S. Law and Regulation of Social Media

This seminar will examine the legal issues generated by the now pervasive use of social media in our society. We will discuss the potential legal liability that users and operators of social media sites face and how courts are tackling those claims. We’ll analyze the broadening array of legal challenges posed by the use of social media in the workplace. We’ll discuss how foreign jurisdictions are addressing these issues. And we’ll explore the impact that social media is having on the judicial process including its use by litigants, attorneys, judges and jurors.

Among the specific areas we will cover are: the protections afforded to anonymous speech online; the use of copyrighted content in social media; restrictions on the use of social media for commercial purposes; the protections afforded to student use of social media; intrusions into the privacy of social media users; and procedural and ethical concerns raised by the use of social media in legal practice.

Grading in the course will be based on two papers (each 10 pages) and an in-class presentation, with adjustment based on overall class participation.