This module aims to give students a comprehensive overview of the challenges the law and its various actors face in attempting to curb crime on the Dark Web. It will encourage students to think critically about these challenges, and stimulate academic interest in a challenging, exciting and emerging area of the law. Students will develop the ability to engage in current academic debates surrounding the laws intervention in tech enabled crime, specifically Dark Web crime.

(LO1) Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the basic functioning of the Dark Web and the challenges the technology presents.

(LO2) Students will be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of the effectiveness of the international legal response to Dark Web crime.

(LO3) Students will be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of the challenges that law enforcement face in seeking to enforce the law in this area.

(LO4) Students will be able to undertake effective research in the field of Dark Web crime.

(LO5) Students will be able to apply legal knowledge to practical situations and draw reasoned conclusions supported by legal authority

(S1) Communication (oral and written) skills – oral skills will be developed in class seminars, whilst written skills will be advanced in the final written assessment.

(S2) Time and project management - Personal organisation. The module will have clearly set deadlines and tasks.

(S3) Academic writing (including referencing) skills – students will develop this specific communication skill through writing the coursework.

(S4) Research skills – students will be asked to do independent research to engage with literature and other resources.

(S5) Improving own learning and performance. The major part of the module will rely on self-learning. The handbook will provide directions for self-learning and required and additional literature for each topic.

(S6) Develop skills in reading, analysing and synthesising different viewpoints and presenting findings/conclusions in clear, comprehensible, structured format, with detailed argumentation where appropriate

(S7) Engagement with a wider audience – students will develop this communication skill through writing their blog post.

Module content will change slightly year-to-year. Indicatively, topics may include:

• Introduction to the Dark Web and its technologies.
• Dark Web marketplaces.
• Drugs and the Dark Web.
• Pornography, illicit images, and the Dark Web.
• Illicit trade in firearms, explosives and ammunition.
• Dark Web fraud.
• Aims of regulation and enforcement action.
• Limits of investigation: jurisdictional barriers and human rights law.
• Ethical challenges to digital policing.
• Legitimacy and limits of undercover policing.
• Privacy as a barrier to Investigation.
• Targeting the proceeds of Dark Web crime.
• Deterrence / enforcement.

Teaching Method 1: Seminars

Scheduled Directed Student Hours: 11 x 2 Hours (22 hours)

Unscheduled Directed Student Hours: 178.

Description: Interactive seminars focussing on the key issues raised by the module.

Attendance Recorded: Yes