Control and Code: Privacy Online

April 3

Code is law; the architecture of the Internet and the software that runs on it will determine to a large extent how the Net is regulated in a way that goes far deeper than legal means could ever achieve (or at least ever achieve alone). Technological advances have also produced many tempting options for regulation and surveillance that may severely alter the balance of privacy, access to information and sharing of intellectual property. By regulating behavior, technological architectures or codes embed different values and political choices. Yet code is often treated as a technocratic affair, or something best left to private economic actors pursuing their own interests. If code is law, then control of code is power. If important questions of social ordering are at stake, shouldn't the design and development of code be brought within the political process? In this class we delve into the technological alternatives that will shape interactions over the Internet, as well as the implications of each on personal freedom, privacy and combating cyber-crime.

Readings

• John Palfrey and Hal Roberts, The EU Data Retention Directive in an Era of Internet Surveillance
• Abelson, Ledeen, Lewis, Blown to Bits, Chapter 2: Naked in the Sunlight: Privacy Lost, Privacy Abandoned
• Jonathan Zittrain, Future of the Internet, Chapter 9: Privacy 2.0

Optional Readings

• NPR On the Media Story "Anonymous Justice"
• "Making Sense of Privacy and Publicity." Transcript of talk given by Danah Boyd at SXSW. Austin, Texas, March 13, 2010
• Lawrence Lessig, Code 2.0: Privacy
• http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2009/12/8-million-reasons-for-real-surveillance.html
• Noam Cohen, It’s Tracking Your Every Move and You May Not Even Know (NYTimes, March 26, 2011)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_flesh_search_engine

Class Discussion

April 3: Control and Code: Privacy Online Just Johnny 17:12, 15 February 2012 (UTC)