Syllabus and general information for FT01: Information Technology, Law, and Society (Fall 1998)
Overview
Like all First Term Seminar classes at Gustavus, this one will give
you the opportunity to build the abilities of a scholar:
- You will critically read a variety of styles of writing, written
for a variety of audiences and purposes. In particular, unlike
textbooks, none of our readings for this course were written for an
audience that includes you or a purpose that includes this course.
- You will examine subtle questions of value from multiple
perspectives. In particular, we will be looking out how social
consensus on values questions, as expressed in law, evolves under the
pressure of changing technology. The main questions we will examine
concern the boundaries between individual liberty and public order.
Values questions also arise regarding the proper role of law, and how
it should respond to changing circumstances. I provide a more
detailed overview of all these questions below.
- You will articulate your reasoning and conclusions orally by engaging in
informal discussion and two public speaking assignments of increasing
scope. You will also engage in reflection on the public speaking of
others, to help clarify the ingredients of effectiveness.
- You will use writing to guide your thinking, to articulate your
reasoning and conclusions, and to take action by persuading others. In
particular, you will do informal journal writing as an integral
part of critical reading and preparation for discussion, you will
express yourself in more carefully rewritten essays and a research
report, and you will write a letter intended to persuade the public or
a government decision maker. By analyzing and rewriting the
writing of others and of yourself, you will learn to write more
effectively.
-
You will become connected with your local community of scholars
(Gustavus) and learn what resources and opportunities it has to offer
you. In particular, we will learn about some of the other programs on
campus: international education, community service, the career center,
academic advising resources, co-curricular activities, etc.
The course will be organized around the following questions:
- Questions about the conflict between liberty and order (our foreground questions):
-
It is important that citizens have the ability to privately
communicate with one another free from snooping, whether by other
private parties or by the government. It is also important that
citizens be able to rely on their government to protect them through
effective law enforcement and national defense. These two
come into conflict, and each time the technological context has
changed, our nation has renegotiated the balance between them. Should
telecommunications providers be required to design the means for
wiretapping into their new systems, or should we simply regulate the
government's use of those wiretapping opportunities that happen to
arise? Should the government discourage or forbid secret codes that
it cannot penetrate?
-
It is important that citizens can freely express themselves, even in
ways or on topics that the majority disapprove of or find offensive.
It is also important that children not be exposed in an uncontrolled
manner to all the world's strangeness. The internet has greatly
increased the flow of information of all kinds across geographic
borders, including across those that formerly delimited "safe zones"
protecting children's development. How do we respond to this: by
demanding enhanced parental supervision, or by placing constraints on
speech?
- Questions about the nature of law (our background questions):
-
Does law exist in order to protect the naturally good state of
affairs from threats, or in order to create a better state of affairs
than would naturally exist?
-
Law should be predictable, displaying continuity in the face of
changing circumstances. Law should also be adaptable, being freshly
interpreted to best suit the particulars of each new context. How do
we balance these conflicting forces, particularly in the face of
unusually fast-paced change?
-
Our legal tradition is only one of many around the world. How
similarly and differently are these same issues being addressed
elsewhere?
Office hours
I will be available in my office (OHS 303) 8:00-8:50 Tuesdays,
10:30-12:20 Wednesdays, 1:30-2:20 Fridays, and by appointment. You
may send me electronic mail at max@gustavus.edu or call me at
extension 7466. I'll try to put any temporary updates to my office
hours on my web page and any long-term updates on
my on-line schedule, so check
there if in doubt.
World Wide Web
All course handouts will be available through my World Wide Web page,
and some supplementary materials may be available there as well. The URL for this
course is http://www.gustavus.edu/~max/courses/F98/FT01/
Text and readings
Much of our reading on the conflict between the privacy of
communication and the needs of law enforcement and national security
will be from Diffie and Landau's book, Privacy
on the Line. The remainder of our reading on that topic,
and all of our reading on the conflict between free speech and
protecting children, will be from a collection of
readings. We will also refer to Hacker's A Writer's
Reference as needed in our coverage of writing.
Writing assignments
You will write the following in this course:
-
Twenty-seven pieces of informal journal writing, one for each day the
syllabus shows a reading assignment. These are intended to help you
think about the reading and prepare for class discussion. Specifics
follow.
-
Three essays, based on the readings, your journal writing, and our
class discussions. These allow you to more broadly articulate your
conclusions regarding the material from multiple days' readings,
rather than having to focus on one day's reading as foreground and the
prior readings as background. Moreover, these essays give you the
opportunity to polish your writing, by taking greater care and by
rewriting. In addition to the rewriting I expect you to do before you
submit each of these essays for grading, you will select one of them
to rewrite again after grading and resubmit for a second grading at
the end of the semester. The syllabus shows due dates for essays 1-4.
Of these, you are to do essay 1 and any two of essays 2-4. In place
of the essay you skip, you are to turn in a letter (see below) you
have written during the period since the prior essay. I will
distribute more information on the essays separately.
-
One letter that takes action by trying to persuade others. This can
be a letter to the editor of a newspaper, which tries to persuade the
reading public, or a letter to a government decision maker, such as a
state or federal legislator or an executive-branch policy maker. The
topic of the letter must be related to our course; if it is outside the
main thrust of our course, you should check that I consider the
relationship close enough. You are welcome to take whatever position
you wish in your letter; as with all your writing, it will be graded
based on the clarity of your argumentation and your use of relevant
supporting information, rather than on your position. In
particular, you need not feel obliged to take an extreme position in
either direction. For example, rather than writing in unqualified
support or opposition to a bill, you can suggest how you would like to
see it amended to reach a better compromise position. If you don't
want to actually mail the letter, but rather just submit it for course
grading, I will not hold that against you. However, I would strongly
encourage you to write something worth mailing and then to follow
through by doing so. I would be happy to talk over a draft of the
letter with you.
-
One short research paper in which you explore a topic related to the
course, but not directly drawn from the assigned readings. You will
present the same topic to the class orally. The papers will be due in
the reverse order that the presentations are given, so that those who
speak first have the longest to polish their papers, while those who
have to turn in their papers first will have the longest to polish
their oral presentations. On the first day of class, we will draw
numbers 1-16 to determine the order in which the presentations are
done; the syllabus shows when each presentation number is scheduled
and when the corresponding paper is due. I will distribute more
information about this assignment separately.
Regarding the journal writing on each day's reading: you can use this to
highlight specific points to ask about or comment on, and you can also
use it to react more holistically to the reading. Both of these are
essential to ensure that you get the most out of the reading and are
able to participate in discussion. Sometimes I may make additional
specific suggestions about what you should be looking for and writing
about in the next day's reading.
I will ask you to turn in your entries each day so I can look them
over, so they should be done in a three-ring binder or the like. I
won't carefully mark up and grade the journal entries, but rather just
look them through as a source of insight into your learning process.
For grading purposes, I will simply count how many non-sham journal
entries I received from you. If you turn in a non-sham entry each
day, you will receive full credit for that component of the course
grade.
In your journal writing, you should reflect not only on the
content of the reading, but also on such issues as
-
how the author's perspective, background, value system, and intended audience
come through
-
how the material fits together with the
pre-understanding of the topic that you brought into the class and/or
developed from our earlier readings
-
to what extent any theses or claims the author forwards seem to be the
inescapable result of a careful examination of the topic, versus a
reflection the author's own pre-understanding and value system.
Be sure you take your writing seriously not only while doing it, but
also during in-class discussion. Otherwise, your thinking will be
the product of the discussion, rather than the discussion being the
product of your thought. Resist the temptation to throw out your
pre-discussion ideas as "wrong" and instead echo my own views or
those of the class show-off - your views are every bit as valid.
Many students want to know how long their journal entries should be.
There is no one right answer, in that it depends on the reading and
how you respond to it. However, a typical entry will occupy a
substantial fraction of a page. If a reading has many unfamiliar
ideas or noteworthy points, you may find yourself making a long
"laundry list" of them, while other readings may have far fewer
individual points to flag. However, any reading deserves at least a
good paragraph of summary and reflection.
Oral presentations
In addition to the informal class discussions that will be the
mainstay of our course, you will be required to address the class on
two occasions. The first will be short and simple, intended to give
you a "warm-up" experience in addressing a group. Specifically, you
will be expected to summarize to the class a news story related to our
course. The syllabus has 16 days marked with news 1 through news 16;
again, we will use the lottery on the first day of class to assign one
of these to each of you. On your day, you will need to summarize to
the class a news story that appeared within the past week. Note that
the news presentations are spaced at roughly half-week intervals, so
that in addition to picking a story that appeared in the past week,
you'll need to make sure it isn't the same one that was presented to
the class a few days earlier. Your first choice should be news
stories concerning civil liberties and the internet. If you can't
find any of those, your second choice should be news stories
concerning other areas where values questions concerning
information technology are being played out in the legal arena. Your
third choice should be other stories that either concern civil
liberties or the internet, but not both. Your last choice (which
shouldn't happen, normally) would be any other news story you think is
interesting.
The second oral presentation you make to the class will be a 20-minute
summary of your research paper. You will need to carefully plan this
presentation and rehearse it. I will distribute more information
concerning this presentation together with the information on the
research paper.
Honor
Any substantive contribution to your writing by another person or
taken from a publication should be properly acknowledged in writing.
Failure to do so is plagiarism and will necessitate disciplinary
action.
Late assignments
All assignments are due at the beginning of class on
the day indicated. Late assignments will be penalized by one ``grade
notch'' (such as A to A- or A- to B+) for each weekday late or fraction
thereof.
If you are too sick to complete an assignment on time, you
will not be penalized. Simply write ``late due to illness'' at the
top of the assignment, sign your name and hand it in. Other circumstances
will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Grade changes
Please point out any arithmetic or clerical error I make in grading,
and I will gladly fix it. You may also request reconsideration if I
have been especially unjust.
Grading
I will give you a letter grade for each writing assignment and for the
oral presentation to help you keep track of your standing in the
class. If you have any questions about your standing, please ask. I
reserve the right to adjust your grade under unusual
circumstances. However, normally your course grade will be calculated
from the grades on the individual course components in accordance with
the following percentages:
| Component | Percentage
|
|---|
| Journal writing (27 days at 1/2% per day) | 13.5%
|
| Essays that are not resubmitted (2 at 10%) | 20%
|
| First submission of resubmitted essay | 6.5%
|
| Second submission of resubmitted essay | 10%
|
| Letter | 10%
|
| Research paper | 10%
|
| Oral research presentation | 10%
|
| Final exam | 20%
|
Accessibility
If you have specific physical, psychiatric, or learning disabilities
and require accommodations, please let me know during the first week
of class so that your learning needs may be appropriately met. You
will need to provide documentation of your disability to Rebecca Cory
in the Advising Center (204 Johnson Student Union.) All discussions
will remain confidential.
Syllabus
In the reading column, DL indicates the book by Diffie and Landau,
while R indicates a reading from our reader. Numbers after DL
indicate chapters, and numbers after R indicate reading numbers in the
reader. When the reading for a day is indicated as going to a
particular page number, I mean that you should read up to the heading
appearing on that page. The reading for the subsequent day starts at
that heading.
In the due column, you will only be responsible for one of the 16 news
items and one of the 16 papers, in accordance with the lottery we do
on the first day of class. Essays 1-4, on the other hand, are for
everyone - not just those with lottery numbers 1-4. However, keep in
mind that you should substitute a letter for one of essays 2-4.
This is my best guess as to the rate at which we will cover material.
However, don't be shocked if I have to pass out one or more revised
syllabi.
| Date | Reading | Topic | Due
|
|---|
| 9/10 | | Introduction |
|
| 9/11 | R1, R2 | Tribe and constitutional rights |
|
|
| 9/14 | DL1, DL2 | Cryptography |
|
| 9/15 | DL3 | Cryptography policy | news 1
|
| 9/17 | DL4 | National security |
|
| 9/18 | | Writing | news 2; draft of essay 1
|
|
| 9/21 | DL5 | Law enforcement | essay 1
|
| 9/22 | DL6 | Privacy | news 3
|
| 9/24 | DL7 | Wiretapping |
|
| 9/25 | | How's it going? | news 4
|
|
| 9/28 | DL8, handout | Communication policy; 4th amendment history |
|
| 9/29 | R3 | Digital telephony
debate | news 5
|
| 10/1 | R4 | CALEA aftermath |
|
| 10/2 | | Rebecca Cory of the Advising Center | news 6
|
|
| 10/5 | | Digital telephony/CALEA continued | essay 2
|
| 10/8 | | Public speaking | news 7
|
| 10/9 | DL9, DL10 | Cryptography policy developments |
|
|
| 10/12 | R5-p.882 | Lessig on the
Constitution in cyberspace |
|
| 10/13 | R5-p.895 | Lessig on
zoning cyberspace | news 8
|
| 10/15 | R5 | Lessig's conclusions
about cyberspace |
|
| 10/16 | | Writing | news 9
|
|
| 10/19 | R6(majority) | Reno
v. ACLU |
|
| 10/20 | R6(O'Connor) | O'Connor's
opinion | news 10
|
| 10/22 | R7, R8 | After Reno |
|
|
| 10/27 | | Jeff Stocco of the Career Center | essay 3; news 11
|
| 10/29 | R9(I-II) | Volokh's
analysis of Reno |
|
| 10/30 | R9(III-IV.B.2) | Volokh on
alternative doctrines | news 12
|
|
| 11/2 | R9(IV.B.3-V) | More of
Volokh on doctrines |
|
| 11/3 | R10, R11, R12 | International comparisons | news 13
|
| 11/5 | R13, R14 | PICS |
|
| 11/6 | | Carol Moline of International Education | news 14
|
|
| 11/9 | R15-p.21 | Lessig on
regulating speech | essay 4
|
| 11/10 | R15-p.38 | More of Lessig
on speech | news 15
|
| 11/12 | R15 | Lessig's
conclusions on regulating speech |
|
| 11/13 | | Advising for January/Spring registration | news 16
|
|
| 11/16 | R16 | Loudoun |
|
| 11/17 | R17, R18, R19, R20 | Kathleen R. and Hennepin County |
|
| 11/19 | | Review/catch-up/advising |
|
| 11/20 | | Advising |
|
|
| 11/23 | | Student presentations 1 and 2 | papers 15 and 16
|
| 11/24 | | Student presentations 3 and 4 | papers 13 and 14
|
|
| 11/30 | | Student presentations 5 and 6 | papers 11 and 12
|
| 12/1 | | Student presentations 7 and 8 | papers 9 and 10
|
| 12/3 | | Student presentations 9 and 10 | papers 7 and 8
|
| 12/4 | | Sara Pekarna of Community Service |
|
|
| 12/7 | | Student presentations 11 and 12 | papers 5 and 6
|
| 12/8 | | Student presentations 13 and 14 | papers 3 and 4
|
| 12/10 | | Student presentations 15 and 16 | papers 1 and 2
|
| 12/11 | | Review/evaluation | rewritten essay
|
|
| 12/16 | | Final exam, 3:30-5:30pm (tentative) |
|
Course web site: http://www.gustavus.edu/~max/courses/F98/FT01/
Instructor: Max Hailperin <max@gustavus.edu>