Semester.ly

Johns Hopkins University | EN.650.414

Rights in Digital Age

3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

(4.38)

This course will examine various legal and policy issues presented by the tremendous growth in computer technology, especially the Internet. The rights that various parties have with respect to creating, modifying, using, distributing, storing, and copying digital data will be explored. The concurrent responsibilities, and potential liabilities, of those parties will also be addressed. The course will focus on intellectual property issues, especially copyright law, and other legal and economic considerations related to the use and management of digital data. Copyright law and its role within the framework of intellectual property law will be presented in a historical context with an emphasis on its applicability to emerging-technology issues. Specifically, the treatment of various works, such as music, film, and photography that were traditionally, analog in nature will be analyzed with respect to their treatment in the digital domain; works that are by their nature digital, such as computer software, will also be analyzed. The current state of U.S. copyright law will be presented, as will relevant international treaties and foreign laws. The goal of the course is to provide those involved or interested in digital rights management with a general awareness of the rights and obligations associated with maintaining and distributing digital data. (This course will be taught in Washington, DC and video-cast on Homewood Campus.)

Fall 2012

(4.4)

Fall 2013

(4.38)

Fall 2014

(4.37)

Fall 2012

Professor: Michael Jacobs

(4.4)

The best aspects of this course included the case discussions and the overal content, which students found insightful and applicable to their lives. The worst aspect of the course was the amount of topics that had to be covered. The course would improve if it could possibly be taught face to face in an actual classroom. Most students found the course satisfactory and had no issues with it. Prospective students should be prepared to study lots of case readings to help them understand the topics better.

Fall 2013

Professor: Michael Jacobs

(4.38)

Students thought that the best aspect of this course was the professor, who knew the material well and did his best to make it interesting for the students. He went into great depths about the various laws they covered, and used case studies to show each situation in a real-life scenario. Students did not like the fact that it was a remote course, and often thought that because of this the functionality of the course was limited. Some students also disliked that the course only concentrated on American law and thought that there should have been some mention of digital rights in other countries as well. Another suggestion was changing this to a regular, on-site class to facilitate communication between the professor and the students. Prospective students should be prepared to read a lot of materials and to complete a fair amount of work. A familiarity with American law would also be helpful.

Fall 2014

Professor: Michael Jacobs

(4.37)

Students believed that the best aspect of this class was the opportunity to learn about legal cases related to their field. They found that the biggest drawback to the course was that the lectures were delivered over a remote internet feed and thought the remote teaching environment could be improved so that technical issues were less distracting. Students also thought the course could also be improved by offering additional preparatory materials before lectures. They believed it was important for potential participants to know that there was a substantial amount of reading for the course.