To: CLS Participants (Web only; e-mail alert)

From: Nicholas Johnson

Re: CLS/Reading Assignments for April 19, 2000

Note: To remind: It was class preference to schedule our "make-up class" by extending the hours on the two remaining classes (April 12 and 19) from two hours to three hours each rather than an additional evening. Thus, we will be meeting from 6:30 until 9:30, plus whatever break you all want somewhere in the middle of that.

The only material subject to quiz questions this evening will be the three papers to be presented.

You have received e-mails regarding the papers to be read. To refresh, they are:

Tom Ksobiech, "I Know It When I Double-Click On It: A Look at How the Internet Will Cause Change to Community Standard Analysis in Obscenity Cases"

Brett Schilling, "A Prescription for Disaster: The Online Prescription and Distribution of Pharmaceuticals"

Marty Sutcliffe, "Defamation on the Internet: Searching for Community, Identity and Statutory Solutions"

I have a videotape for our break.

We will have some year-end details to deal with.

And I will try to put together a PowerPoint presentation and basis for further discussion of the Microsoft case to the extent we have time for it. It is Judge Jackson's Conclusions of Law in United States v. Microsoft Corp. (my HTML printout is 20 pages plus).

[To repeat from last week's assignment: "This is one of the most significant cyberspace law developments this semester. Now that we have an opinion to look at we should give the controversy some attention. The opinion is well written -- but that doesn't make it an easy read if you've never before addressed antitrust questions. On the other hand, it's not a bad introduction to the subject the way the judge walks through the issues. So have a go at it, and we'll discuss the extent to which Bill Gates really is a bad guy -- or whether he's just being punished for his own success and consumers' enthusiasm for his products.

"You are not required to read anything other than the opinion, but if you'd like to probe the issues more, either now or in the future, the FindLaw Microsoft Web page has hundreds of links to documents filed in the case and commentary from a variety of sources. There is, of course, a lot of material from Microsoft and its apologists defending its action. If you'd like to see something from another point of view -- in addition to that of the Department of Justice and Judge Jackson -- you might want to check out the site created by Ralph Nader and Jamie Love through their Consumer Project on Technology.]