Technoprudence (DCL 7300)
Technoprudence: Legal Theory in the Information Age
DCL 7300
Compulsory course for those admitted to the LLM with concentration in Law and Technology.
The course will operate as a graduate seminar. Seminar participants should therefore expect to engage in a variety of learning methodologies other than the traditional lecture format. In addition to completing weekly readings and attending the seminar on a regular basis, seminar participants are expected to take part in an asynchronous online discussion, to generate an annotated bibliography, to lead seminar discussions, to provide a critical peer review and to write a publishable paper.
Course Objectives
This course examines whether the information age is revolutionary. Does technology simply apply traditional legal rules in a new way or does it require new rules for a new context? The principal aim of this course is to examine the impact that cyberspace and other technological features of the information revolution might have on traditional legal theory and doctrine. As a consequence of this investigation, students will be in a position to enrich jurisprudence in other areas of legal scholarship seemingly unrelated to law and technology. Additional learning objectives for this course are to provide students with an opportunity to synthesize their analytic skills and their cumulative knowledge and understanding of the law through an examination of several challenging theoretical and practical problems said to arise as a result of new technologies. Students will have the opportunity to further refine their skills in public speaking and oral argument, and to renew their abilities in legal research and writing.
The course will consider the legal philosophy and theory of emerging technologies, media, and science. The course will examine topics such as how new technologies influence the legal theory of intellectual property, privacy, free expression, biotechnology, jurisdiction, the establishment, selection and application of legal norms, and public access to information resources. Students will consider whether and to what extent technology provides a novel setting for re-thinking a broad range of theories about law and social order, including rights and accountability, the individual and the community, sovereignty, language, culture and expression.