United Kingdom Journals

Editorial: BILETA Conference Edition

Catherine Easton, [1]

This volume draws its contents from the proceedings of the 2011 British and Irish Law, Education and Technology Association (BILETA) Conference, hosted by Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. Over two days an international delegation presented cutting-edge research relating to information technology law and technology in legal education. Inspiring keynote addresses from Professor Paul Maharg on the future of legal education and Iain Mitchell QC on the interaction between law and technology were extremely well-received. The peer reviewed papers in this edition of the European Journal of Law and Technology reflect the challenging and engaging debate across the diverse conference streams.

Post-graduate prize winners, Sandra Schmitz and Thorsten Ries present an analysis of how German civil law targets copyright infringements with an in-depth evaluation of the German Copyright Act. Drawing the debate back to the UK, Felipe Moreno‘s paper addresses the Digital Economy Act 2010 and the impact of the “three strikes” law on illegal file-sharing. Long Long‘s work examines interaction in virtual worlds and the development of social norms as a potential form of social control in online communities. The similarities and differences between virtual and off-line worlds are investigated in Lisa Collingwood‘s discussion of how privacy law relates to online communication and publication. Online publication is also addressed in Lawrence Siry and Sandra Schmitz‘s paper. This examines how moves towards making online archives available interact with the right to be forgotten and the law on defamation. Search engines, advertising and the potential for anti-competitive behaviour is the focus of Aysem Diker Vanberg‘s paper which places these issues in the context of European Union competition law and policy. Finally, Catherine Easton‘s paper from the legal education stream, presents research carried out into the use of clicker technology to teach law with a focus on accessibility and mobile phone technology.

These peer reviewed papers and complementary commentaries demonstrate the quality and topicality of the debate at BILETA international conferences. The BILETA Executive would like to thank the editorial staff at the EJLT for their support in producing this themed volume.