50070 - IT AND COMMUNICATION LAW

Following the advent and spread of communication and information technology, this course has a double aim: on the one hand, to examine the statute law, case law and legal theory related to traditional means of communication (radio, television, theatre, press, cinema), on the other hand, to provide students with an overview of all the issues related to the new technologies and in particular the implications related to the Internet and to the protection of fundamental rights on the web.

• Freedom of expression in Europe and in the US.
• The content and limits of freedom of expression: hate speech.
• Journalism: freedom of the press and freedom of information.
• The access to the Internet: new constitutional freedoms?
• The television market: The Audiovisual Media Service Directive.
• The television market: the Italian legal Regime.
• Internet and jurisdiction. Between globalization and localization.
• Data protection and data retention: the European scenario.
• Who controls the Internet? The ISPs legal regime.
• Cybercrime. The Google Vivi Down saga.

Deal with the main issues regarding Internet regulation and the protection of fundamental rights in the digital era.

Assessing the increasing or decreasing of protection of the fundamental rights at stake depending on the judicial balancing between contrasting values.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)

Guest speakers’ talks include lectures given by experts and professionals working in the IT industry. Case studies are discussed at the beginning of each class in order to introduce the subject of the relevant lectures.

Oral exam attributes up to 100% of the final grade but active and regular class participation is taken into account.

Oral exam attributes up to 100% of the final grade.

Students are tested on the readings (including cases and papers) published on the Bboard platform.

Students are tested on the textbook:

• J. OSTER, European and International Media Law, Cambridge, last edition.