In "The Case for 'Technology Law'", @bj_ard and I argue that it is past time to recognize Technology Law as a distinct field of legal study.

https://ngtc.unl.edu/blog/case-for-technology-law

We identify the core concepts and their associated substantive questions; the recurring structural questions; and inaccurate but enduring assumptions.

We then address the two main arguments against recognizing techlaw as a distinct field, both of which boil down to the idea that there is nothing particularly special about tech-fostered legal change.

First up is the "Law of the Horse" debate. We argue that, in debating whether Cyberlaw was a distinctive subject, Easterbrook and Lessig missed the middle ground: Technology Law.

Rather than studying the law of one technology—be it horses or the Internet—there is much to be learned from studying the relationship between technologies and law more generally.

The second argument against Technology Law being recognized as a distinct legal field is that technological change is merely one cause of social change. Shouldn’t we instead be studying the interaction of law and social change?

Certainly tech-fostered legal uncertainty is not ontologically exceptional; there is no intrinsic difference between a legal uncertainty created because of something technologically new or a legal uncertainty that’s new for another reason.

But tech-fostered legal uncertainties are sociologically exceptional; societies treat them differently. So while they are a type of social change, their characteristics and social impacts are sufficiently distinct to justify studying this type of social change in isolation.

Technology Law is a distinct field of legal study, characterized by its own overarching questions, guiding principles, methodologies, and theoretical disagreements.

Techlaw scholarship will promote more useful policy recommendations, and techlaw training will prepare students to engage with the substantive and structural techlaw questions they will inevitably face in their careers.

Not only should every law school offer a Technology Law course, the smarter ones will require it. :)

HUGE thanks to @GusHurwitz & @UNL_NGTC for the opportunity to organize our thoughts on this alongside stellar techlaw scholars @rcalo @JoshFairfield @hartzog @MegLeta.

Our posts: https://ngtc.unl.edu/blog 
Our two-part conversation on "What is Law & Tech?": https://ngtc.unl.edu/tech-refactored 

(And, in addition to the aforementioned, shout outs to @jackbalkin, Kiel Brennan-Marquez,
@HBWHBWHBW, @Alicia_S_N, @scottjshapiro, @MargotKaminski, @HarrySurden, @blakereid, @juriscott for particularly generative conversations on this issue.)