Legal Aspects of the Information Society

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 2 with catalog number 4022051FEW for working students in the 1st semester at a (F) Master - specialised level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Possible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

NOTE: registration for this course is only possible for working students. Day students can register for courses whose code ends with an R. At Inschrijven / studentenadministratie@vub.be you must be registered at the VUB as a working student for the current academic year.

Taught in

Dutch

Partnership Agreement

Under interuniversity agreement for degree program

Faculty

Faculty of Law and Criminology

Department

Private Law

Educational team

Fabienne Brison (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

39 contact hours Lecture
110 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course unit contains its own selection of legal issues raised in particular by new phenomena in the information society. A link is made with the basic concepts and rules from previous courses (e.g. law of obligations). Legal issues that have no connection to civil and legal law are not taken into account (e.g. computer crime). Overlaps with previous courses are avoided as much as possible (e.g. issues of private international law).

There are 4 clusters of themes. Work is done on the basis of cases, new phenomena and/or buzzwords. First of all, an attempt is made to understand what is at stake, what legal questions this raises, the adequacy of the current state of the law is analysed, bottlenecks are identified and possible proposals discussed. Numerous guest speakers (if necessary, colleagues from the faculty and if necessary in another language: French and/or English, depending on the speaker) are invited to further explain the legal state of affairs from their specialisation and/or work experience. In all this, an active contribution of the students is expected. They prepare the themes, may be asked to present them to their fellow students and discuss them during the lectures.

The cluster themes are:

"Big data, smartcities and IoT" & privacy protection
“Blockchain, Bitcoin and smart contracts" & agreements
"Artificial intelligence" & IP
"ISPs" & liability

This is not an exhaustive and binding selection. The themes may change according to current events. Other phenomena to be studied may include: "open source", "open access", "cloud computing", "smart cities", "IoT" (Internet of Things), robotisation of the legal profession,...

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Slides van de hoorcolleges ter beschikking gesteld, Canvas

Additional info

Students are strongly advised to be present during the lectures in order to get a better understanding of the study material and the slides, as well as of the expectations during the examination. Guest lectures are also organised, sometimes in Brussels, sometimes in another language than Dutch (French or English). All slides of the lectures (including guest lectures that are part of the study material) are made available via Canvas of the VUB. These slides should be supplemented with your own notes taken during the lectures.

Working students are invited to attend the regular lectures that are usually organised in the early evening.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

1. Students have broadening and in-depth knowledge and understanding of Belgian, international and European law.
2. The students have specialized knowledge within one or more legal domains, corresponding to their chosen specialization.
3. Students know and understand the relationship between Belgian law, European and international law.
4. The students can critically reflect on the law as an evolutionary social phenomenon; they are able to frame and understand new evolutions in their context and know that they constantly (need to) adjust their knowledge.
5. The students understand how legal rules come into being, what principles underlie them, what objectives are intended; they know that these rules and principles and their interpretation evolve and can critically reflect on them.
6. The students can communicate with colleagues, express their views clearly, cooperate and enter into discussion; they can legally and correctly argue legally and defend their position.
7. Students can consult sources in French, and can follow, understand and summarize explanations in each of these languages.
8. The students can consult sources in English, and can follow, understand and summarize explanations in each of these languages.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Oral Exam with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Oral exam

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context