2014 Syllabus

CPSC 183: Law, Technology, & Culture
Brad Rosen (brad.rosen@yale.edu)
Fall 2014: M W, 4:00-5:15, WLH 119

CPSC 183 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: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013.  These should give you a flavor of what the class will ultimately look like.

If you have questions prior to shopping period, please email me directly.  (Strongly encouraged)

NOTE:  Attendance in this class is not optional.  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.

Please note: the course topics and speakers are subject to change as the semester progresses and due to speaker availability.   After the start of the semester, we will post the provisional syllabus here, but you should pay attention to announcements in class and check back here in case there are changes.

 

1)  Control Self Delete:  The Right to Be Forgotten In the Web Age — 8/27

• Jeffrey Rosen, The Web Means the End of Forgetting,
• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25privacy-t2.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
• Kimberly Hill, Torrent of Public Facebook Info Fires Up Privacy Debate,
• http://www.technewsworld.com/story/70515.html?wlc=1283271299
• Cybersecurity As Realpolitik (Dan Geer, Blackhat) – Watch from 43:15 to 43:40
• Right to be Forgotten Roundup (Skim):  Wiki Wired Kash Guard WSJ
• German Court Says Man Must Delete Nude Photos of His Ex 

2)  The Past and Future of Cyberlaw – 8/29

• 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 – 9/3

• 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  (en banc)  (read Kozinski’s majority opinion, Skim dissent)
• Introducing Aaron’s Law, a Desperately Needed Reform of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
• Aaron’s Law Is Doomed Leaving US Hacking Law ‘Broken’
• Jack L. Goldsmith, Against Cyberanarchy, 65 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1199 (1998) [excerpt]

4) What is law? (Dudley don’t hurt me…) – 9/8

• Lon Fuller, The Case of The Speluncean Explorers: http://www.nullapoena.de/stud/explorers.html
• Regina v. Dudley and Stephens (Wikipedia)
• Cave In To Your Fear (Giggle)

5) “15 Minutes of Fame”  – 9/10

• William Adams
  • Judge William Adams Beats Daughter
  • South Texas Judge In Video Beating Gets Warning From State Ethics Panel
• Jessica Slaughter
  • Why My Daughter Will Never Have a Webcam: The Jessi Slaughter Story [VIDEO]
  • Know Your Meme: About Jessica Slaughter [VIDEO]
• Andrew Meyer
  • University of Florida Taser Incident [VIDEO]
  • About University of Florida Taser Incident
• Ghyslain Raza
  • Star Wars Kid [VIDEO]
  • About Star Wars Kid
• Antoine Dodson
  • Reaction to an attempted rape of a Huntsville, Alabama woman [VIDEO]
  • Bed Intruder Song [VIDEO]
  • About Antoine Dodson
• Laina Morris
  • OAG describes what internet stardom is like
  • Know Your Meme: OAG
  • Original Video
• Kelly Martin Broderick
  • My Picture Was Stolen and Turned Into a Fat Shaming Anti-Feminist Meme on Facebook
  • Cosmo Article (read first post as well)
• Matthew Cordle
  • I Killed A Man
  • Matt Cordle Due In Court
• Daughter of Julia Fierro

 

6) Introduction to Digital Copyright and Fair Use – 9/15

• 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

 

7) Fair Use Part Deux and the DMCA – 9/17

• 17 USC §107
• 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”)
• Lenz v. Universal
• Pierre Leval, Toward a Fair Use Standard
• The Greatest C&D Response Letter…Ever

 

8) Fair Use and Remix Culture – 9/22

• Francesca Coppa, A Fannish Taxonomy of Hotness
• Francesca Coppa, Women, Star Trek, and the early development of fannish vidding
• Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music
• Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. [summary]
• Cariou v. Prince One and Two
• Skim:  Brownmark Films LLC v. Comedy Partners (7th Cir)
• Skim: Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video
• OPTIONAL: Rhythm, melody, life: Human hearts have always warmed to the rhythm of music
• At any time before the midterm, watch:  Fair Use & Remix Culture: Transforming Consumers into Makers of Culture

9) Review Session/Class Project Discussion – 9/24

• No readings

 

10) Copyright and disruptive technology: SOPA and The Aereo case – 9/29

• Sony  v. Universal [Majority Opinion]
• Rewinding to Betamax: The path to consumers’ “right to record”
• American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc.
• Federal Court Shuts Down Aereo’s Attempt At A Comeback
• The latest in the broadcast TV/copyright kerfuffle
• Stop Online Piracy Act
• SOPA died in 2012, but Obama administration wants to revive part of it
• Hollywood’s Copyright Lobbyists Are Like Exes Who Won’t Give Up
  

11) P2P Law and Piracy – 10/1

• LaMacchia Loophole
• Optional: United States v. LaMacchia
• Arista v. Limewire (read p2-4 and p15-31)
• Do Porn Companies Blackmail Illegal Downloaders
• FAQs for Subpoena Targets
• Capitol v. Thomas
• Sony v. Tenenbaum
• Judge Rules BitTorrent Cases Must Be Tried Separately
• PRENDA ROUNDUP (read wikipedia artcle; skim as many of the original sources at the bottom as you find interesting)

 

12) Free Software, Patents, and Copyleft – 10/6

• Priority Rules: An Empirical Exploration of First-to-Invent Versus First-to-File (only read pages 1–14)
• Has Patent, Will Sue: An Alert to Corporate America
• Electronic Frontier Foundation, Legislative Solutions for Patent Reform
• Defend Innovation, a project of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (click on 1-7 to read the problems and solutions)
• Twitter’s Innovator’s Patent Agreement
• F.T.C. Votes for Inquiry Into Patent Businesses
• Wikipedia, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory Licensing
• FRANDs Forever: How the Smartphone Industry Turned a Gentlemen’s Agreement Into a Full-Scale Patent War
• GNU General Public License (read Preamble and 2, 3, 4, 12)
• Ira Heffan, Copyleft: Licensing Collaborative Works in The Digital Age, 49 Stan. L. Rev. 1487 (July 1997) (skip footnotes, skip appendix)
• Christopher M. Kelty, Two Bits (read 98-117)

 

13)  DRM and Anticircumvention – 10/8

• Gabriella Coleman, Legal Tinkering, Expertise, and Protest Among Free and Open Source Software Developers (p. 435-448)
• Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. (read section IV only)
• Spore Complaint (read p. 1-15)
• Richard Stallman, The Right to Read
• DMCA Rulemaking Primer
• ArsTechnica, LOC asks how should we let you break DRM?
• (skim) EFF Press Release, EFF Wins New Legal Protections for Video Artists, Cell Phone Jailbreakers, and Unlockers (note this is old)
• DMCA Rulemaking: What we got
• DMCA Exemptions
• Unlocking Shines A Light
• Congress Moves To Protect Unlockers
• Dear Author
• Independent Game Developer Pranks Pirates With ‘Game Dev Tycoon’
• ‘Deus Ex: The Fall’ Prevents Players With Jailbroken iOS Devices From Firing Guns
• (explore)  http://www.copyright.gov/1201/ and (skim) http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2012/responses/
• (optional) Randall Picker, Razor-and-Blade Myth(s)

14) Intro to Free Speech – 10/13

• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) (read majority opinion)
• Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844 (1997), (read majority opinion)
• Ashcroft v. ACLU
• Jack M. Balkin, The Future of Free Expression in the Digital Age, 36 Pepp. L. Rev. 2008 (Read pp. 102-112)
• Jack M. Balkin, Media Access: A Question of Design, 76 George Wash. L. Rev. 2008 (Read I,II,III, skim IV)
• Batzel v. Smith, 333 F.3d 1018 (9th Cir. 2003) (Read majority opinion only, 8431-8460)
• FCC v Fox, 556 U.S. ___ (2009) (Read: Syllabus and the Concurring Opinion by Justice Thomas.  Skim the Majority Opinion Sections “Statutory and Regulatory Background” and “Governing Principles.”)
• FCC v. Fox (Fox II)(2012), (Read: Syllabus, Skim: Part 2 and 3)
• The Atlantic: Facebook Like Is Now Covered by First Amendment
• Bland v. Roberts (read 36-48; skim background)
• Court: Bloggers have First Amendment protections
• Jonathan Weinberg, Rating the Net [Excerpt] (OPTIONAL)

15) Defamation and Hate Speech – 10/15

• The Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 558 Elements of Defamation (only read § 558)
• Communications Decency Act §230
• Jonathan Zittrain, A History Of Online Gatekeeping, 19 Harv. J.L. & Tech. 253 (Spring 2006), (p. 257-263)
• Barrett v. Rosenthal, 40 Cal.4th 33 (2006) (1-34)
• Doe v. Ciolli (Order Denying Motion to Quash)
• Findlaw, Cyberbullying: A Rundown of Cyberbulling laws
• D.C. v. R.R,  182 Cal App. 4th  (2d Dist 2010) (Read majority opinion; skim dissent for the posts made by commenters)
• Kinney v. Barnes  (2014)
• Facebook Posting That Someone Has Herpes Is Criminal Harassment
• People v. Marquan
• Ars Technica, FCC Asked to Monitor “Hate Speech, Misinformation Online”
• Gawker Beats Hulk Hogan: Appeals Court Reverses Sex Tape Injunction
• Revenge Porn Round-Up:  One, Two, Three, Four
• Halle Berry Thanks Jennifer Garner, Adele & More Celeb Parents After Paparazzi-Deterrent Bill Passes

16) Anonymity & Online Identity  – 10/20

• David Margolick, Slimed Online
• Jose Martinez, Broadway Star of ‘Xanadu’ and ‘Wicked’ Sues To Reveal Twitter Poster Behind STD Claim
• Richard Koman, ‘Skank’ Blogger Talks, Sues Google for 15m
• Special Proceeding Order
• Kashmir Hill, Civilizing the Internet, One Lawsuit at a Time
• Kashmir Hill, Lessons Learned from Skanks in NYC
• Chris Soghoian, Twitter’s Privacy Policy and the Wikileaks Case
• Chris Soghoian, NYTimes, When Secrets Aren’t Safe With Journalists
• Parmy Olson, Lawsuits against Web Trolls are on the rise
• Daniel Solove, The Future of Reputation, Ch. 6 p. 136-150, Chapter 8: pp. 189-205
• Twitter Surrenders Occupy Wall Street Protestor’s Tweets
• Judge: Public Tweets Have No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy
• People v. Harris
• Rosario v. Clark (skim)
• Ehling v. Monmouth (skim)

Fall Break!

 

17) Cybersquatting and Keyword Advertising  – 10/27 (guest speaker Lauren Emerson)

• Why Your Lawyers Won’t Let You Say That on Television

Cybersquatting readings:

• Article re recent Trump cybersquatting damage award: http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/studentnews/trump-cybersquatting-lawsuit/
• Donald J. Trump v. Web-adviso – administrative decision: http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/text.jsp?case=d2010-2220
• Statute re cybersquatting (Section (d)) – http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/1125
• Trump case – Report and Recommendation re damages

Keyword advertising readings: