Syllabus

Cyberlaw: Internet Points of Control, Spring 2008

Mon, March 10 - The Ethos of the Internet: DNS

• Reading
  • Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet, Chapters 1 & 2

Tue, March 11 - A Theory of Generativity: Wikipedia

• Reading
  • Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet, Chapter 4
  • Nicholson Baker, The Charms of Wikipedia, NY Review of Books, March 20, 2008
  • Wikipedia Policies
    • NPOV
    • Verifiability
    • No original research

Thu, March 13 - The Generative Dilemma: Cybersecurity

• Readings:
  • Randy Picker, Cyber Security: Of Heterogeneity and Autarky, pp. 1-7, 18-27
  • Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet, Chapter 3
  • David Banisar, Save the Net, Sue a Software Maker
• Optional
  • Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet, Chapter 6 (For more background on Wikipedia)

Mon, March 24 - Intermediaries and Polyarchy: Filtering, Zoning, and Jurisdiction

• Readings:
  • Filtering
    • Bruce Schneier, Review of Access Denied, Nature Note: This is the full article
    • Robert Faris & Nart Villeneuve, Measuring Global Internet Filtering, Access Denied
    • Open Net Initiative, Pulling the Plug: A Technical Review of the Internet Shutdown in Burma
    • Principles Project, Briefing Document (via Blackboard)
  • Jurisdiction
    • Jonathan Zittrain, Filtering Module, pp. 33-39 (Gutnick) (via Blackboard)

Tue, March 25 Part I - Intermediaries and Gatekeeping: Defamation

• Readings:
  • Communications Decency Act § 230
  • Jonathan Zittrain, A History Of Online Gatekeeping, pp. 257-263 only
  • Barrett v. Rosenthal through p. 34 only
  • John Siegenthaler op-ed on Wikipedia
  • Wikipedia Entry on Seigenthaler Incident
  • WikiScanner (browse)

Tue, March 25 Part II - Special Session: Digital Dilemmas: Filtering and Corporate Responsibility

• This session will take place at from 6:30-8pm in Vanderbilt 214, and fills in for the Thu, April 3 session. We will make a video of the session available for those who may have conflicts.
• For more information and to RSVP, check out the Facebook Event.

Thu, March 27 - Intermediaries and Gatekeeping II: Copyright

• Readings:
  • Digital Millennium Copyright Act § 512
  • Viacom complaint against Google/Youtube
  • User-generated content
    • UGC Principles document
    • EFF/Berkman Fair Use Principles for User Generated Video Content
  • Browse several letters from Chillingeffects.org

Mon, March 31 - Intermediaries and Gatekeeping III: Anonymity and Identification of (Alleged) Wrongdoers

• Readings
  • ‎Koller Letter
  • Ray Beckerman, How the RIAA Ligitation Process Works Read up to "Settlement Phase"
  • Motion in AutoAdmit Case pp. 1-18 only
  • McIntyre v. Ohio

Tue, April 1 - Technological Intermediaries: Liability for Devices and Tools

• Readings:
  • Sony v. Universal, 464 U.S. 417 (1984), paragraphs [1]-[10] and [40]-[56]
  • MGM v. Grokster, 545 U.S. 913 (2005), Majority opinion pp. 1-3, 10-24 (in slip op)
    • MGM v. Grokster Appointment of Special Master
    • Fred von Lohmann, How Hollywood Has Been Trying to Disrupt Disruptive Innovation
  • Randy Picker, Rewinding Sony: The Evolving Product, Phoning Home and the Duty of Ongoing Design, pp. 1-10, 24-37 (rest of the article is optional)

Mon, April 7 - The Ethos of the Internet II: Universities and Open Access

• Readings
  • Open University
    • Nesson-Margulies Interview
    • Jeffrey Young, Thanks to YouTube, Professors Are Finding New Audiences
    • Sara Rimer, At 71, Physics Professor Is a Web Star
  • Open Access
    • Budapest Open Access Initiative
    • Peter Suber, Publishers launch an anti-OA lobbying organization
    • American Association of Publishers, Publishers Say Enactment of NIH Mandate on Journal Articles Undermines Intellectual Property Rights Essential to Science Publishing

Tue, April 8 - Technological Intermediaries II: Appliancization, Product v. Service, and Open Code

• Readings:
  • Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet, pp. 123-126
  • Wendy Tanaka, Bubbling Widget Growth (Forbes)
  • Free Software
    • Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks, Ch. 3, pp. 63-67
    • Jonathan Zittrain, Normative Principles for Evaluating Free and Proprietary Software
    • Brett Smith, A Quick Guide to GPLv3
    • Richard Stallman, Some Confusing or Loaded Words and Phrases that are Worth Avoiding

Thu, April 10 - Technological Intermediaries III: Trusted Systems

• Readings
  • Zittrain, Technological Complements to Copyright, pp. 1-9; 11-19; 51-54; 58-63; 130-134 (you must log in via Blackboard to view this link)
  • Carl Kaplan, Assessing Linking Liability (NY Times description of Corley)
  • Open DRM
    • Sun Microsystems, Open Media Commons Releases Specifications and Source Code for Open, Royalty-Free Digital Rights Management (Press Release)
    • Lawrence Lessig, openDRM (blog post)

Mon, April 14 - A Generative Dilemma at the Social Layer: Privacy 2.0

• Readings:
  • Zittrain, Future of the Internet, Chapter 9, pp. 200-221
  • StopBadware.org, Facebook responds to privacy concerns, but some still remain
  • Solveig Singleton, Privacy as Censorship (CATO)
• Demos:
  • http://www.whosarat.com
  • http://www.gawker.com/stalker
  • http://www.rapleaf.com

Tue, April 15 - Generative Solutions: Netizenship

• Readings:
  • Jonathan Zittrain, Future of the Internet, Chapter 9, pp. 221-234
  • Beth Noveck, Wiki Government, Democracy
  • Andrew Keen, The Foolishness of Crowds, Democracy

Wed, April 16 - Optional Session: Futures of the Internet

• 6:30-8:30pm, Vanderbilt 206. Featuring Jimmy Wales (Founder, Wikipedia), Clay Shirky (Author/Professor@ITP), Tim Wu (Professor@Columbia Law), Lauren Cornell (Exec Director, Rhizhome), and the one and only JZ. Reception included!

Thu, April 17 - A Generative Future?: OLPC

• Readings:
  • Zittrain, The Future of the Internet, Conclusion
  • OLPC
    • Frank Bajak, Laptop project enlivens Peruvian village (AP)
    • Steve Stecklow & James Bandler, A Little Laptop With Big Ambitions (WSJ)
  • John Perry Barlow, A Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace
• Optional
  • Clay Shirky, A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy