected to thoroughly research the question and will be graded
on their analysis of the law. There are two parts to this assignment:
You are to submit a short collection of readings to assist the students understanding of the relevant
area of law: these may consist of sections of legislation; case law; articles or extracts from texts. While
a page limit is difficult to identify, as it depends on your sources, students should aim around 10
pages. In addition to the readings students are also expected to include a list of web resources for
further information. You are also to submit a 2-3 page summary of your presentation and your major
arguments. The readings and summary may be submitted electronically. Make sure that your name is
clearly on a cover sheet attached to your work.
You are to do a 15-minute seminar presentation with 5 minutes for discussion and questions. You are
expected to use PowerPoint or a similar electronic presentation software package (check with Wayne
first) to support your presentation. It is proposed that these seminars will be delivered on in blocks of
three throughout the paper. Note that depending on numbers of students we may have to do an
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additional session outside of class time. A PowerPoint tutorial will be run if necessary.
Justification:
Presentation skills are important for anyone working in a legal profession, whether in court, to clients
or to colleagues. This assignment is designed to strengthen those presentation skills, in preparation
for the major assignment. This assignment is also designed to give students a chance to focus on an
allocated topic and develop this further if desired into the major essay.
Specific objectives addressed





To enable students to describe and critically analyse laws regulating the Internet;
To enable students to understand the issues and concepts behind the ongoing development of
internet regulation;
To facilitate the use of electronic media to support presentation of ideas
To enable students to develop a deeper understanding in an area relating to information
technology and law;
To further develop critical use of the internet as a research tool;
ii) Research Essay:
The major research essay will be on a topic of the student’s choice, approved by the lecturer. In this
assignment students are required to undertake more extensive research than for the first assignment.
The essay will be of approx 8000 words. It must present an original argument or approach to an issue
or area. It is not sufficient for students to summarise what others have written or argued. In order to
assist students in developing an original argument, the preparation of this assignment is broken into
three steps: a research proposal; a presentation at the first draft stage; and the final essay. Students
are advised to invest significant time and energy into this assignment from the beginning of the
process in order to ensure the development of a quality research essay.
• Proposal: A research proposal worth 10% of the paper assessment is required for the second
assignment. The research proposal is an essential requirement of this paper. To complete
your LLM, a research proposal is now required for all the Part 5 papers. Research
proposals should follow the format set out in the Graduate and Postgraduate Studies
Handbook. ( (An essential requirement due 12 September)
Justification:
The proposal is designed to encourage students to choose a research topic early and begin research. It
also allows the lecturer to make sure the topic is suitable given the material available, criteria and
time available, enabling early feedback.
• Presentation: At the first draft stage of the Research Essay you are to do a 15-minute
seminar presentation with 5 minutes for discussion and questions- 30 September and 7
October
Justification:
Presentation skills are important for anyone working in a legal profession, whether in court, to clients
or to colleagues. This assignment is designed to strengthen those presentation skills, encourage the
development of the ideas and arguments that will form the basis of the research project and give an
opportunity to gain feedback prior to submission of the final paper.
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Specific objectives addressed
• To enable students to describe and critically analyse laws regulating the Internet;
• To enable students to understand the issues and concepts behind the on-going
development of internet regulation;
• To facilitate the use of electronic media to support presentation of ideas
• To enable students to develop a deeper understanding in a chosen area relating to
information technology and law;
• Final Research Essay: (Due 28 October)
In marking the research essays the following will be taken into account:
Clear statement of the thesis; satisfactory primary, secondary, database and internet research; an
understanding of the work already covered on the area; sound analysis of policy, legislation, case law,
etc; an original and well developed argument that demonstrates a sound basis of thinking in the
analysis and clear thinking about the issues; and useful conclusions.
The quality of writing is important – major deficiencies in structure, style, grammar, spelling,
proofreading and references will result in lower marks.
Justification:
The research assignment is designed to allow the student the opportunity to undertake advanced
study in a chosen area of Information Technology Law.
Specific objectives addressed
•
To enable students to describe and critically analyse laws regulating the Internet;
•
To further develop critical use of the internet as a research tool;

To participate constructively in the development of internet regulation;
• To enable students to develop a deeper understanding in a chosen area relating to
information technology and law.
d)
Handing in, marking time and collection
All assignments must be submitted electronically through Moodle (http://elearn.waikato.ac.nz).
See Te Piringa Faculty of Law Graduate and Postgraduate Handbook, available at
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate. Where practical, it is the policy of Te Piringa Faculty of
Law to return marked work to students within five weeks of submission.
If you require assistance with Moodle, or encounter any problems, please contact the Help Desk.
You can send a message to Help Desk by using the instant message service in your paper’s
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Moodle site (from the participants list within the People block). Alternatively, you can email them
directly at help@waikato.ac.nz or call 838 4008.
e)
Measurement of Achievement
Achievement in assignments and presentations will be measured in terms of levels of
understanding and knowledge gained, in terms of the originality and the sophistication of analysis
provided, in terms of coherent and logical structure, and in terms of the fluency and accuracy of
expression and referencing.
f)
Management of assessment deadlines, process for requesting extensions and special
consideration, and for appeals
i)
Extensions
Students are required to complete and submit all internal assessment by specified dates. The
meeting of deadlines is a mark of professionalism and its enforcement is essential for fairness to
all students taking the paper. Handing in course work on or before the due in date also facilitates
the timely return of marked work by academic staff. Students should meet requirements as to
time deadlines for course work, or make a request for an extension or special consideration in
appropriate circumstances (see Graduate Programmes Manual available from the Faculty of Law
Graduate website http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate/.) Failure to comply with
requirements as to the time deadlines for internal assessment without having successfully applied
either for an extension or special consideration with supporting evidence before the due date will
result in deduction of 2.5 marks for each day the work is late. Lateness of more than a week may
result in the work not being marked. No deadlines may be extended beyond two weeks after the
last teaching day of the semester(s) in which the paper is taught as final grades must go to the
Board of Examiners at this time. Unless an extension in writing has been granted, a lecturer may
refuse to accept a piece of work which is submitted after the specified date, and automatically
award it no mark, or may lower the mark as a penalty for lateness.
Applications for extension, on the form obtainable from the Resource Room, must be submitted
to the Chief Examiner or nominee. Students should not submit the extension form to the
lecturer, nor should students seek extensions from the lecturer via other forms of
communication. Extensions will be granted only on evidence of illness, family bereavement, or
serious personal accidents or circumstances. Please note that too many assignments due at the
same time is NOT an acceptable reason, neither are claims that computers and/or printers have
crashed. Account will be taken of the time in which the student has had to complete the internal
assessment before the supervening event occurred. It will be important to consider if the grant of
the extension will give the student in question an unfair advantage over other students. A
maximum period of 21 days will be given as an extension unless there are exceptional
circumstances. In determining applications the Chief Examiner or nominee may consult with the
Convenor or lecturer of the relevant paper.
When the Chief Examiner or nominee has made a decision on the application for extension, the
Resource Room Administrative Assistant will advise the student of the decision by email.
Following this, the extension form will be given to the relevant lecturer who will retain it until
after the assignment is marked and returned to students. The form will then be placed on the
student’s file. It should be noted that if an extension of longer than 14 days is granted, the
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assignment will not be automatically printed out and delivered to the lecturer, therefore the
lecturer is responsible for ensuring the assignment is printed. In appropriate cases, when a
student’s application for extension is declined the Chief Examiner or nominee will inform the
student of the process for applying for special consideration.
ii)
Special Consideration
The Assessment Regulations 2005 as set out in the University Calendar 2013 list in detail the
university-wide policies and procedures, which apply concerning missed examinations, impaired
performance or impaired preparation time for an examination, and missed or impaired course
work. Students are responsible for ensuring that they comply with these regulations. Application
forms for special consideration for internal assessment are available from the Resource Room.
iii)
Appeals (University Calendar 2013, Assessment Regulations 2005, Reg. 24)
A student may appeal against any decision taken under these regulations.
An appeal, comprising a written statement of the circumstances of the appeal, together with
supporting evidence if available, must be submitted by the student in writing to the Director of
Student & Academic Services not more than seven days after the date on which notification of the
relevant decision is received.
Appeals under this section are considered and decided by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor by
delegated authority of the Academic Programmes Committee.
A decision by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor is notified in writing, and is final.
9.
University Calendar Regulations and Policies
Your attention is drawn to the following regulations and policies, which are published in the
University Calendar 2013.
Assessment Regulations 2005
Student Discipline Regulations 2008
Computer Systems Regulations 2005
Policy on the Use of Māori for Assessment
Student Research Regulations 2008
Ethical Conduct in Human Research and Related Activities Regulations 2008.
10.
Links to other papers
[Any pre-requisites are to be stated, but also intellectual linkages can be inserted]
11.
Fees
Refer to http://calendar.waikato.ac.nz/admission/tableoffeesandcharges.html.
12.
(a)
(b)
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Referencing guidelines and caution against plagiarism
Referencing must be in accordance with the New Zealand Law Style Guide.
All written work submitted for the purposes of assessment must be your own work.
Copying or paraphrasing all or part of another person’s work, be it published or
unpublished, without clear attribution, is plagiarism. Plagiarism is misconduct and is dealt
with under the disciplinary procedures of the University as outlined in the Student
Discipline Regulations 2008 in the University Calendar.
“Plagiarism means presenting as one’s own work the work of another, and includes the copying
or paraphrasing of another person’s work in an assessment item without acknowledging it as the
other person’s work through full and accurate referencing; it applies to assessment presented
through a written, spoken, electronic, broadcasting, visual, performance or other medium.” See
section 3, Assessment Regulations (2013 Calendar)
Unless approved otherwise by the examiners of the papers concerned, a student must not submit
as assessment material that is substantially the same as material submitted as assessment for a
different paper.
(c)
The Te Piringa Faculty of Law’s policy regarding plagiarism is contained in the Te Piringa
Faculty of Law Graduate and Post-Graduate Handbook and the Te Piringa Faculty of Law
Graduate Programmes Manual, available from http://www.waikato.ac.nz/law/graduate/.
13.
Health and safety
The Law School’s Health and Safety representative is Ms Alison Saunders who is in Room Law G44
at ext 4167.
14.
Class representation
At the commencement of the semester / intensive paper, a class representative will be elected
by the students in [name of paper]. This representative is encouraged to communicate regularly
with the Convenor. Students in this paper are encouraged to liaise with their representative to
discuss issues of concern. Contact details for the Student Representation Coordinator, Academic
Services Division, are as follows: Samantha Whittle, Student Services, ext. 6264, CHSSG.25 email:
student.reps@waikato.ac.nz
15.
Complaints procedures
The brochure Student Concerns and Complaints Policy provides details of the University’s process
for handling concerns and complaints and is available from Faculty and School Offices, The
Gateway and Student Services Division and is contained in the Calendar 2013. See also the
document Student Support Structure at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, available from the Resource
Room.
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Lecture Schedule
Lecture Schedule B semester - order and topics subject to change
Week Commencing
Programme of lecture topics
7 July
Teaching Recess/Enrolment
14 July (B Semester begins)
What is the Matrix: Introduction- paper
overview
History and development of the internet
How the internet works
Introduction to legal issues
21 July
Regulation theories
Jurisdiction
28 July
Don’t look -- Content regulation Objectionable material
Filter bubbles
Geo-location, geo-regulation and geofiltering
Online disclosure
4 August
Digital Devils: CyberCrime,
11 August
Digital Devils: CyberCrime and i-nuisance:
Virtual Torts and Spam
18 August
Privacy
EU Google decision
Apps and SNS
Surveillance
Privacy Torts – a way forward?
25 August
Teaching Recess
1 Sept
Teaching Recess
8 September (12 Sept Kingitanga Day)
Guest Lecture – Extradition and Mr
Dotcom
15 September
Digital Worlds: [i], [e], [m], [nano] and
virtual
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22 September
Download now:
Rights and net.
29 September
Presentations
6 October
Presentations
13 October
Summary - Drop in sessions for Research
Papers
20 October
Study Week
27 October (27 Oct Labour Day)
Examinations
10
Intellectual
Property
Lecture Schedule Summer School 2
Week Commencing
Programme of lecture topics
3 November
Examinations
10 November (Summer School 2 commences)
17 November
24 November
1 December
8 December
15 December
22 December
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University closed