Assigned Readings
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This page contains the readings for the entire class. Please keep in mind that readings will be updated over the course of the semester, so check back frequently to make sure you aren't missing anything!
January 25 - Politics and Technology of Control: Introduction
Readings/Watchings
- Ethan Zuckerman, History of the Internet (approx. 6 minutes, watch all)
- Jonathan Zittrain, How the Internet Works (approx. 4 mins., watch all)
- Eszter Hargittai, The Digital Divide and What to Do About It (New Economy Handbook) (focus on Sections I-III)
- Hargittai’s data is from 2003. For more recent data, see Pew Internet & American Life Project, Digital Differences 2012 (read intro, skim the sections).
- Rebecca MacKinnon, Let’s Take Back the Internet! (TED.com) (approx. 15 mins., watch all)
Optional Readings
- Chris Locke, Doc Searls & David Weinberger, Cluetrain Manifesto (just the manifesto)
February 1 - Paradigms for Studying the Internet
Readings
- danah boyd, White Flight in Networked Publics? How Race and Class Shaped American Teen Engagement with MySpace and Facebook (read 1-11, skim 12-18, read 19-end)
Optional Readings
February 8 - New Economic Models
Readings
- Wikipedia, Dot-com Bubble
- Chris Anderson, The Long Tail
- Kevin Kelly, Better than Free
- Eric von Hippel:
- The Economics of Open Content Symposium: New Models of Creative Production in the Digital Age Collaboration and the Marketplace - Video stream of the 30-minute presentation: new improved link! (requires RealPlayer). See below for alternate links to the presentation in video and audio format.
- Democratizing Innovation, Chapter 8: Adapting Policy to User Innovation
Additional Resources
- "Wikipedia Long Tail"
- Free by Chris Anderson[1]
- Larry Lessig's Code 2.0
February 15 - Peer Production and Collaboration
- Yochai Benkler, News, Information and the Wealth of Networks (watch from 8:32 to 26:07)
- Joseph Reagle, ”Be Nice”: Wikipedia Norms for Supportive Communication
Additional Resources
Joseph Reagle's book: Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia
The following audio streams from NPR may be interesting:
- Wikipedia, Open Source and the Future of the Web
- Wikipedia Wins Users and Critics by Jenny Lawton
- Wikipedia's Growth Comes with Concerns by Laura Sydell
February 22 - Collective Action and Decision-making
Readings
- James Surowiecki, Wisdom of Crowds (excerpt)
- Ethan Zuckerman's blog review of Infotopia Great summary of the issues in the book.
Optional Readings
- Divided They Blog - a paper showing trackbacks between political blogs, mentioned by Ethan Zuckerman in his review of Cass Sunstein's Infotopia
- On a similar topic: Cross-Ideological Discussions among Conservative and Liberal Bloggers, by Eszter Hargittai, et al.
- Abstract: With the increasing spread of information technologies and their potential to filter content, some have argued that people will abandon the reading of dissenting political opinions in favor of material that is closely aligned with their own ideological position. We test this theory empirically by analyzing both quantitatively and qualitatively Web links among the writings of top conservative and liberal bloggers. Given our use of novel methods, we discuss in detail our sampling and data collection methodologies. We find that widely read political bloggers are much more likely to link to others who share their political views. However, we find no increase in this pattern over time. We also analyze the content of the links and find that while many of the links are based on straw-man arguments, bloggers across the political spectrum also address each others writing substantively, both in agreement and disagreement.
March 1 - New and Old Media, Participation, and Information
Readings
- John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney, The Life and Death of Great American Newspapers
- Media Re:public Overview - Read at least the executive summary
- Knight Commission Report on Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy - Read at least the executive summary, recommendations and conclusions
- Nieman Journalism Lab, Four crowdsourcing lessons from the Guardian’s (spectacular) expenses-scandal experiment
- Sunlight Foundation website - just look around the site to see what they are up to
- Pennenberg, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange: 'Anarchist,' 'agitator,' 'arrogant' and a journalist
Optional Readings
- FTC Staff Discussion Draft, Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism - just skim it
- Leonard Downie, Jr., and Michael Schudson, The Reconstruction of American Journalism
- We The Media, Dan Gillmor (the Introduction is a good start, so to speak)
- Jay Rosen, Bloggers vs. Journalists Is Over
- Shirky on Social Media
March 8 - Law's Role in Regulating Online Conduct and Speech
Readings
- David Johnson & David Post, Law and Borders (excerpts)
Optional Readings
- Prof. Joseph Weiler: In the Dock, in Paris
- Salon: Online, the censors are scoring big wins
- EFF: Amazon and WikiLeaks - Online Speech is Only as Strong as the Weakest Intermediary
- David Ardia, Reputation in a Networked World: Revisiting the Social Foundations of Defamation Law (Part IV)
- James Grimmelmann, Sealand, HavenCo, and the Rule of Law
March 15 - No class
March 22 - Regulating Speech Online
Readings
- David Ardia, Free Speech Savior or Shield for Scoundrels: An Empirical Study of Intermediary Immunity Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (Read all of Section I, Parts C&D of Section II, and Conclusion)
- Case Study: The SPEECH Act
- Wikipedia, Funding Evil (focus on the “Libel Controversy” section)
Optional Readings
Links
Links from Adobe Connect Session
US Constitution: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html
State constitutions: http://www.constitution.org/cons/usstcons.htm
US regulations are in the Code of Federal Regulations: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionCfr.action?collectionCode=CFR
Map of the circuit courts and their jurisdictions: http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/images/CircuitMap.pdf
The Supreme Court has been taking fewer and fewer cases: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/us/29bar.html?_r=0
The International Shoe test: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Shoe_v._Washington
A very influential case addressing websites is a district court case from Pittsburgh called Zippo Manufacturing v. Zippo Dot Com, Inc: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zippo_Manufacturing_Co._v._Zippo_Dot_Com,_Inc
A more recent case of "Libel Tourism" - this time concerning parties from Ethiopia: http://blog.indexoncensorship.org/2013/02/25/london-libel-ruling-against-ethiopian-dissident-shows-urgent-need-for-reform/
Shaari v. Harvard: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/427/427mass129.html
This org has done a lot to make sure that online sites have to remove child porn: http://www.missingkids.com/home
The NPR talk show On Point with Tom Ashbrook had a segment on Cyberbullying and Sexual Shaming: http://onpoint.wbur.org/2013/01/28/cyberbullying
March 29 - Internet Infrastructure and Regulation
Readings
- Executive Summary of the National Broadband Plan [2]
- National Broadband Plan Commission Meeting: National Purposes Update, February 18th 2010 [3]
- Next Generation Connectivity: A review of broadband Internet transitions and policy from around the world, Berkman Center [4]
- Net Neutrality 101 [5]
- More Confusion about Internet Freedom [6]
- Hands Off the Internet [7]
Optional Readings
- The Federal Communications Commission
- National Broadband Plan
- OpenInternet.gov
- The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
- The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
- The Telecommunications Act of 1996
- FCC - Wireless Spectrum Auctions
- Powell's Four Freedoms
April 5 - Copyright in Cyberspace
Required Readings
- U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 1, "Copyright Basics" (.pdf)
- 17 U.S.C. § 107 (“Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use”)
- 17 U.S.C. § 512(c) (“Information Residing on Systems or Networks at Direction of Users”)
- Lawrence Lessig, Remix, Bloombsbury Academic (2008) (CC BY-NC 3.0), Ch. 1, "Introduction"
- Miguel Helft, "Judge Sides with Google in Viacom Video Suit," NYTimes.com (June 23, 2010)
- Jeffrey D. Neuburger, "Copyright Infringement Defendants Turn the Table on Righthaven," Mediashift (December 1, 2011)
- Steve Greenlee, "Cooks Source probably shutting down," Boston Globe CultureDesk (November 17, 2010)
- Jonathan Zittrain, Kendra Albert, and Alicia Solow-Niederman, "A Close Look at SOPA," The Future of the Internet Blog (December 2, 2011)
- Cary Sherman, "What Wikipedia Won't Tell You," NY Times (February 7, 2012)
- Mike Masnick, "RIAA Totally Out of Touch: Lashes Out At Google, Wikipedia And Everyone Who Protested SOPA/PIPA," TechDirt (February 8, 2012)
During class, Chris Bavitz referenced the following materials:
- The U.S. Constitution (Art. I sec. 8 cl. 8)
- 17 U.S.C. § 102 (the subject matter of copyright)
- 17 U.S.C. § 106 (the exclusive rights of copyright)
- 17 U.S.C. § 501 (infringement of copyright)
- 17 U.S.C. § 504 (remedies for copyright infringement)
- 17 U.S.C. § 107 (fair use)
- Feist Publications Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co. (the phone book case)
- Newton v. Diamond (sampling a musical composition without permission)
- Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films (sampling a sound recording without permission)
- Anthony Lupo et al., "Photographer Claims Made-for-TV Movie Infringes His Copyrighted Photo," Arent Fox LLP, Oct. 13 2010 (story on the Clark Rockefeller case)
- Harney v. Sony Pictures (the Clark Rockefeller case opinion)
- Campbell v. Acuff-Rose (fair use and "Oh, Pretty Woman")
- Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. (fair use and image caching for search engines)
- 17 U.S.C. § 512 (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's "safe harbor" provisions)
- Viacom v. YouTube, Inc. (DMCA safe harbor case regarding YouTube's response to copyright complaints)
Optional Readings
- Super Bust: Due Process and Domain Name Seizure
- Creative Commons: A Spectrum of Rights (comic)
- Center for Social Media, Recut, Reframe, Recyle (full report optional)
- MGM v. Grokster, 545 U.S. 913 (2005) (Sec. II, pp. 928 - 937)
- "Rowling Wins Lawsuit Against Potter Lexicon" (J. Eligon, NY Times, 9/8/08)
- New York Times Bits Blog: Mixing It Up Over Remixes and Fair Use
- EFF, Unsafe Harbors: Abusive DMCA Subpoenas and Takedown Demands
- The White House Blog: Concrete Steps Congress Can Take to Protect America's Intellectual Property
April 12 = Control and Code: Privacy Online
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
- Warren and Brandeis, The Right to Privacy
Optional Readings
- "Making Sense of Privacy and Publicity." Transcript of talk given by Danah Boyd at SXSW. Austin, Texas, March 13, 2010
- Solveig Singleton, Privacy as Censorship (CATO)
- Lawrence Lessig, Code 2.0: Privacy
- http://paranoia.dubfire.net/2009/12/8-million-reasons-for-real-surveillance.html
- Narayanan and Shmatikov, How To Break Anonymity of the Netflix Prize Dataset
- Brin and Page, The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine
- 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
April 19 - Internet and Democracy
Readings
Additional Resources
- A few more Kony 2012-related resources:
- Sam Gregory, Advocacy, Audience and Agency in Kony 2012: Moving from Critique to Action
- Ethan Zuckerman, Useful reads on Kony 2012
- Xeni Jardin, African voices respond to hyper-popular Kony 2012 viral campaign
- Kate Cronin-Furman and Amanda Taub, Solving War Crimes With Wristbands: The Arrogance of 'Kony 2012'
- Norbert Mao, I've met Joseph Kony and Kony 2012 isn't that bad
- Radio Berkman, RB 195: Can 100 Million Viewers Save a Child?
- Invisible Children Global Night Commute Musical (2006)
April 26 - Internet and Democracy: The Sequel
Readings
- Roberts et al. Evolving Landscape of Internet Control
- Read John Palfrey and Jonathan Zittrain: Reluctant Gatekeepers: Corporate Ethics on a Filtered Internet
- Jill York, Policing Content in the Quasi-public Sphere
- Take a look at the ONI blog
- DMCA 512 - the safe harbor provision
- EFF's Hall of Shame
- Copyhype on Viacom v. YouTube: The Second Circuit’s Decision
Additional Resources
May 3 - Cybersecurity and Cyberwarfare
Readings
- Jack Goldsmith: Senator Cardin’s Bill to Explore ISP Enforcement of Digital Security
- Zittrain, The Future of the Internet: And How to Stop It; Chapter 3
- Chatham House Report On Cyberwarfare - Executive Summary
- Wikipedia entry on Stuxnet
Optional Readings
- Whitehouse.gov, Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, Cyberspace Policy Review
- Jack Goldsmith, The Cyberthreat, Government Network Operations, and the Fourth Amendment
- Jane Holl Lute and Bruce McConnell, Op-Ed: A Civil Perspective on Cybersecurity
- Zittrain, Freedom and Anonymity
- Infoweek, Leaked Cables Indicate Chinese Military Hackers Attacked U.S.
- CNET, Cyber attacks rise at critical infrastructure firms