6.805/STS085 Current Announcements and Assignments
Be sure to check the weekly calendar.
Click on the topic for each week to see the overview, the list of
general readings that everyone should read to prepare for class, and
the suggested reference material for the team assigned to that topic.
December 3, 1998
[From Hal] I've just linked in the executive summaries to the
conference page. I'm still missing two summaries (growl), but I
wanted to post the rest, since these need to get out. Please send me
notes about any errors you see -- I'll try to get corrections put in
before printing these for distribution at the conference.
MIT students who have not yet sent in their second paper are living on
borrowed time.
November 29, 1998
We will be conducting a demonstration/experiment on deliberative
polling in class on Tuesday, December 1. Please be sure to read James
Fishkin's
paper on deliberative polling, in order to prepare for the class
discussion.
November 24, 1998
The second MIT writing assignment (the White Paper summaries for the
person in each group doing it, and the other writing assignment for
the others in the group) are due on December 1. Complete white papers
are due on December 10. Look here
for details. Also remember that we are planning a class party to
immediately follow the conference on Sunday, December 6.
November 18, 1998
Look here for information on the
end-of-term conference, on the second writing assignment for MIT
students, and on preparing and turning in the white papers.
October 27, 1998
Each team has signed up for a meeting with Hal and Larry to discuss
your white paper. Here is a list of the
scheduled times.
October 21, 1998
If you are interested in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, here
are two analyses of it:
October 20, 1998
Remember that your White Paper outlines are due on October 27. Also,
next week, we will schedule team meetings of each team with Hal and
Larry to review the plans and progress on your paper. Available days
for meetings are October 30 afternoon, October 31 at noon, and all day
on November 5, 6, 11, and 12.
October 6, 1998
Remember that there is no class next week.
For MIT students, the first short paper is due before October 20. Look here for details.
By now, your team should have contacted you advisor and should be well
on the way to gaining an understanding of your topic and starting to
converge on particular issues to address in your white paper.
Remember that an outline
of the white paper
including your basic theme and general recommendations,
is due on October 27. Look here for details.
September 27, 1998
Information on the team papers is available here. Note that an outline of your project is
due on October 27.
September 23, 1998
Our meeting room at Harvard has been changed to Pound 107.
By next week, each team should have contacted their resource advisor
and made plans for when to meet. Remember that the main task for the
team is to prepare a report for the end of the semester. In a day or
two, we will post more information on what a report should be like.
Keep in mind that the construction of the report is really the
responsibility of the team -- the advisor's role is to act as a
resource, not as a team leader.
September 18, 1998
As part of this week's on-line discussion, please read
Larry Lessig's post to the discussion forum, quoting the 9/11/98
paragraph from the Wall Street Journal on Internet taxation. Then
read the September 17th letter from
Americans for Tax Reform. Are the fears here justified?
September 15, 1998
Do the general readings for topic 1 -- digital identity -- and
contribute to the on-line discussion: check it at least every few
days.
For the first week, we wanted everyone to make at least one
posting to the discussion forum, just make sure everyone was able to
use it. For this week, and later weeks, you need not post to the
forum if you have nothing new to contribute. But remember that
participation in the forum is an important past of class
participation.
Note that the slides from Hal's talk today are available on the web,
if you want to review.
September 10, 1998 -- Team assignments
Team assignments are now posted -- Look here
September 8, 1998 -- First week's assignment
The purpose of this first assignment is to give you some general
perspective on the course, to provide some background in preparation
for next week's class on cryptography, and to introduce you to the
class on-line discussion forum:
- Read the article by Larry Lessig
The Law of the Horse: What Cyberlaw Might Teach,
Stanford Technology Law Review, (1997). This will give you a
general perspective on the course and introduce some of the issues we
will be discussing during the coming weeks.
- Look through the archive:
Readings on Encryption and National Security, which was assembled
for the MIT course from fall 97. Follow the links that seem
interesting. There's no need to follow all the links, but be sure to
read the three pages (plus introduction) that form the essay
The Encryption Controversy, 1994-1997. This will give you an
overview of the issues we will be discussing on September 14.
- After getting some background on the crypto controversy, read the
text of the bill, S. 909, The Secure Public
Networks Act, which was voted by the Senate Commerce
Committee in July, and is awaiting further action in the Senate. Then move to
the class online discussion forum and contribute to the discussion.
For this first week, we expect everybody to make at least one posting,
although the postings can be short. Note that the forum is password
protected -- the password was given out in class on September 8.
August 15, 1998 -- Preliminary information
MIT students:
- There will be a special MIT orientation meeting for the
course on Registration Day, Tuesday, September 8, from 4-5 PM in room
35-225. At the meeting will we finalize the MIT enrollment and assign
people to topic teams. Attendance at this meeting is
mandatory if you want to enroll in the course. If you
reserved a place in the spring, and do not attend the meeting, your place will be
given to someone else.
Harvard Law students:
- HLS students interested in
enrolling should contact Larry Lessig.
You may take this course as well as Zittrain's Research Seminar on
Cyberspace Topics.
Return to Course home page
Hal Abelson (hal@mit.edu)
Joanne Costello (joanne@mit.edu)
Mike Fischer (mfischer@mit.edu)
Larry Lessig (lessig@law.harvard.edu)
Jonathan Zittrain (zittrain@law.harvard.edu)
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Last modified: November 29 1998, 8:47 PM