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 29 - 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)

John Perry Barlow, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace

Jack Goldsmith & Tim Wu, Digital Borders (Legal Affairs)

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)

Eric Goldman, The Third Wave of Internet Exceptionalism

Tim Wu, Is Internet Exceptionalism Dead?

February 5 - Paradigms for Studying the Internet

Readings

Lawrence Lessig, Code 2.0 (Chapter 7 - focus on "A Dot's Life")

Nate Anderson, Book Review: Jonathan Zittrain's "The Future of the Internet And How to Stop It" (from Ars Technica)

Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It, (Chapters 1 and 4 only)

Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks (pp. 379-396 only; stop at "The Physical Layer")

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

Ethan Zuckerman & Andrew McLaughlin, Introduction to Internet Architecture and Institutions

Orin Kerr, The Problem of Perspective in Internet Law (Focus on sections I and II)

February 12 - A Series of Tubes: Infrastructure, Broadband, and Baseline Content Control

Readings

Yochai Benkler, Next Generation Connectivity (executive summary and introduction)

Susan Crawford, Wired, We Can’t All Be Google’s Kansas: A Plan for Winning the Bandwidth Race (Wired)

Adam Thierer, More Confusion about Internet “Freedom” (Tech Liberation)

Wikipedia, Net Neutrality

Optional Readings

Sam Biddle, How to Destroy the Internet (Gizmodo)

Dawn Nunziato, Virtual Freedom (Chs. 1 & 7) (pending)

Ed Felten, Taking Ted Stevens Seriously

February 19 - Whose Values? International Issues with Internet Regulation

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February 26 - Regulating Speech Online

Readings

Citizen Media Law Project Legal Guide: Defamation

Wikipedia, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act

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)

John Palfrey & Adam Thierer, "Dialogue: The Future of Online Obscenity and Social Networks" (Ars Technica)

Case Study: The SPEECH Act

Wikipedia, Funding Evil (focus on the “Libel Controversy” section)

111th U.S. Congress, H.R. 2765, “Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act” (“SPEECH Act”)

Optional Readings

Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997)

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 5 - Copyright Part 1: Guiding Principles and Online Application

Assignments

The second half of assignment 2 (commenting on prospectuses) is due before class today. Information on the assignment can be found here.

Readings/Watchings

Wikipedia, Copyright Clause

U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 1: Copyright Basics (read only Who Can Claim Copyright?, What Works Are Protected?, What is Not Protected by Copyright?, How to Secure a Copyright, and How Long Copyright Protection Endures)

17 U.S.C. § 107 - Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use

Lawrence Lessig, It is About Time: Getting Our Values around Copyright (watch first 6 minutes)

James Grimmelmann, Why Johnny Can’t Stream: How Video Copyright Went Insane

Terry Hart, There is No Magic Bullet

Lawrence Lessig, Remix: Making Art and Culture Thrive in the Hybrid Economy (Introduction only)

Creative Commons, A Shared Culture (video, watch all) and Spectrum of Rights

Optional Readings

Jessica Litman, The Exclusive Right to Read (introduction and Sections I and II only)
Julian Sanchez, Ars Technica, 750,000 Lost Jobs? The Dodgy Digits Behind the War on Piracy

March 12 - Copyright Part 2: Enforcement and Balances

Readings/Watchings

Digital Media Law Project, Claims Based on User Content and Protecting Yourself Against Copyright Claims Based on User Content

Electronic Frontier Foundation, Takedown Hall of Shame (peruse)

Chilling Effects, About and peruse the weather reports.

Matthew Ingram, Paid Content, How Google did the right thing with the NASCAR crash video, and why it matters

Erin McKeown, A Perspective On the Complexities of Copyright and Creativity from a Victim of Infringement

Case Study: SOPA/PIPA

Case Study: ISP "Six Strikes"

Optional Readings

Andy Sellars, Seized Sites: The In Rem Forfeiture of Copyright-Infringing Domain Names

Wendy Seltzer, Super Bust: Due Process and Domain Name Seizure

March 19 - No class (Spring Break)

March 26 - Collective Action and Decision-making

Readings

James Surowiecki, Wisdom of Crowds (excerpt)
- NYT Review
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.