Law (Cyber Law) LLM
1 Year Full-Time | September Start

Studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition to postgraduate level study in the use and practice of subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to further develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills suitable for a postgraduate level of study.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding postgraduate assignment briefs.
• Developing advanced academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising advanced ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring postgraduate level academic assignments (e.g. essays, dissertations and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Speaking in postgraduate seminar presentations.
• Giving discipline-related postgraduate level academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Postgraduate level speed reading techniques.

In this module you will develop a critical understanding of UK and European Law governing intellectual property rights. You will examine intellectual property rights in a variety of international and domestic contexts. You will look at both common law and statutory rules. This detailed content of the module includes the following topics: (1) the nature of IP rights, (2) copyright and related rights, (3) Trademarks, (4) Designs, (5) Patents, (6) Confidentiality. These topics will all be discussed within both a theoretical context and also in respect of practical scenarios that are drawn from work-based practice.

This module offers a critical introduction to legal research methods. It is designed to ensure that you will be able to confidently embark on legal research on your Masters programme whatever your academic background or jurisdiction. Your lectures are designed to refresh and develop your understanding of legal research techniques, referencing and evaluating sources. In your workshops you will be provided with opportunities to undertake and obtain feedback upon a series of legal research and writing tasks, thus enabling you to develop critical understanding of what it meant by effective legal research, and how you yourself can become an effective legal researcher.

In this module you will draw on your skills and knowledge acquired from the taught elements of the LLM branch specialism and will develop and refine these in the context of a self-chosen area of independent specialist study. You will develop; (1) your understanding and use of legal research techniques, (2) An ability to critically analyse and evaluate legal data, (3) the ability to handle complex legal material systematically and creatively including material at the forefront of the field of study, (4) a conceptual understanding of the research topic, (5) skill at showing a systematic understanding of knowledge and a critical awareness of current legal issues, (6) the ability to communicate legal information, arguments and conclusions within accepted academic conventions.

This module provides a critical introduction to the global nature of three distinct but interwoven areas of the space, cyber and telecommunications industries. The dominant consideration in all three of these environments are economic although they all have significant military dimensions. The three areas are all, in some way, contingent or connected to each other. They are also both dependent on and drivers of new technological and engineering advances. This module will provide an understanding of the fundamental ways in which they are regulated, coupled with an appreciation of the key themes that emerge in their on-going development.

The module will cover the following areas and start by considering the shared themes in the Cyber, Space and Telecoms global industry. There will be a critical introduction to the military applications of cyber, space and telecoms and analysis on the threats to space and telecoms from asymmetric cyber-attacks. There will be an evaluation of the role of space and telecoms in global navigation and transport industry and specific consideration of the changing face of broadcasting in the new space, cyber and telecoms era. As it is the main international institution, the role of the ITU will be evaluated in respect of (i) Regulation of Telecoms and (ii) Regulating Space and the Internet, together with the role of national regulators such as Ofcom. The module will then go on and consider the way in which technology shapes the law by considering new developments in cyber, space and telecommunications technology.

In this module you will develop a critical understanding of the law and governance issues relating to cyberspace. You will acquire the knowledge and understanding around key legal issues in cyberspace. This includes consideration of cybersecurity, cybercrime, and e-commerce, together with analysing concerns over privacy and the role of commercial and military actors on both a national and international level. You will critically evaluate the governance of cyberspace at the international, regional, and national levels where appropriate and will look at the security, safety, and sustainability concerns around the use of cyberspace. You will gain a critical awareness of how law and governance operate in the global cyber economy. You will also examine the role of national legislation in protecting children and dealing with online harms. There will be an examination of softer, non-binding agreements in respect of cyber governance.

In this module you will develop a critical understanding of the laws relating to data management. Whilst the focus will be on data protection in the UK and Europe, you will be encouraged to bring in examples from other jurisdictions providing an international perspective on data management. You will examine the development of data protection law in England and Europe, the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), the EU Directive on Data Protection (the Directive), the Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. The module will take a critical look at the legal framework that governs data protection and privacy both regionally and internationally. This module covers the following topics: the history and development of data protection law; key definitions within the legislation and how they have been interpreted and applied; the data protection principles which govern legal regulation and practice; the rights which are created by the Act and Regulation, who they are granted to and how they might be enforced; the obligations which are imposed on organisations over how they process personal data; how the exemptions in the legislation apply to domestic law; how notification arrangements work and how the data protection regime is enforced, in particular looking at the powers of the Information Commissioner.

In this module you will learn to critically assess the development of the law relating to the operation of algorithmic systems. As these systems become more ubiquitous and affordable, legal frameworks which are used to dealing with decision-making, will come under increasing scrutiny as centralised and automated decision-making will keep making inroads into individualised decisions from factfinders on the ground. You will study e.g. the way in which technology is challenging traditional concepts and principles in law. The legal dimensions of algorithms within everyday life will be assessed alongside the broader ethical and legal dimensions of the rise in use of Artificial Intelligence. The module will also examine the rise of algorithmic systems in policing, e.g. automated facial recognition. The module builds on the research interests of the tutors involved in this module and will provide a unique insight into an emerging and evolving area of legal inquiry:

• Conceptualising algorithmic systems and machine learning aka Artificial Intelligence.
• Algorithms, Machine Learning and a new technological paradigm.
• The Ethical Challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence.
• The Legal Challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence.
• Legal infomatics and the implications for the legal and judicial profession.
• The Internet Economy and AI.
• Regulating Autonomous systems in transport (i) Self Driving Vehicles
• Regulating Autonomous systems in policing (ii) Automated Facial Recognition.

You will also be expected to acquire and exercise the following skills during the course of this module:

• The ability to identify and analyse relevant legal issues in practical case-scenarios.
• The ability to undertake in-depth research.
• The ability to undertake detailed study of relevant sources of information, including journal articles, cases and other research materials.