The Evolution of Contracts in the Digital Era
In this seminar we will consider how contract law and policy are adapting (or failing to adapt) to the burgeoning of electronic transactions in the global digital networked environment. What has become of the traditional commitment to the notion of agreement? For example, to what extent are the boilerplate terms of use interior to most websites actually enforceable?? We will investigate the varieties of online contract formation and we will reconsider the issue of contract standardization. We will also consider specific issues that come to the fore in an electronic environment: For example, can terms be attached to a digital product and be made binding on all users who come into contact with the product? We will consider automated contracting (to what extent can our computers bind us?) and we will consider the substitution of private automatic machine “enforcement” for judicial contractual enforcement, though the use of technological protection measures.