CPSC 1830: Law, Technology, & Culture
Brad Rosen (brad.rosen{at}yale.edu)
Fall 2026: M W, 4:00-5:15, LC 102
TAs: nick.jones, tobi.tega, rose.lang-maso, kate.samuelson, harry.seavey
CPSC 1830 is a class that is open to non-majors. You do not need a background in tech or computer science to enjoy the class. The class offers some project options for CS majors as well.
As a general rule, we will adapt the syllabus to take into account current events. We may need to add supplemental readings if breaking news changes the topics being discussed. Feel free to review the syllabi from previous years, “like such as” this absurdly, ridiculously, stupidly exhaustive list of previous syllabi: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. These should give you a flavor of what the class will ultimately look like.
If you have questions during add/drop period, please email me directly. (Strongly encouraged)
NOTE: Attendance in this class is not optional; participation is synchronous. This class is not a gut. The reviews lie. The cake is a lie. There is no spoon. Tceles B Hsup. Do not taunt happy fun ball. You have to burn the rope. I made you look.
1) Attention Span Wars — You or a Goldfish? 9/2
- You Now Have A Shorter Attention Span Than A Goldfish
- OR DO YOU?
- [ACTUALLY ITS ALL SUPER NUANCED AND THE DEBATE IS OLDER THAN YOU THINK (SKIM)]
- The scarcest resource you don’t even know you’re spending (read)
- In the future, our attention will be sold. (read)
- Lost In the Scroll
- Forget the Click, Online Time May Be More Valuable (skim)
- What you think you know about the web is wrong (read)
- What Is Our Attention Really Worth?
- You’re Being Alienated From Your Own Attention
- The Truth About BrainRot, According to Science
- Yes, the internet is destroying our collective attention span
- How digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts
- The Darkly Soothing Compulsion of Doomscrolling
- (someone is trying to make Hopescrolling happen)
- The Great Fracturing Of American Attention
- Welcome to the Age of Foomscrolling
- Notification Overload
- Gen Z/Flip Phones ( 2024 trend still going)
- Flip Phone Summer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (2025) [Also you can pay for a Brick….]
- OBLIGATORY (and OBVIOUS): Meta Settlement Explainer
2) The Past And the Future of Cyberlaw — 9/4
- John Perry Barlow, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
- Lawrence Lessig, Code 2.0 (Preface to the First Edition, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Preface to the Second Edition – read preface to the second edition last – p. xii-23, ix-xi)
- Frank Easterbrook, Cyberspace and the Law of the Horse, 1996 U. Chi. Legal F. 207
- Mike Madison, Is Cyberlaw Making Us Stupid? (also read the comments)
- Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu, Digital Borders, Legal Affairs, Jan/Feb 2006
- David R. Johnson and David G. Post, Law and Borders–The Rise of Law in Cyberspace, 45 Stan. L. Rev. 1367 (1996) [excerpt]
- Lawrence Lessig, The Law of the Horse: What Cyberlaw Might Teach, 113 Harv. L. Rev. 501 (1999) [excerpt]
3) The Past and Future of Cyberspace – 9/9
- Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet — and How to Stop It (Chapters 1, 2 – p. 11-35)
- U.S. v. Morris (Concentrate mainly on the “Facts” section, don’t worry if you don’t understand some of the more complicated issues in the “Discussion” section)
- U.S. v. Nosal (2012 en banc) (read Kozinski’s majority opinion, Skim dissent)
- U.S. v. Nosal (2016 panel) (skim majority, read dissent)
- EFF/ACLU Ask Ninth Circuit to Rehear CFAA cases
- Optional: 9th Circuit denial of rehearing (Reinhardt’s dissent worth reading)
- CFAA Circuit Split Writeup (skim)
- Tennessee District Court Deepens The ‘Without Authorization’ Divide
- Violating an Employer’s Computer Use Restriction Is Not a Federal Crime (skim)
- Linkedin data-scraping case highlights calls for SCOTUS review of computer fraud law
- EFF Asks Supreme Court To Review Dangerous Interpretation of Computer Crime Statute (read
- NACDL – CFAA Primer (Note Criminal Sentence Lengths)
- Van Buren vs. United States (2021) (skim)
- Supreme Court Reins in the CFAA (READ – if all the CFAA stuff is confusing, READ THIS TWICE)
- HiQ v Linkedin (2022) (read only CFAA section)
- Amazon v Perplexity (2026) (read because of course there’s an agentic AI angle now)
- Jack L. Goldsmith, Against Cyberanarchy, 65 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1199 (1998) [excerpt]
4) What is law? (Dudley don’t hurt me…) –
- Lon Fuller, The Case of The Speluncean Explorers
- Regina v. Dudley and Stephens (Wikipedia)
- Just For Fun —
5) 15 Minutes of Fame … and exploitation thereof – 9/10
- More Like 15 Seconds of Nanofame
- Jessica Slaughter
- Why My Daughter Will Never Have a Webcam: The Jessi Slaughter Story [VIDEO] [the original has been removed and the link now points to the archive.org version]
- Know Your Meme: About Jessica Slaughter [VIDEO]
- Nick Noonan and Amy Heidemann
- Ghyslain Raza
- Star Wars Kid [VIDEO]
- About Star Wars Kid
- Story Continues (2022)
- Antoine Dodson
- You Don’t Need To Hide….
- George Lindell Witnesses an Accident [VIDEO]
- Reality Hits You Hard, Bro [VIDEO]
6) Introduction to Digital Copyright – 9/28
- Constitution Art 1 Sec. 8 clause 8 (Only read the first part and the clause starting with “To promote the progress..”)
- 17 USC §102
- 17 USC §103
- 17 USC §105
- 17 USC §106
- Feist v. Rural Telephone
- Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture (Ch 6-7, 85-99)
- Christina Mulligan, Copyright and Glee
- Andrew Leonard, The Copyright Wars Come to”Glee”
- Scales of Justice
- Mechanical Licenses
- The Weird Legal Reason Many of Your Favorite Shows Aren’t On DVD [also: archive] (….or streaming (also: archive link for Seth),)
- Copyright and the Music Marketplace (skim 16-34 and 55-58; read as much as you’re interested in)
7) Fair Use and the DMCA – 9/30
- 17 USC §107
- Pierre Leval, Toward a Fair Use Standard [DO THIS READING TWICE. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT. IT NECESSITATES CAPS. YES I AM YELLING.]
- Swatch Group v. Bloomberg (skip p9-11, 44-47)
- Seltzer v. Green Day
- Warner Bros. v. RDR Books (Skim “Conclusions of Law” and “I. Copyright Infringement,” but pay special attention to “II. Fair Use”)
- DC Comics v. Towle (Holy Copyright, Batman!)
- Lenz v. Universal (dct)
- Lenz v. Universal (9th Cir 2015) (skim)
- Eldred v. Ashcroft [SKIM: Ginsburg opinion; Breyer Dissent, Stevens dissent]
- PLEASE WATCH BEFORE CLASS:
- Bad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsUXAEzaC3
- Achy Breaky Heart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byQIPdHMpjc
- Superman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRz4FY0ZcwI
8) Fair Use: Remix, Reimagine, Reuse – 10/5
- Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music
- Author’s Guild v. Google (skim portions that don’t deal directly with copyright)
- Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. [summary]
- Cariou v. Prince One and Two
- Schwartzwald v. Oath (S.D.N.Y. 9-10-2020) (Jon Hamm’s Privates)
- Bridgeport v. Dimension Films (6th Cir 2005)
- VMG Salsoul v. Ciccone, 824 F3d 871 (9th Cir 2016)
- Dr. Seuss v. Comicmix (read 1-13, focus 11-13)
- Hosseinzadeh v. Klein (skim; read if you are interested. Background here
- Skim: Brownmark Films LLC v. Comedy Partners (7th Cir)
- Skim: Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video
- Madonna ended up ‘begging’ ABBA to use a sample
- MAI vs. Peak (Warning to Comp Sci Majors: This is infuriatingly if you know how computers work)
- Oracle v. Google (EFF Summary) — if you are interested, skim Decision
- Warhol v Goldsmith (pay attention to citations to Leval, and read Kagan’s dissent)
- Internet Archive Is Not Fair use (read article, skim decision– skip the parts about Sony and TvEyes and re-read them after we read those decisions in the future….)
- Read: Thomson Reuters v Ross (3rd Cir. 2026)
- Skim: Bartz v Anthropic
- Optional: Williams v Gaye (this is the “Blurred Lines” case that in the opinion of many is wrongly decided – the dissent specifically cites the Axis of Awesome 4 Chord video we watched in class)
9) Fair Use: Remix and Participatory Culture – 10/7
- Francesca Coppa, A Fannish Taxonomy of Hotness
- Francesca Coppa, Women, Star Trek, and the early development of fannish vidding
- Mary Sue
- Are Fanfiction and Fanart legal? [SS/S, PP/Z]
- Lip Dub
- A Feud In Wolf-Kink Erotica Raises a Deep Legal Question
- Watch CAREFULLY: Fair Use & Remix Culture: Transforming Consumers into Makers of Culture
- Watch:
- Gravity (Annie/Jeff Ship): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsBvqDwVqwc
10) Copyright and Disruptive Technology – 10/12
- Sony v. Universal [Majority Opinion]
- Rewinding to Betamax: The path to consumers’ “right to record”
- American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. (skim majority opinion; read Scalia dissent)
- Capitol Records v. ReDigi (2d Cir 2018) [R E A D ]
- Federal Court Shuts Down Aereo’s Attempt At A Comeback (skim)
- The latest in the broadcast TV/copyright kerfuffle (skim)
- FilmOn – Read article and skim linked opinion
- First Aereo, Now FilmOn: Another Fight for Innovation and Competition in TV Technology
- Hope Fades as FilmOn Loses
- TvEyes (skim up to pg 11, read the rest)
- Second Circuit Gouges TVEyes (skim linked 2nd circuit opinion)
- EFF on Locast (read) Decision (skim)
- Kadrey v. Meta (skim)
- (You aren’t going to read this 108 page report, so feel free to look up a summary of it….or read this one)
