Are you a law professor interested in criminal law or technology law, who is looking for a new course to teach and field to study? Or are you a lawyer with similar interests who wants to teach a class as an adjunct professor at a nearby law school, but who doesn’t know exactly what the school’s course needs are? Do you want to experience and teach the future of criminal law today?
Well have I got a course for you! No, seriously. Sometime this fall, West Publishers will be publishing my bright shiny new casebook on Computer Crime Law. The book will be available for use in the Spring 2007 semester, and I wanted to let folks know about it now in case they have some interest in teaching it next spring. About 30 law schools have offered a course in computer crime law at some point, the majority taught by adjuncts (usually practicing prosecutors), and the introduction of the book should make it a lot easier to start teaching and writing in the field.
Here’s an overview of the book and its subject matter. The book is divided into three parts: substantive law, procedural law, and jurisdictional questions. The chapters on substantive law cover unauthorized access crimes, such as hacking and viruses, as well as traditional crimes often committed using computers, such as online theft, threats, copyright crimes, Internet gambling, obscenity, and child p0rnography offenses. The chapters on procedural law cover the Fourth Amendment and digital evidence, both in the stand-alone context and in the network context, as well as the statutory privacy laws that regulate Internet surveillance (the Wiretap Act, Stored Communications Act, and Pen Register statute). The chapters on jurisdiction consider federal limits on investigating and prosecuting computer crimes, state limits on the same, international computer crimes, international evidence gathering, cybercrime treaties, and the role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Taken together, the materials offer a comprehensive look at the who, how, what and where of investigating and prosecuting computer-related crime.
The book is largely traditional in approach; it is a casebook, and is anchored by judicial decisions. But wait– there’s more to it than that. The book is also partly a treatise that should be useful to practitioners. The notes and comments offer a comprehensive analysis of the law, designed not only to raise interesting questions but to explain existing law to the reader. It also has a number of problems designed to show how the issues fit together. Finally, I have also cited a large chunk of the academic scholarship in the area, so the book should also be a helpful resource for those looking to find interesting scholarly projects.
Right now I expect the book to be out sometime this fall for use starting in the spring 2007 semester. If you’re interested in teaching from the book next year, let me know and I’ll see if I can get you a preview of a few key chapters before publication. Call now! Operators are standing by.
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