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Welcome to Difficult Problems in Cyberlaw, a January course taught by Professor Jonathan Zittrain and co-hosted by Stanford Law School and Harvard Law School.
If you are a student, please see the Student Responsibilities section (NOTE: this section is not yet finalized) and Course Logistics.
This map site has a map of the Bay Area, Stanford campus, and visitor parking at Stanford.
The four main difficult problems to be addressed are:
Cross-cutting themes include:
- Due Process on the Internet
- Motivating Good and Bad Actors
- Collaborating and Relying on Masses
- Privacy and Anonymity on the Internet
WEEK ONE: DEFINING THE PROBLEMS
LUNCH: 12-2pm SLS (location TBA)
- Student introductions
CLASS: 7:20-9:20pm SLS (location TBA)
- A brief overview of the course, its goals and expectations, including an introduction to the difficult problems and the cross-cutting themes.
- A quiz on Zittrain's book, The Future of the Internet: And How to Stop It will be given.
- Brief introduction to the Global Network Initiative
Readings:
- Read The Future of the Internet: And How to Stop It
- Explore the Global Network Iniative website
- Read GNI Guiding Principles
CYBERSECURITY BACKGROUND: 2-4pm (location TBA)
- Professor Jack Goldsmith will present an overview of cybersecurity as it has evolved and as it can potentially be addressed.
CLASS: 5:15-7:15pm SLS (location TBA)
- Identify the first-order problems regarding corporate responsibility and free expression on the internet. Examine how GNI attempts to address these problems and then evaluate whether GNI is a success and whether better approaches could be taken.
- Introduction to ubiquitous human computing.
- 5 students will have 4 minutes each to introduce themselves at the beginning of class
Guests:
- Mark Chandler, CISCO
- Chuck Cosson, Microsoft
Readings:
- Read the GNI Wiki Primer
- Read Rhys Blakely, Yahoo in second Chinese blog Row, TimesOnline, Feb. 9, 2006.
- Read Colin Maclay, "Protecting Privacy and Expression Online," in Access Controlled (Ronald Diebert et al., eds., MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2010).
- Read Jonathan Zittrain, Ubiquitous Human Computing, SSRN Paper No 32/2008 (July 2008).
PANEL:
CLASS: 6:30-8:30pm SLS (location TBA)
- Examine the nature of ubiquitous human computing and potential future applications of human computing and the dangers.
- Introduction to cybersecurity.
- 5 students will have 4 minutes each to introduce themselves at the beginning of class
Guests:
- Lukas Biewald, CrowdFlower
- Bjoern Hartman, see his Mechanical Turk Cats Book
Readings:
- Visit Mechanical Turk, LiveOps, CrowdFlower or other human computing site
- Watch "The Long and Silent Subway Ride of the Future"
- Read Nancy R. Mansfield, The information revolution and its impact on the employment relationship: an analysis of the cyberspace workplace, American Business Law Journal (2003).
- Skim the White House Cyberspace Policy Review (2009); focus on the introduction/overview and the Near & Mid-Term Action Plans.
ASSIGNMENT: Due -- Email Admin with Problem Topic Choice
CLASS: 11:10am-1:10pm SLS (location TBA)
- Cybersecurity has been identified as one of the greatest threats facing the United States today, but it is ill-defined and almost impossible to address. How can we frame this problem to better inspire solutions? How should government, military, businesses, and internet/tech approach the problem from different angles and do these different approaches work together?
- Introduction to Future of Wikipedia
- 5 students will have 4 minutes each to introduce themselves at the beginning of class
Guests:
- Chuck Cosson, Microsoft
Readings:
- Listen to David Clark, The Internets We Did Not Build.
- Col. Allen & Lt. Col Demchak, The Palestinian-Israeli Cyberwar, Military Review (2003).
- Kim Zetter, Revealed: The Internet's Biggest Security Hole, Wired (2008).
- Review Zittrain, The Future of the Internet: And How to Stop It; Chapter 3
- CENTRA Technology, Cyber Compendium Workshop, Nov. 2009.
- Wikipedia Volunteers Log Off as Wikipedia Ages, Wall Street Journal.
- New editors are joining English Wikipedia in droves?, Infodisiac, Dec. 6, 2009.
FIELD TRIP: eBay office visit (details to follow)
CLASS: 3:00-5:00pm SLS (location TBA) [NOTE CLASS TIME]
- Wikipedia has grown quickly and rapidly to become one of if not the largest online content-generating collaboration. Following the 2009 Wikimania, Wikimedia has undertaken a self-review, looking at strategies for the future of Wikipedia. Is it a sustainable model? and if so, to what other fields is it applicable? How can its reception in academia be improved? and what are its applications for education?
- Brief introduction of next week's cross-cutting themes
- 5 students will have 4 minutes each to introduce themselves at the beginning of class
Guests:
Readings:
- Review Zittrain, The Future of the Internet: And How to Stop It; Chapter 5
- Peruse Wikipedia's Strategy Page
- Strona, The Battle for Wikipedia's Soul, The Economist, March 6, 2008.
- A Stand Against Wikipedia?, Inside Higher Ed, Jan. 26, 2007.
CLASS SOCIAL: Optional, evening, details TBD
Tour of San Francisco (Optional); details TBD. To give input and suggestions, visit Tour Ideas.
WEEK TWO: CROSS-CUTTING THEMES
CLASS: 7:20-9:20pm SLS (location TBA)
- One potential way to address some of the problems addressed in this course is through innovations and technological solutions. Several solutions have changed the way our browsers work and thereby changed the way we interact with the internet, making life better. In what other areas could a similar approach be applied?
- Introduction to cross-cutting theme of privacy, anonymity and liability on the internet
Guests:
- John M. Agosta, DisputeFinder
- Tye Rattenbury, DisputeFinder
- Rob Ennals, DisputeFinder
- Tad Hersch, DisputeFinder
Readings:
- Visit HerdictWeb
- Zittrain's Comments on Herdict at a Berkman Center Lunch
- Visit DisputeFinder (Test it out!)
- Read Introduction to Ann Bartow, Internet Defamation As Profit Center: The Monetization of Online Harrassment, 32 Harvard Journal of Law & Gender 383 (2009).
WORKSHOP: 1-2pm Faculty Lounge, Stanford law.gov workshop Hosted by Carl Malamud
- Some students attend the entire workshop, 10am-3pm
CLASS: 5:15-7:15pm SLS (location TBA)
- Privacy and anonymity can raise significant issues for accountability for online actions. Users often believe they are more anonymous than they truly are online - how can we better educate the public about the reality of privacy online?
- Introduction to the cross-cutting theme of due process and dispute resolution on the internet.
Guests:
- Ryan Calo, SLS Fellow
- Ebele Okobi-Harris, Yahoo! Director of Business and Human Rights
- Mark Surman, Mozilla
Readings:
- Odia Kagan, Fighting Anonymous Defamation, International Business Law Services, November 26, 2007.
- Consider commercial applications; visit ReputationDefender
- Read through the Facebook or Google terms of service
CLASS: 6:30-8:30pm SLS (location TBA)
- How do our due process concerns translate to the internet and online communities? Should due process exist on the internet? Is the internet public or private space and under what terms do we have the privilege or right to access?
- Consider, for example, how much due process should be required to remove an account from Facebook, Google or Twitter. How much due process is necessary for a take-down on YouTube and what right of appeal do you have in any of these circumstances?
- Introduction to online collaboration and group motivation strategies
Guests:
- Glenn Brown, Google
Readings:
- Elizabeth Thornburg, Going Private: Technology, Due Process, and Internet Dispute Resolution, 34 Univ. Cal. Davis 151 (2000).
CLASS: 11:10am-1:10pm SLS (location TBA)
- Online collaboration projects require internet organizations to motivate and coordinate large groups of people. This requires both motivating good actors to participate and motivating bad actors either to not participate or to conform to the rules/standards of the site. How can website hosts face these challenges?
Guests:
- Daniel Hoffer, Couchsurfing
Readings:
- F. Gino, Jun Gu, & Chen-Bo Zhong, Contagion or Restitution? When bad apples can motivate ethical behavior, 45 J. Experimental Social Psychology 1299-1302 (2009).
- Review readings from Friday, January 8th on Wikipedia and motivation of contributors
CLASS: 1:00-3:00pm SLS (location TBA) NOTE CLASS TIME
- Group 1 Presentation of proposed solution (60 min)
- Discussion of solution's strengths and weaknesses and other approaches to consider
CLASS SOCIAL: Optional, evening, details TBD
WEEK THREE: SOLUTIONS
NO CLASS: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
CLASS: 5:15-7:15pm SLS (location TBA)
- Group 2 Presentation of proposed solution (60 min)
- Discussion of solution's strengths and weaknesses and other approaches to consider
CLASS: 6:30-8:30pm SLS (location TBA)
- Group 3 Presentation of proposed solution (60 min)
- Discussion of solution's strengths and weaknesses and other approaches to consider
CLASS: 11:10am-1:10pm SLS (location TBA)
- Group 4 Presentation of proposed solution (60 min)
- Discussion of solution's strengths and weaknesses and other approaches to consider
Guests:
- Craig Newmark
- Edward Wes
WRAP-UP DINNER: 7:20-9:20pm SLS (location TBA)
FINAL PROJECTS DUE