The Global Internet

Overview

Thursday, 2:30-3:30pm
Format: Lecture, featuring guest respondents
Leads: Herbert Burkert and Urs Gasser
Participants: Catharina Maracke, Susan Crawford, others TBD

In the global online space, traditional legal frameworks, such as public international law and international private law, come together with new developments, such as evolving Internet law (focused on new regulations addressing international Internet issues), to create different models for, and forms of, digital governance. Processes and structures, such as online dispute resolution systems, Terms of Use policies, and other mechanisms also shape user activity and permissible behavior. Actions and interventions by private actors, NGOs, and international organizations, also exert control, by defining use and activity, permitting or denying access, and facilitating policy making–all with varying degrees of harmonization, conflict, and evolution. Through a series of case studies, the attributes, influence, and evolution of these mechanisms will be explored in the context of e-commerce, media and free expression, technical and organizational infrastructure, and other values.

Required Readings

Governance

• Jonathan Zittrain, "Be Careful What You Ask For: Reconciling A Global Internet And Local Law," Cato Institute (2003).
• Daniel Rosenthal, "Assessing Digital Preemption (and the Future of Law Enforcement?," New Criminal Law Review (Fall 2011).
• Susan P. Crawford, "The ICANN Experiment," 12 Cardozo Journal of International Comparative Law 409 (Fall 2004).
  • Note: access to this file has been somewhat flaky, it is also available on Westlaw (cite: 12 CDZJICL 409). If you do not have Westlaw access and need access to file, email ilaw@cyber.law.harvard.edu.

Law and Global Commerce

• Rachel Donadio, “Larger Threat Is Seen in Google Case," New York Times, February 24, 2010.
• James Vicini, “Supreme Court rejects Tiffany trademark appeal vs Ebay,” Reuters, November 29, 2010.
• Mark Sweney, “Google wins Louis Vuitton trademark case," The Guardian (UK), March 23, 2010.
• OUT-LAW.COM, “eBay not obliged to protect trade marks, says High Court," May 27, 2009.
• Gabriele Accardo, “Advocate General advises ECJ that eBay should not be held liable for users’ breach of trademark," TTLF Technology Law & Policy News Blog, January 10, 2011.
• Grant Gross, “RIAA tells FCC: ISPs need to be copyright cops," Computer World, January 15, 2010.
• Michael Geist, “Putting Together the ACTA Puzzle: Privacy, P2P Major Targets,” Blog, February 3, 2009.

Competition

• Urs Gasser, "Regulating Search Engines: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead," 9 Yale Journal of Law & Technology 124, Spring, 2006.
• “Antitrust: Commission probes allegations of antitrust violations by Google,” November, 2010.
• Court of Justice of the European Union Press Release: “Google has not infringed trade mark law by allowing advertisers to purchase keywords corresponding to their competitors’ trade marks,” March, 2010.

Recommended Readings

Berkman Center's Independent Review of Accountability and Transparency at ICANN

• Independent Review

The State of Online Business

• Dion Hinchcliffe, "The app store: The new ‘must-have’ digital business model," January, 2010.
• Donnie Dong, “Ten Websites Lead You Understanding the Features of Cinternet,” January, 2010.
• Andrew Keen, "Why We Must Resist the Temptation of Web 2.0," The Next Digital Decade, Berin Szoka and Adam Marcus (Eds.), (Washington, DC: TechFreedom), 2010.

Related Case Examples

• GNI/Role of Intermediaries