In both IP and Internet law, you’ve got to keep your eye on what is happening domestically and internationally. What makes teaching and writing in these areas so exciting is the pace at which things develop and evolve. Of course, the law is pushed and pulled from many different directions by many different forces (economic, technological, political, etc.). It seems that increasingly the political process is churning at both the international and domestic levels with complicated feedback loops — a strategic two-level game of the type Robert Putnam described .
For example, read Susan Crawford’s post about CALEA and then Declan McCullagh’s report on the Council of Europe’s Cybercrime Treaty, which the Bush administration is pushing. (Of course, check out the documents they link to as well.) Can you “feel” the momentum?