Who is the Cyberlaw Book for?Who is the cyberlaw book for?

Cyberlaw: Law for digital spaces and for information systems

By John Bandler

This cyberlaw book is for most people who are interested in cyberlaw, taking a course on it, or building such a course.

This page gives more detail to help you decide if it is right for you or your course.

Every reader is different, every person is different, every course is different. We categorize education and experience levels but also realize that every person within a group is different, and starts from a slightly different place.

Some have said "this is like three books in one." The benefit of that is it allows you to choose your own adventure, and progress through it a manner that suits you or your course.

Choose your speed and choose your adventure

In sum, the book is adaptable and suitable for a variety of groups by adjusting how fast it is read or covered in a course. Think of these ways to read:

  • Read carefully: go slow, 5 MPH, pulling out of a driveway near where children are playing (or a "no wake" zone)
  • Read: go at a solid pace, 30 MPH, a residential neighborhood
  • Skim: read quickly, highway speed, 65 MPH (conditions permitting)
  • Skippable: Consider not reading it at all, you may already know it. Take a shortcut (detour?). Generally, I advise to "skim" and not "skip" for the reasons below.

Skim or skip? For a course it might be preferable to use "skim" instead of "skip." People (including students) might think they know something when they might not. Even if a student "knows" something, reading it again, especially with a different perspective, can help cement certain knowledge into place, or open up a new insight. Every time you walk a path or drive a road is an opportunity to see or learn something new. Even "experienced lawyers" are learning about law every day, including about "basic" aspects of law (I learned a lot writing this book, thinking about law in new ways).

Topics covered

The names of the parts and chapters are self-explanatory - read them and see what is inside.

Some parts or chapters are introductory for that topic area. If that's your area of expertise, skim it (or read it carefully to see how I did and if I can improve it for the next edition).

This book lays the foundations you need on both cyber and law, so there are no prerequisites.

A full text listing of all chapters is also below.

Suitability for these groups of learners and readers

Below is a general summary of how the book can apply to these groups of readers, remembering that groups are made up of very diverse individuals. Your speed is how you adapt it.

Within a group of learners, for a sentence, section, or chapter, one reader may think "That's obvious, I already know that!" and another thinks "Huh?" and has to read it twice (or come back to it later) for it to make sense.

When picking a course book, cost to the student must be a factor. This book is highly cost-effective at any level.

  • High school learners: Many high school learners are capable of digesting this book. It is written simply and clearly. Some will find the material and citations intimidating at first glance, but they can get past that easily enough. It's got a good intro to law and solid cyberlaw info. It would be covered much more slowly compared to in a college course.
  • College level learners: A main target group for the book (I have been teaching cyberlaw to college students for many years). Most of these learners need a comprehensive introduction to law (even if they may have taken prior law related courses). Chapter 3 will help them too.
  • Graduate level learners: Another main target group for the book (I have been teaching cyberlaw to graduate level students of information technology for many years). Most of these learners need a comprehensive introduction to law (even if they may have taken prior law related courses). Chapter 3 will help too. Technology students will find the technology and cybersecurity coverage to be basic, so that can be skimmed and class coverage can be limited or eliminated.
  • Professionals: The book is well suited for this group. Many professional non-lawyers work in many different areas relating to cyberlaw, and this includes information technology, information security, and compliance professionals, as well as managers, executives, and owners. They should understand basics of law, cyberlaw, and technology, so this book works for them.
  • Law school students: Suitable for many law students, who come with a wide variety of backgrounds and skills, especially depending what law school year they are in.  A first year law student ("1L") does not have much law school in them yet. Some say law schools today presume too much knowledge, while this book does not. Some areas may be obvious for many law students, they can be skimmed. For law school, this book should be supplemented by reading and analysis of cited references, such as case decisions and statutes. The book cites them, so they are easy to find. My Cyberlaw Book Resources page has them conveniently on my website.
  • Lawyers: Lawyers have very different backgrounds and areas of practice. This book covers areas of law most do not practice in, and it introduces technology in a way that may be helpful for some. If lawyers are looking for a simple primer on cyberlaw to rip through, this could work. Obviously, this is not a legal treatise.
  • Any reader: This book is digestible for almost any reader. Law should not be a topic exclusively for lawyers, same for cyberlaw. We are a nation of laws and democracy where citizens have duties and need to understand basics of law. Nonlawyers can play a role in the discussion of the complex cyberlaw issues that affect us all. We can respect the knowledge and experience and opinions of lawyers while also realizing everyone should know something about the legal issues of the day, and everyone has a right to their opinion. Some might say the best path to a well-reasoned opinion on a cyberlaw issue is to first read my book.

Adjust your speed (choose your adventure) infographics

To see an example of how coverage of each part can be tailored for different groups and courses, click on these images for a full screen lightbox view.

College students (taking cyberlaw course) and cyberlaw book
College students (taking cybercrime course) and cyberlaw book
Graduate students and cyberlaw book
Law students and cyberlaw book

Organized and modularCyberlaw by John Bandler front cover

This book is organized into parts, chapters, and sections. Most chapters are relatively short, sections are very short, and everything is named simply. The title tells you what you are going to read, and this helps you adjust your speed through each part, chapter, and section.

Personal preferences

Every person has personal preferences.

My style, and the style and format of this book will resonate for some, who appreciate its clarity and simplicity. There are going to be some who prefer a different style.

My background in prosecution and law enforcement will be viewed as beneficial by some because of my deep first-hand experience in criminal law and cybercrime. I also realize that some view that negatively, for whatever personal reason, which can be strong and affect how a book is received. I have an open mind to the opinions of others, and hopefully most readers will also, and read objectively to see that I have a nuanced perspective on criminal justice.

Personal opinions vary greatly in many areas. As we look at elections in this country at the national, state, and local levels over the past eight years, voters chose from vastly different candidates. Some chose candidate X, some candidate Y, often an abhorrent candidate to the other side.

If voters have such vastly different and irreconcilable preferences, so will readers. I accept that this book is not going to be right for a large number of people.  This book is not for everyone, sort of like this country song.

Fortunately, there will be some readers this book is right for, and that's who it is for. If that's you, letting me know in some way really helps.

Aligning the book to each group by part and chapter

Below are the part and chapter names, which give a good idea about who can benefit from reading them. I have also included a few comments.

Part 1: Cyberlaw learning mindset

  • 1. Why cyberlaw and using the book
  • 2. Cyberlaw sits on a foundation of traditional law
  • 3. Reading, learning, researching, writing, and artificial intelligence tools

Comment:

  • All should read Chapters 1, 2
  • Chapter 3 is a bonus, a little bit of a detour
    • I will have my course students read all three because Chapter 3 reinforces important concepts for learning, researching, and writing. There are students at all learning levels who may (i) have never done an outline for a paper, (ii) never got instruction on how to do research, (iii) misunderstand rules for citation and quotation, (iv) use AI tools to "read" for them and answer questions or summarize text. Thus, a reminder on foundational principles can improve learning throughout the semester.

Part 2: Introduction to law

  • 4. Rules humans create, live by, and break
  • 5. Laws introduced: Rules from government
  • 6. Introducing the US legal system: Substantive laws and procedural laws (laws for conduct, and a process to investigate and resolve)
  • 7. U.S. Constitution and Amendments: The foundation for law and government
  • 8. Crime, criminal law, and criminal justice introduced
  • 9. Civil law introduced
  • 10. The First Amendment and protections for speech from government interference
  • 11. The Fourth Amendment and government search and seizure
  • 12. Jurisdiction

Comment:

  • This part introduces law.
  • College students need this.
  • Advanced law students can skim it (except they should "read carefully" Chapter 12 on Jurisdiction.
  • Practicing lawyers may want to skip it (or read it for a fresh perspective)

Part 3: Entering “cyberspace”

  • 13. How did we get to cyberlaw?
  • 14. Cybercrime and identity theft
  • 15. Markets for your data and a need for privacy
  • 16. Technology introduced
  • 17. Cybersecurity introduced
  • 18. Applying law to the digital domain

Comment:

  • This part introduces technology, cybercrime, and privacy.
  • For technology students, this part can be a "skim", but with a "read" for Chapter 14 on Cybercrime and Chapter 18 on Applying Law.

Part 4: Criminal cyberlaw

  • 19. The Western Express cybercrime case
  • 20. Substantive cybercrime laws
  • 21. Criminal procedure and gathering evidence
  • 22. Virtual currency and money laundering
  • 23. Solving the cybercrime problem

Comment:

  • This is a "read" for most.
  • Law students: supplement text with reading of cited cases and statutes.

Part 5: Civil cyberlaw I

  • 24. Intentional torts (wrongs)
  • 25. Negligence law
  • 26. Contract law
  • 27. Regulation introduced
  • 28. Intellectual property law

Comment:

  • This is a "read" for most.
  • For law students the first parts of the chapters may be a "skim", and the materials can be supplemented by additional reading or exercises applying these laws to cyber situations.
  • Ch 28 on IP covers all four types of IP law, that will be a "go slow" chapter for many.

Part 6: Civil cyberlaw II: Data law

  • 29. Data law introduced
  • 30. Data breach notification laws
  • 31. Cybersecurity and data protection laws
  • 32. Privacy and privacy laws
  • 33. Artificial intelligence
  • 34. Summarizing some data laws

Comment:

  • This is a "read" for all.
  • Many readers will benefit from this knowledge on data law.

Part 7: International cyber actions

  • 35. International cyber conflict and law

Comment:

  • This is a "read" for all.

Part 8: Speech and expression in depth

  • 36. Cyber speech and the battle for our minds

Comment:

  • This is a "read" for all.

Part 9: Organizations and cyberlaw

  • 37. Business law basics
  • 38. Management and policy work
  • 39. Managing cyber issues
  • 40. Cybersecurity frameworks
  • 41. The Four Pillars of Cybersecurity

Comment:

  • This is a "read", "skim", or "skip" depending on the group and reader.
  • Professionals: Read
  • Lawyers and future lawyers: Read
  • Compliance people: Read
  • If you never want to advise, manage, or lead an organization: Skim it or skip it

Part 10: Conclusion, Resources, Appendix

  • 42. Conclusion
  • 43. My journey to write this book
  • 44. References and additional reading
  • 45. List of diagrams
  • 46. Frequent abbreviations
  • 47. Glossary
  • 48. Index

Comment:

  • This is purely optional material. Remember the references landing page on this site (see next).

Length, statistics, reading time, reading ability

As I tell my students, this book is written as simply as a book can be read. There is no value in using a generative AI tool to create a summary of any part in this book, because that would only make it worse and more complicated. The book is workmanlike, no-nonsense, and a reasonable size.

At 500 pages, some might get intimidated but should not. The total word count is 127,000 words, including footnotes, references, etc. At a modest reading rate of 200 words per minute (wpm) the entire book can be read in under 11 hours.

The word count of main text only is under 90,000 words (no footnotes, no references, etc). At 200 wpm that can be read in under 8 hours.

In other words, almost every student can actually read this book, and should read this book. The entire book can be covered in a semester.

References and additional reading

The book points to extensive references, through footnotes and chapter resources.

The resources webpage for each chapter (on this website) has those references and even more. This means you can easily go deeper on any topic.

If you want to cover it more deeply, you can read (or assign) additional reading, such as listed references. For example, if my paragraph summarizing a statute or legal decision or dispute is too simple, read the statute itself, read the judge's decision itself.

The reasonable amount of time to read primary legal resources

At a certain level of instruction, students need to read the primary legal resources, meaning the actual statutes and case decisions.

We need to be realistic on what we want or expect students to read. it is unrealistic to think that even law students will read all of the statutes, and all of the legal decisions. It is even less realistic to think that undergraduate or college students will do that, or should do that.

There is a way for instructors and learners to select the "right" amount of primary source reading.

One solution is to assign or spend a “reasonable amount of time” on that primary source reading. Pick an amount of time, or leave it up to the student. For example:

  • "Spend X minutes reading the CFAA statute."
  • "Spend X minutes reading the Computer Trespass statute."
  • "Spend X minutes reading the CrowdStrike civil complaint."
  • "Spend X minutes reading the Valle decision."
  • "Spend X minutes familiarizing yourself with the cited statutes."

This allows the learner to get some exposure to those important primary sources and how they are written, without imposing an unrealistic amount of reading.

Let's not create generations of humans who are unable to read primary sources themselves, because they have become reliant on summaries created by AI tools or others.

Course instructors

Course instructors: If you are considering this as a coursebook, or are already using it as a coursebook, feel free to reach out to let me know how it is going, and if I can be of assistance to make the book work for your course.

Other webpages on the book

Looking for something else?

This page is hosted at https://johnbandler.com/cyberlawbook-who-is-it-for, copyright John Bandler, all rights reserved.

Originally posted 12/23/2024.  Updated 03/05/2025.