Related Courses
Here is some infomation on related courses. Please let us know of
others.
(Taught since 1994) This course studies the social impact,
implications and effects of computers on society, and the
responsibilities of computer professionals in directing the emerging
technology. Includes examinations of reliable, risk-free technologies,
systems which provide user friendly processes. Specific topics include
an overview of the history of computing, computer applications and
their impact, the computing profession, and the legal and ethical
responsibilities of professionals. Instructor: Jan Lee
janleee@cs.vt.edu.)
(Taught since 1996)
The seminar will examine the application of current laws to the
Internet and will look at a variety of proposals for new or revised
laws to regulate the developing global information infrastructure. We
will consider topics including recent applications of intellectual
property, defamation, criminal laws, and existing federal and state
regulatory regimes to Internet activities, and recent international
agreements touching on the Internet. We will look at current proposals
from both government and private sources for new legal regulation or
revision of current intellectual property, communications, commercial,
privacy and criminal laws. We will try to get a handle on the problems
that flow from asserting national laws in a medium with no national
borders.
Instructor: Jessica Litman (j.litman@wayne.edu)
(Spring 96) Issues related to computers and privacy, equity, freedom
of speech, search and seizure, access to personal and governmental
information, professional responsibilities, ethics, criminality, and
law enforcement. Examines policy issues using written, electronic, and
videotape proceedings of recent major cross-disciplinary conferences.
Instructor: Lance
Hoffman
(Fall 97) In order to construct an appropriate copyright policy for
communities using digital documents in networked environments, one
must define the kind of information society one is seeking to
build. Recent policy documents, legislation and court cases aimed at
charting a course for copyright law in networked environments have
rested upon tacit and often unsupported assumptions about the nature
of digital documents, information societies and knowledge
economies. This seminar will probe the link between copyright and
network communities from four directions: by studying representative
copyright policy documents; by exploring various social theories for
information society; by talking with technologists about the
conception of society they are building into network technologies; and
by examining the work of those who have recently tried to re-imagine
copyright in the digital environment.
Instructors:
Peter
Lyman and
Pamela Samuelson
(Fall 98) Matters are changing so rapidly in the area of Computing and
the Law that it is difficult to predict exactly what will be covered
during the semester, but it is safe to say that most---but not
all---of the issues will relate to the fact that computers are first
and foremost tools that are used in the manipulation of symbols and
that most activities involving computing involve the creation,
processing, and communication of information and data. Thus one can
safely assume that a considerable portion of the course will be
directed towards issues of so-called ``Intellectual Property'', i.e.,
issues relating to the patenting and copyrighting of computer software
and also to the application of copyright law to texts and data in
digital form. And we can also expect considerable attention to be
spent on the constitutional issue of whether, and to what extent, the
First Amendment freedoms of speech and of the press extend to the
writing of computer programs, especially as the instructor in the
course is the plaintiff in the case of Junger v. Daley where he seeks
an injunction on First Amendment grounds against the enforcement of
federal export regulations that forbid the publication or other
communication of cryptographic software on the Internet or the World
Wide Web or through other electronic means. Instructor: Peter Junger
(junger@samsara.law.cwru.edu).
The rapid development of information technology is having a
substantial impact on the whole of society. Remarkably lower costs of
capturing, storing, and disseminating information are changing the
relationship between individuals and machines, shifting the basis of
political power, opening new economic markets, and challenging
personal privacy. This course is organized around a persistent
tension: the desire for privacy and confidentiality against the demand
for information access. In this framework we examine factors that
influence the social dynamics of an information society. Social
accountability involves the impact on individuals, organizations, and
communities. It is expressed in implicit and explicit social contracts
and understandings. Focusing on privacy and data access tensions, this
course will address such specific topics as distance learning,
electronic publishing, political processes, telecommunications, and
computer law in cyberspace. A variety of applications will be explored
in such areas as health care management and electronic commerce.
Instructor: George Duncan (george.duncan@andrew.cmu.edu).
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)
Send comments about this site to 6805-webmaster@martigny.ai.mit.edu.
Last modified: June 27 1999, 10:11 AM