Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT 6.805/6.806/STS085: Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier
Fall Semester, 2003
Class 10 -- Week of class on November 6
In class this week
Our guest in class today will be Alan Davidson, Associate
Director of the Center for Democracy and
Technology. Class discussion will center around current events in
Washington related to copyright, including the Broadcast Flag and
Digital Restrictions Management.
Readings to do before class:
- Skim the paper Underlying
Motivations in the Broadcast Flag Debate by Roshan Baliga,
Deb Dasgupta, Anna Dreyer, Allan Friedman. This is a paper written
for this class last fall. We're asking you to read it, not only
because it will give you good background for today's class, but to give
you a model for the kind of paper you should aspire to this semester
(but note that this is a 4-person paper).
- Jonathan Krim, "FCC Targets Copying of Digital TV," Washington
Post, October 16, 2003. Available here.
-
Joint Comments of the Motion Picture Association of America, et
al., to the Federal Communications Commission, in the matter of
Digital Broadcast Copy Protection, (December 2002). Available
here.
(This filing provides the primary justification for the broadcast
flag. Read the main text, but you only need skim the appendices to
get a feeling for the rule that is being proposed.)
- Comments of Public Knowledge and Consumers Union to the
Federal Communications Commission, in the matter of Digital Broadcast
Copy Protection, (December 2002). Available here.
- Center for Democracy and Technology,
Implications
of the Broadcast Flag, October 2003.
Final paper
This week's rotisserie assignment asks you to state a thesis for your
paper. This is a difficult assignment -- don't underestimate it.
In general, the place where students have the most trouble in a paper
is coming up with a good thesis.
Look here for information on the
paper and on the assignment. Note especially the examples of good
theses and the example of a thesis that is too vague.
Unlike other weeks, this rotisserie assignment will be due Wednesday night, and
there is no feedback round.