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Professor Wendy Seltzer, email wendy@seltzer.com Useful LinksNumerous online resources are available for further research and reference. I list a few below, and others as "optional" or "further reading" on the syllabus. If you have other favorites I should add to the list, please email me. Just as with offline research (and often more so online), check your facts and don't rely on a single source without verification. Citation format: When citing online resources, please include
the URL and date of your visit. For example, "Internet Law Links,"
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Think of a non-Internet course that interested you and consider whether and how that subject is changed by the Internet. For example, from contracts, you might think about digital signatures or click-wrap licenses; from constitutional law, First Amendment protection for online anonymity balanced against the possibility that online tortfeasors might go unpunished; from civil procedure, the privacy implications of posting court records online; etc.
Think about a favorite website and the legal challenges it might face: does Google need copyright permissions to create its search engine's database, or do its "Sponsored inks" infringe trademark? Can Yahoo be sued for content anywhere its pages are accessible? How does eBay limit its liability to its hundreds of thousands of users, how does it guard against fraud? Is Microsoft's Passport a dangerous extension of monopoly power or a useful standardized authentication service? You can then generalize the question and its analysis.
Spend a bit of time browsing the resources on this page, particularly the newsletters and news sites, to find a current event that raises legal issues. Check the suggestions at lawtopic.org.
You might pick a fight with Lessig. Although his "Code" has been very influential, not everyone agrees with it. See, e.g., David Post's "What Larry Doesn't Get". If you disagree with something you've read (and are willing to do some research to back the disagreement), challenge it.