Postgraduate Course: Information: Control and Power (LAWS11246)

Course Outline
School	School of Law	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	20	ECTS Credits	10
Summary	This course will investigate, through a range of legal disciplines and perspectives, the growing focus placed on, and value attached to, information by society and individuals; concerns as to its control and misuse; and the impact of this on business and government, particularly in the light of the opportunities and challenges of evolving ż and converging - technologies. The module will consider legal regimes relating to privacy, freedom of information and data protection; the extent to which present regulatory, co-regulatory and self-regulatory systems conform to expectations in respect of information privacy and access; the extent to which basic data, information and content is or should be protected by intellectual property or other information rights, particularly in the light of new means of creating, obtaining, recording, sharing and exploiting that information; human rights law and policy, with particular reference to (online) privacy, electronic surveillance, access to information and the conflict between freedom of expression and reputation and image rights; the ability of competition law and policy to intervene in respect of misuse of information and its control by individuals, companies and groups, by the use of existing and ground breaking technologies; the impact of the WTO and the possible impact of different regulatory structures. A wide ranging international approach will be adopted, with contributions sought from students in respect of their own jurisdictions.
Course description	Not entered

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: 25
Course Start	Semester 2
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 176 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	(1) An essay of no more than 4,500 words worth 80% OF THE TOTAL MARK. (2) An online exercise worth 20% OF THE TOTAL MARK. Students will be required to work through a set of online exercises and submit their contributions to an online discussion board. The discussion will remain open during week 5 and week 6, semester 1.
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students should be able to: a) Assess when rights or obligations arise under data protection and freedom of information legislation b) Evaluate when information should and should not be recorded, retained, re-used or shared c) Analyse the extent to which developments in information and privacy can impact upon individuals and business, and the appropriate balance between these interests d) Form a view on the roles of IP, competition, world trade law and regulation, human rights and ethics in the field of information control, and the implications for private, public and corporate interests wherever situated e) Assess when, if ever, and to what extent control of information should be possible and identify situations where rights to create share and access information may conflict with rights to privacy and personal autonomy