Product Description

Written for students, providing technical explanations and using a wide range of cases and materials, this book explores the challenge presented to the law by the rapid changes and developments taking place in the field of information technology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61071 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 616 pages

Review
Praise for the first edition; 'Their commentary is sharp, to the point, good at raising debate and stimulating in suggesting possible resolutions.' Journal of Information, Law and Technology

From the Back Cover

Information Technology Law changes and develops at a rapid pace as the law seeks to respond and progress alongside technological advances. This new edition examines the current challenges presented to the law by this exciting subject. It deals with developments in areas such as criminal law, tort, contract and intellectual property law, which have all occurred in a direct response to a growth in technology.

Current issues discussed in the third edition include:

Recent case law on software patents and a consideration of the EU proposals for harmonization
New developments in data protection and the internet including cookies, spam and data retention
Internet auction fraud
In-depth discussion on viruses, Trojan horses and denial of service attacks
Responses to the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention
The impact of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Directive 2001/29/EC
Copyright and file-sharing including the recent Supreme Court decision in MGM v Grokster

Written with law students in mind, the text provides technical explanations where necessary and is supported throughout by extracts from a wide range of cases and materials.

About the Author
Professor Diane Rowland is a Professor of Law, University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Professor Elizabeth MacDonald is a Professor of Law, University of Wales, Swansea.

Customer Reviews

Gets the fine line between breadth and depth of coverage.
Information Technology Law - updated in the second edition to contain information on e-commerce and internet regulation holds itself as an example of a well written, topical book.

I mentioned in my one-liner that it achieves the fine line between covering a wide range of issues, and still managing to cover those issues in sufficient depth to make it appropriate. I found it to be written in a persuasive and authoritative manner - making you think for yourself, not so much providing all the answers as challenging you with the problems but informing you how others are tackling the issues.

The authors are also very clearly aware that information does not exist in a vaccuum - and that the protection of information, especially personal information, is a matter that is becoming increasingly important to the average citizen.

Whilst it is written for the United Kingdom particuarily, it informs the user of the approaches other juristictions are taking, and in particular compares and contrasts these approaches. An excellent example of this is the comparison of European and American attitudes to data protection.

This book is useful to anyone involved in information technology law - both on the legal and technical side. The book, I found, appealed to me as much as a computer scientist as it probably would to a lawyer. The law is addressed in many areas - criminal law, tort, contract and intellectual property - showing just how broad the consideration of the issue needs to be. As an additional (and I feel often neglected) point, the indexing and referencing throughout the book is of the highest standard. Finding a specific example within this book is very simple.