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
120 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course unit contains its own selection of legal questions raised by technological developments in the information society. Connection is made to the basic concepts and rules from previous course units (e.g. contract law, intellectual rights,...). Legal questions that do not connect to civil, economic and judicial law are excluded (e.g. computer crime). Overlaps with previous course units are avoided as much as possible (e.g. issues of private international law).

There are 4 clusters of topics:

intellectual rights;
privacy;
contracts;
liability.

For each theme:

The current state of the law is first analysed: to what extent current legislation is already adapted to new technological developments;
Bottlenecks are then identified and possible legislative proposals discussed so that future law can keep pace with new technological developments.

A common thread throughout the course unit is to examine how AI (artificial intelligent) is approached and addressed in law today.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Slides of the lectures and background material are made available, Canvas

Additional info

Lectures.

Students are strongly recommended to be present during the lectures to get a better understanding of the material and slides, as well as the expectations in the exam.

Guest lectures are also organised, sometimes on location (in Brussels), sometimes in a language other than Dutch (French or English, depending on the speaker) to further explain to others the legal state of affairs from their specialisation and/or work experience.

All slides of the lectures (including guest lectures which are therefore part of the subject matter) are made available via Canvas of the VUB. These slides should be supplemented with your own notes taken during the lectures.

Students are assumed to have the legal texts, which will be provided in a law book (to be published) (non-binding purchase), or, failing that, can be dwonloaded by students via Canvas and/or the internet.
Working students are invited to attend the regular lectures that are generally organised in the early evening.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

Students have broadened and deepened their knowledge and understanding of Belgian, international and European law.
Students have specialised knowledge within one or more areas of law, corresponding to their chosen major.
Students know and understand the relationship between Belgian law, European law and international law.
Students are able to reflect critically on law as an evolving social phenomenon; they are able to frame and understand new evolutions in their context and know that they (will) have to constantly update their knowledge.
Students understand how legal rules are created, the principles underlying them, their objectives; they know that these rules and principles and their interpretation evolve and can reflect critically on them.
Students can communicate with fellow students, clearly articulate their positions, collaborate and engage in discussions; they can logically and correctly argue legally and defend their position.
Students can consult sources in French, and can follow, understand and summarise explanations in each of these languages.
Students can consult sources in English, and can follow, understand and summarise 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

Asked to provide a thorough and structured explanation of one of the 4 themes (existing law and/or future law).
This may include some additional questions from the same or another part of the course unit.

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