Updated preface to the first edition

• Author: George Takach
• Profession: Adjunct Professor
• Pages: 31-39

updated PREFACE

to the First Edition

The computer was the defining technological device of the last quarter

of the twentieth century. Encircling the globe with high-capacity com-

puter networks, the Internet included, will be the major technological

feat of the first quarter of the twenty-first century. These computer and

communications developments have made information the critical

asset of our time, surpassing in importance the traditional assets of

land and physical goods. Such technological, economic, and social

trends have brought into focus the importance of computer law. There-

fore, after practising it for more than fifteen years at McCarthy Tétrault,

Canada’s pre-eminent law firm for technology law, and teaching it as an

adjunct professor in Computer Law at Osgoode Hall Law School, York

University, for more than a dozen years, it gives me great pleasure to

discuss the principal features of computer law and to canvass its pri-

mary controversies and challenges. As part of the Essentials of Canadi-

an Law series, this book does not purport to be comprehensive, but it

does throw its light widely, illuminating the peaks and even some of the

valleys of computer law.

The Theory and Practice of Computer Law

Although some readers may question whether computer law should be

considered a separate jurisdiction on the legal map, I believe that well

before reaching the final chapter, they will agree with me that there is

indeed a discernible legal subdiscipline worthy of this title. This cannot

be surprising given the enormous impact of the computer and informa-

tion industries on the economy and on society at large. Law is a reflec-

tion of the human environment from which it emanates. Therefore, how

could there not be a computer law, given that we are witnessing the

computer revolution usher in the Information Age? Moreover, the

diverse subtopics that constitute computer law are united by common

xxxi