2019 Syllabus

CPSC 183: Law, Technology, & Culture
Brad Rosen (brad.rosen{at}yale.edu)
Fall 2019: M W, 4:00-5:15, LC 102
TAs: Cole Rianda, Erica Chae, Lorraine Abdulahad, Stephen Andrews
ULAs:  Amy Nichols, Kellen Silver, Kiddest Sinke

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, like such as the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.  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. 

1) Attention Span Wars — You or a Goldfish?  8/28

• You Now Have A Shorter Attention Span Than A Goldfish
• OR DO YOU?
• The scarcest resource you don’t even know you’re spending (read)
• In the future, our attention will be sold. (read)
• 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?

2) The Past And the Future of Cyberlaw — 8/30

• 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 – 9/4

• 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; skim linked petition if you are so inclined)
• NACDL – CFAA Primer (Note Criminal Sentence Lengths)
• Jack L. Goldsmith, Against Cyberanarchy, 65 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1199 (1998) [excerpt]

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

• Lon Fuller, The Case of The Speluncean Explorers:http://www.nullapoena.de/stud/explorers.html
• Regina v. Dudley and Stephens (Wikipedia)
• Just For Fun
  • Cave In To Your Fear
  • Hello from the other side
  •  Speluncean Trailer

5) 15 Minutes of Fame … and exploitation thereof  – 9/11

• 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
  • Look at Me Now [VIDEO]
  • The Hater’s Guide to Karmin
  • ….assisted by Astrology
• 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 [original gone; now links to archive.org]
  • Cosmo Article (read first post as well)
• Matthew Cordle
  • I Killed A Man
  • What Happens When a Suicide Confession Goes Viral
  • Matt Cordle Sentenced
• Julia Fierro
• George Lindell
  • George Lindell Witnesses an Accident [VIDEO]
  • Reality Hits You Hard, Bro [VIDEO]
• The Troubling Viral Trend of the “Hilarious” Black Neighbor
• What We Can Learn From the Viral Spotlight on Charles Ramsay
• The Creator’s of Kimmy Schmidt’s Theme On Sending Up The “Hilarious Black Neighbor” Meme
• Viral Video News Memes Bring Fame — But Still Feel Almost Racist
• The Moral Compass of Social Media Is Broken
• On Turning Racist White People Into Memes To Cope With Collective Trauma

6) Introduction to Digital Copyright – 9/16

• 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
• 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 – 9/18

• 17 USC §107
• Pierre Leval, Toward a Fair Use Standard  [DO THIS READING TWICE.  IT IS VERY IMPORTANT.  IT NECESSITATE 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)
• The Greatest C&D Response Letter…Ever

8) Fair Use: Remix, Reimagine, Reuse – 9/23

• 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
• 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

9) Fair Use: Remix and Participatory Culture – 9/25

• 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?
  • For Class: SS+S, P+P+Z
• Lip Dub
• Watch:  Fair Use & Remix Culture: Transforming Consumers into Makers of Culture

10) Copyright and Disruptive Technology – 10/2

• 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)
• [If you are running out of steam, now go read the last reading – it’s super important]
• 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)
• Capitol Records v. ReDigi (2d Cir 2018)

11) P2P Law and Piracy – 10/7

• LaMacchia Loophole
• Optional: United States v. LaMacchia
• Why The Recording Industry Really Stopped Suing Its Customers
• 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
• Mother Jones:  Why it’s getting harder to sue illegal movie downloaders
• PRENDA ROUNDUP (read wikipedia artcle; skim as many of the original sources at the bottom as you find interesting)
• Court Blocks Speculative Invoicing

12)  DRM and Anti-circumvention  – 10/14

• Gabriella Coleman, Legal Tinkering, Expertise, and Protest Among Free and Open Source Software Developers (p. 435-448)
• Richard Stallman, The Right to Read
• DMCA Rulemaking Primer
• ArsTechnica, LOC asks how should we let you break DRM?
• 2018 Rulemaking (EFF) (skim)
• Lexmark International, Inc. v. Static Control Components, Inc. (read section IV, skim concurrences)
• Who’s Driving This Thing – Anti DRM Victories and Milestones 2015
• DMCA Exemptions (Historical – SKIM/Consult for Reference)
• Proposed 2018 Exemptions and 2018 Exemption Classes
• 2018 Exemptions Don’t Go Far Enough
• Unlocking 3d Printers Ruling A Mess (NOTE: 2015 – SKIM)
• Unlocking Shines A Light
• VW and the DMCA & “Let Owners Look Under the Hood“
• Independent Game Developer Pranks Pirates With ‘Game Dev Tycoon’
• Game Dev Trolls Pirates with Unbeatable Boss
• ‘Deus Ex: The Fall’ Prevents Players With Jailbroken iOS Devices From Firing Guns
• (explore)  http://www.copyright.gov/1201/ and
• (optional – just for fun or further reading) Randall Picker, Razor-and-Blade Myth(s)

13)  Intro to Free Speech – 10/21

• 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)
• Packingham
• Court: Bloggers have First Amendment protections
• Jonathan Weinberg, Rating the Net [Excerpt] (OPTIONAL)

14) Defamation, Private Photos, and Hate Speech – 10/23

• 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) (SKIM)
• Barrett v. Rosenthal, 40 Cal.4th 33 (2006) (1-34)
• Doe v. Ciolli (Order Denying Motion to Quash) (SKIM)
• What it’s like to fight hate online
• You No Longer Need To Be Online To Be A Victim of Cuberbullying
• 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)
• WaPo on Elonis (read article; skim linked opinion if so inclined)
• Facebook Posting That Someone Has Herpes Is Criminal Harassment
• People v. Marquan
• Ars Technica, FCC Asked to Monitor “Hate Speech, Misinformation Online”
• Halle Berry Thanks Jennifer Garner, Adele & More Celeb Parents After Paparazzi-Deterrent Bill Passes
• NY New Revenge Porn Bill
• Palin v. NY Times (2d Cir. 2019)

15) Anonymity & Online Identity  – 10/28

• The Reasons You Can’t be Anonymous Anymore
• 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
• Judge: Public Tweets Have No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy
• People v. Harris
• Leon v. Target (skim but READ pages 8-11)
• Rosario v. Clark (skim)
• “Actually Yes“
• Ehling v. Monmouth (skim)

16) Censorship I — Of Leaks and Creeps – 11/4

• Miller v. California, 415 U.S. 15(1973) (read syllabus)
• New York v. Ferber, 485 U.S. 747 (1982) (read syllabus)
• United States v. Ortiz-Graulau, 526 F.3d 16 (2008) (read until the paragraph which begins with “The district court excluded the testimony…”)
• Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (read syllabus)
• Pentagon Papers Case a.k.a. New York Times Co v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971)  (read Per Curium Opinion and J. Brennan’s Concurrence)
• WikiLeaks, journalism ethics and the digital age: what did we learn?

17) Search & Seizure in the Digital Age – 11/6

• Fourth Amendment
• Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967)
• Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27 (2001)
• United States v. White, 401 U.S. 745 (1971) (read summary)
• United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696 (1983) (read summary)
• California v. Ciraolo, 476 U.S. 207 (1986) (read summary)
• EFF, Privacy: Searching and Seizing Computers (skim)
• United States v. Raymonda (2d Cir. 2015) (skim opinion and concurrence)
• Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985) (read majority opinion)
• Bryan v. MacPherson, 630 F.3d 805 (9th Cir. 2010) (superseding opinion)
• Scott v. Harris, 550 U.S. 372 (2007)  (read majority opinion by J. Scalia and J. Stevens’ Dissent)
• OPTIONAL: Scott v. Harris Chase Video

16)   Censorship II & Great Walls – 11/11

• Google Transparency Report (skim)  (note historical changes)
• Twitter Transparency Report (skim)
• Facebook Global Government Requests (skim)
• Warrant Canary (wikipedia)
• Reddit Deletes Warrant Canary
• Jeffrey Rosen, Google’s Gatekeepers
• Bruce Schneier, Review of Access Denied
• David Drummond, A New Approach to China
• WSJ: China Censors Your Internet  [PDF]
• The Great Global Internet
• When Do States Disconnect Their Digital Networks? (skim)
• Miguel Helft & David Barboza, Google Shuts Down China Site in Dispute Over Censorship — Follow ups One, Two, Three
• 68 Things You Can’t Say On China’s Internet
• Post Arab Spring Censorship on the Rise
• Browse http://www.herdict.org

17) Privacy in the Web 2.0 World – 11/13

• United States v. Jones, 132 S.Ct. 945 (2012) (Read Majority Opinion & Sotomayor’s Concurrence)
• Hoffa v. United States, 395 U.S. 293 (1966) (Read intro and section I, skim dissent of Warren, C. J.)
• Los Angeles v. Patel, (2014) (Skim majority opinion; Read Scalia’s dissent)
• Kashmir Hill, What Fordham Knows About Justice Scalia
• Kashmir Hill, Justice Scalia Responds to Fordham Privacy Invasion!
• Kashmir Hill, How a Company Takes Full Advantage of your Facebook Information
• Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet — and How to Stop It (Chapter 9 – p. 200-221)
• When Kids Realize Their Whole Life Is Already Online
• Stephanie Golberg, Does Facebook Know Who You’ll Date Next?
• If You’re Not Paying for It; You’re the Product
• http://actualfacebookgraphsearches.tumblr.com/
• XKCD: Latitude
• TEDX TALK: Dave deBronkart: Meet e-Patient Dave (optional)

18)  Net Neutrality — 11/18

• WHERE WE ARE —
• Why the Fuck Would You Care About Net Neutrality
• A Super-Simple Way to Understand the Net Neutrality Debate
• The Court Allowed the FCC To Kill Net Neutrality Because (Washing Machines)
• Court Upholds Network Neutrality Repeal
• Packet Switching and Circuit Switching [SKIM]  [This will be explained in class]
• HOW WE GOT HERE —
• What Is Title II?
• FCC Sets New Net Neutrality Rules
• Court Backs Treating Internet As Utility, Not Luxury  [Wapo Coverage here: “Plain English“]
• Net Neutrality Is Suddenly On the Chopping Block
• T-Mobile’s Unlimited Video Raises Net Neutrality Concerns
• Comcast May Have Found A Major Net Neutrality Loophole
• NYTimes, Net Neutrality and Economic Equality are Intertwined
• NYTimes:  Net Neutrality Has Been Repealed
• CNet:  Net Neutrality Fight Isn’t Over
• FCC Plans Net Neutrality Repeal
• FCC Leading Us Towards Catastrophe
• How the FCC Can Save the Open Internet [PDF]
• Tim Wu: Why The Courts Have to Save Net Neutrality
• Comcast v. FCC Wikipedia summary (Optional but highly suggested: Appellate court ruling)

19) Innovation, Appliancization, Education and Knowledge – 11/20

• Jonathan Zittrain, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It (Intro, Ch. 5, pp. 1-5, 101-126)
• Venturebeat, App Store Could Spread Like Wildfire (Note: this is from 2008)
• So Why Isn’t There More App Store Competition? (skim)
• Mac App Store – The Subtle Exodus (skim)
• Isaac Asimov, Profession (read)
• Wikipedia, Khan Academy (skim)
• Wikipedia, Access to Knowledge Movement (skim)
• TC, Why is the university still here?
• TC, How Should We Learn?
• NYT – Katie Hafner, An Open Mind
• NYT – Jeff Selingo, Demystifying the MOOC
• NYT – Farhad Manjoo, Udacity says…, 
• Jonathan Zittrain, Future of the Internet and How to Stop It, http://futureoftheinternet.org/static/ZittrainTheFutureoftheInternet.pdf (p. 235-45 — Conclusion)
• Apple has to face Monopoly Lawsuit  (Apple v. Pepper / Illinois Brick)
• (Skim Transcript of Oral Argument)

21)  Online Participation – Memes, Communities, and “Citizen Journalism” (12/2)

• Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (read Chapter 11 – Memes: the new replicators)
• Rob Walker, When Funny Goes Viral
• Instagram News Memes
• Alex Leavitt, Memes as Mechanisms: How Digital Subculture Informs the Real World
• Malcolm Gladwell, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted (read this carefully it rocks!)
• XKCD, Map of Online Communities (and The Original)
• Brad Rosen & Elizabeth Stark, Is Trolling a Valid Pedagogical Technique for Socratic Exploration of Course Material?
• Hampster Dance
• Sarah Palin Email Hack (skim for background on next reading)
• Kernell Trial Testimony (read)
• Know Your Meme:  Shitposting
• 50 Days of Mayhem: How LulzSec Changed Hacktivism Forever
• LulzSec
• Ed Pilkington, LulzSec Hacker “Sabu” released after “extraordinary” FBI cooperation.
• Alexis Madrigal, The Anatomy of a Misinformation Disaster
• EFF,  Legal Guide For Bloggers/Reporters’ Privilege
• CS Monitor, When Tweets Repeat a Lie
• Lies, Damn Lies, and Viral Content (yes it is long af.  read it anyway.  the pdf AVAILABLE HERE is easier to read)
• Kash Hill,  Penn State Scandal Teaches Ashton Kutcher a “Google Before You Tweet” Lesson
• The Meme Election
• Truth is a Virus:  Meme Warfare and the Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)
• Note:  You lived the 2016 election.  You can g̶o̶o̶g̶l̶e̶  do an internet search for “memes 2016” election without needing it be assigned.  The concepts aren’t new — let’s discuss the foundation

23) Where are we going?  (Are we in a hand basket??)

• The Law Can’t Keep Up With Technology (And that’s a good thing) {PDF}
• How the Internet Has Changed Dating (LOOK AT THAT CHART)
• Instant Gratification and the Pursuit of Perfection
• Why Attention Seeking is the  Defining Need of our Times
• 8 Ways Tech Has Completely Rewired Our Brains
• Modern Tech Changing the Way Our Brains Work
• My Smartphone Gave Me A Painful Neurological Condition
• People Are In Denial About Using Devices While Walking
• The Key of Awesome #97:  Look At Your Phone
  • Key of Awesome #39: Put Down Your Phone  (notice dates)
• Feds Pushing Blocks of Apps While Driving
• Tinder and the Dawn of the Dating Apocalypse
• Teens, Technology and Friends
• Face Time vs. Screen Time
• The Growing Culture of Impatience
• 36 Ways The Web Has Changed Us (2014)
• The Internet Transforms Modern Life (2005)
• Technology Has Made Life Different; Not Necessarily More Stressful
• Beware the Filter Bubble
• Did Facebook’s Big New Study Kill My Filter Bubble Thesis (ed note: No)
• Social Media Is Destroying Human Interaction
• The Price of Public Shaming In the Internet Age