Dartmouth College Course 10
Law and Ethics on the Frontier of Cyberspace
Summer, 1998
Professor of Philosophy
Dartmouth College
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 1:30-3pm or by appointment. (202 Thornton)
Professor of Law
Franklin Pierce Law Center
Office Hours: Wednesday mornings by appointment. (basement Thornton)
Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:00 PM & 3:50 PM
Rockefeller 1
Readings: The readings for the class are contained in photocopied materials (PCM) that will be distributed before class and the book (TXT) Computer Ethics (2
nd Ed.) by Deborah G. Johnson, Prentice-Hall 1994, which can be obtained at the Wheelock Bbookstore. You will be expected to supplement the readings with items you will access on the Web. Various useful Web sites are listed with the reading assignments to launch your "web-surfing" efforts. In some ways this syllabus is a "work in progress" that may be modified as we move through the term so you will need to keep apprised of the latest class assignments.Advances in information technology have permitted an unprecedented explosion in the collection, storage and use of information. The modern economy has been focused on the ownership aspects of these important knowledge and information assets, but there are other significant moral and legal considerations that must also be addressed.
Information, whether stored in computers, on paper, or even in chemical form such as DNA, has value. What responsibilities do the creators, collectors, and users of this information have toward those who may be the subjects of it? Encoded information and knowledge in the form of software increasingly is in control of the machinery of everyday life, from fly-by-wire aircraft to the "smart" kitchen appliance. What duties and, as a consequence, responsibilities and liabilities are associated with this encoded information? Scientific teams using sophisticated computers are in a race to decode the human genome. What legal and moral issues will acquisition of this knowledge entail? A business examines the electronic mail that is circulated by its employees, both within and without the corporation. Have the legal rights of the employees been violated? Your local grocery and retail stores collect detailed information on your purchases from their laser scanning equipment. What use can be made of this information and who gets to decide? A new electronic highway silently collects information about your comings and goings as a toll is deducted from your credit card account. Who can use this information about you and to what purpose?
This course will examine the morality and legality associated with the issues of privacy, knowledge, free speech, intellectual property, and responsibility/liability as they relate to information and information technology, particularly involving the Internet. As we enter the Information Age, we will be continually forced to address new and unexpected legal and ethical issues arising from this advancing technology. As a result, we increasingly witness a society trying to adjust and accommodate to the changing realities of life, trying to strike a balance among conflicting and competing interests and concerns.
Law and ethics do not yet have well formulated answers for many of the questions being raised by the new technologies, and in many cases we don’t even know what the important questions will be in five or ten years time. Some of the concepts and principles that will be used to answer these questions are evolving and are often in conflict. We will be forced to examine basic legal and moral principles and make suggestions regarding the appropriate policy choices. This is "where the action is going to be" as we struggle to develop an Information Age economy and society.
Topics to be covered: rights of privacy in the information age, rights of free speech, rights of access to information, liability for information products that cause harm, issues surrounding the ownership and use of novel forms of information such as DNA sequences, new crimes from new technologies, and issues surrounding electronic commerce and evidence.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF COURSE
Grading: The course grade will be determined as follows: (1) 10% from class contribution (which includes general class preparation and discussion of assigned problems and readings), (2) 60% from a final paper (approximately 10-20 pages) that explores a pre-approved research problem,* (3) 15% from your class web page and (4) 15% from other assigned problems. IMPORTANT NOTE - We would like to "publish" some the papers and research problems on the Internet as a source of information to others. In some cases the research problem may be done collectively but any group research problems will be graded with higher expectations than individually prepared efforts. The final paper is an individual effort and will be graded with consideration of the difficulty of the problem, quality of your analysis, thoroughness, and general readability. The final paper must be submitted in paper form and on blitz. Because class discussions will be a significant part of the learning experience each student is expected to be prepared for each class.
* We are also open to more creative ideas than the basic paper proposal. But this will be discussed in greater detail in the first class.
Week One
Class 1 - Thursday June 25
• History of Information Technology
• The Role of Information Technology in Society
• The Moral Framework for the Information Age
• The Economics of Data, Information and Knowledge
(TXT) Chapter 1, Deborah Johnson, Computer Ethics
(PCM) James Moor,What is Computer Ethics? Metaphilosophy, Oct. 1985.
(PCM) Peter Drucker, The Age of Social Transformation, The Atlantic Monthly, Nov. 1994.
(PCM) Andrew Kupfer, Alone Together, Fortune, March 20, 1995.
(PCM) The Eye of the Beholder, The Economist, May 4, 1991.
(PCM) Walter B. Wriston, Doing Business in an Age of Electronic Miracles and Wonder from American Banker, June 22, 1987.
(PCM) Introduction: Law as a Process of Communication, excerpted from M. Ethan Katsh, The Electronic Media and the Transformation of Law (Oxford University Press 1989)
http://www.iitf.nist.gov/index.html
Report of the Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF) was formed in 1993 to articulate and implement the Administration's vision for the National Information Infrastructure (NII). The task force consists of high-level representatives of the Federal agencies that play a major role in the development and application of information and telecommunications technologies headed by the Secretary of Commerce.
http://sunsite.unc.edu/nii/toc.html
Agenda for Action for the National Information Infrastructure
http://www.iitf.nist.gov/eleccomm/ecomm.htm
Clinton/Gore A Framework For Global Electronic Commerce - July 1, 1997
1. What is the relationship between ethics, law, and policymaking? How would Johnson, Moor, and you respond?
2. In his article, Drucker claims that we are in an age of transformation. What are the implications for the law and the legal system?
3. Kupfer worries that the "networked" society may bring with it a loss of solitude. Do you agree with Kupfer? Is there anything society or government can or should do about it?
4. The Economist makes the claim that a "new rulebook" must be written for the information age. Where do you think we need new "rules" and where do you think we can use the time-tested old rules?
5. Sometimes it is hard to notice change when you are in the middle of it. Wriston points out how society and business are changing. What changes have happened within your lifetime that are the result of changing information technologies? How has this changed your life? What role does the law play in this change?
6. In the introduction to his book Katsh argues that the new information technologies will dramatically change the law and the current legal systems? To what extent do you agree with Katsh? How do you think the new information technologies will effect the law and the current legal institutions?
Week Two
PRIVACY
Class 2 - Tuesday June 30
Privacy - the Philosophical Underpinnings
• Nature of privacy
• Can the right to privacy be justified?
• The impact of technology on privacy
Read:
(TXT) Chapter 5, Deborah Johnson, Computer Ethics
(PCM) James Moor,
(PCM) Richard Lacayo, Nowhere to Hide, Time, Nov. 11, 1991, pg. 34.
(PCM) Nathan Cobb, The End of Privacy from the Boston Globe April 26, 1992.
(PCM) Dioniosopoulos and Ducat, The Right to Privacy [Chapters 1 & 2], West Publishing, 1976.
(PCM) New Casualty in Legal Battles: Your Privacy G. Bruce Knecht, Wall Street Journal, April 11, 1995 (B1)]
Useful Web References:
http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/reports.htm
Reports on privacy in the information age developed by the Federal Trade Commission.
http://www2.echo.lu/legal/en/dataprot/directiv/directiv.html
European Union privacy directive on the protection of individuals on the processing of personal data and on the free movement of data
Questions to consider:
1. What is privacy? To what extent is it culturally relative?
2. Is privacy important? Why or why not?
Class 3 - Thursday July 2
New Challenges to Privacy - Privacy in the Workplace
• Application of old principles to new technology
• Employee Monitoring
• Employee Records
• Employee Testing
Health/medical
Drugs
Psychological Profile
Intelligence
Read:
(PCM) Reviewing Privacy in an Information Society, Spiros Simitis, 135 U. Pa. L. Rev. 707 (1987).
(PCM) Robert B. Fitzpatrick, Technology Advances in the Information Age: Effects on Workplace Privacy Issues, American Law Institute - American Bar Association, SC08 ALI-ABA 599 (1997)(PCM)
(PCM) Christine A. Varney, Consumer Privacy in the Information Age: A View from the United States, Practising Law Institute, 505 PLI/Pat 629 (1998)
(PCM) Privacy: Going, Going ... , Robin Leonard, Nolo News, Summer 1991.
(PCM) The All-Seeing Eye, The Economist, Jan. 11, 1997, 52.
(PCM) High-Tech Privacy Issue Spurs Debate, Carolyn Said, MacWeek, April 2, 1991.
(PCM) Workers Sue over Taping, Concord Monitor, July 19, 1993, B2.
(PCM) Stephen Adler, Privacy, Technology Collide in a Dispute Over an Intimate Test, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 3, 1993, A1.
(PCM) Junda Woo, Secret Taping of Supervisors is on the Rise, Lawyers Say, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 3, 1992, B1.
Useful Web References:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/9806/privacy2.htm
Federal Trade Commission’s "Report to Congress on Privacy Online
http://www.thecodex.com/c_links.html
A Web site that has a collection of links to other privacy Web sites.
http://www.law.seattleu.edu/chonm/Cases/shoars.html
Appeal of Alana Shoars, an employee of Epson America, who was dismissed in a dispute involving her employer intercepting her email.
http://www.Loundy.com/CASES/Smyth_v_Pillsbury.html
An employee claims he was wrongfully discharged from his position as a regional operations manager because he made "inappropriate and unprofessional comments" when using his employer’s e-mail system on his computer at home. [Smyth v. Pillsbury Co. (E.D. Pa. January 23, 1996)]
Questions to consider:
1. What rights of privacy do employees have?
2. What information can an employer collect from an employee?
3. What can be done with the information?
4. What rules should evolve to deal with the collection and preservation of information in the workplace?
5. Rapid changes and advances in information technology (gathering, sorting and communicating) have put pressures on the traditional notions of privacy. Is privacy obsolete in the Information Age?
6. How can society keep up with the technological change?
Week Three
Class 4 - Tuesday July 7
Privacy, the Human Genome, and the Future of Medicine
• The Human Genome Project, Medical Data, Information and Insurance
Ownership issues
Information use issues
Selectively Read to fill in holes in your understanding of the underlying technology:
(PCM) The Dark Side of the Genome, Technology Review, April 1991.
(PCM) Gene Mappers Face Explosion of Information, Bishop, Wall Street Journal, August 26, 1991.
(PCM) Patenting Mother Nature, Forbes, Jan. 7, 1991.
(PCM) Genome, Edelson, Popular Science, July 1991.
More carefully examine and read:
(PCM) Genetic Discrimination: the Use of Genetically Based Diagnostic and Prognostic Tests by Employers and Insurers, Gostin, 17 Am. J. of Law & Medicine 109 (1991).
(PCM) My Genes Made Me Do It, Michael Woods, Concord Monitor, July 24, 1997, A4
(PCM) Employees Sue Over Hair Sample, John Ellement, National Law Journal, November 11, 1996, B1.
Useful Web References:
http://www.med.ufl.edu/medinfo/olmr/privacy.html
Summary of report on protecting privacy in computerized medical information.
http://users.aol.com/mcluf/adm.htm
ACLU "alert" on the privacy issues associated with medical insurance portability.
http://www.epic.org/privacy/medical/EPIC_Principles.txt
Electronic Privacy Information Center’s "Principles for Federal Privacy Protection of Medical Records". [main site www.epic.org ]
Questions to consider:
1. The human genome project will eventually enable us to "read" the information in your genes. How should society cope with the issues of access and use of this chemical information?
2. What should the "rules" be regarding personal medical data?
3. The business of insurance relies on risk assessment - what role do personal medical data play in making risk assessments?
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Class 5 - Thursday July 9
Free speech, the first amendment and electronic communication
• Overview of basic principles of freedom of speech.
• Mill's Justification of free speech
• Freedom of speech in cyberspace.
Read:
http://www.epistemelinks.com/Text/JSMiText.htm
John S. Mill's Essay On Liberty - Chapter 2
(PCM) William Turner, The First Amendment and the Internet, Practising Law Institute, 482 PLI/Pat 33 (1997)
(PCM) John Dayton, Free Speech, the Internet, and Educational Institutions: An Analysis of Reno v. ACLU, West's Education Law Reporter, 123 Ed. Law Rep. 997 (1998)
Useful Web References:
http://insight.mcmaster.ca/org/efc/pages/doc/b2000.html
The Real Meaning of Free Speech in Cyberspace. Text of talk given by Jeffrey Shallit at a conference at the University of Toronto, May 1 1996. Sponsored by Electronic Frontier Canada and the Department of Computer Science - University of Waterloo
http://w3.trib.com/FACT/index.html
Web site of the First Amendment Cyber Tribune. Contains links to various other First Amendment sites.
http://www.eff.org/pub/Censorship/
The Electronic Frontier Foundations censorship and freedom of expression archive.
Questions to consider:
1. How does the new information technology effect our notions of free speech?
2. Is the internet Mill's dream machine?
3. What is your viewpoint regarding the need for or the advisability of regulation of speech on the Information Highway?
Week Four
Class 6 - Tuesday July 14
Hate speech, pornography, dangerous information
• Dealing with unwanted communication.
• Complications in a wired world.
Read:
(PCM) Bradley A. Appleman, Hate Speech: A Comparison of the Approaches Taken by the United States and Germany, 14 Wis. Int'l L.J. 422 (1996)
(PCM) C. Dianne Martin and Joseph M. Reagle, An Alternative to Government Regulation and Censorship: Content Advisory Systems for the Internet, 15 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L.J. 409 (1997)
Useful Web References:
http://insight.mcmaster.ca/org/efc/pages/doc/b2000.html
The Real Meaning of Free Speech in Cyberspace. Text of talk given by Jeffrey Shallit at a conference at the University of Toronto, May 1 1996. Sponsored by Electronic Frontier Canada and the Department of Computer Science - University of Waterloo
http://w3.trib.com/FACT/index.html
Web site of the First Amendment Cyber Tribune. Contains links to various other First Amendment sites.
http://www.eff.org/pub/Censorship
The Electronic Frontier Foundations censorship and freedom of expression archive.
http://www.eff.org/pub/Censorship/cyber_first_amend_johnson.article
Article by David R. Johnson entitled "Volume Controls in Cyberspace? -- Hard First Amendment Questions in the Age of Electronic Networking
Questions to consider:
1. How does the concept of freedom of speech mesh with hate speech, pornography and allegedly dangerous information?
2. Should certain types of information be restricted or regulated on the Internet?
Class 7 - Thursday July 16
Control of the Network - Communications Regulation Overview
• Changes in telecommunications and the regulatory environment
• FCC: regulation of the airwaves - a model for the future or anachronistic barrier to a brave new world?
• Challenges to communication regulation.
• What is the proper role of regulation and the Internet?
For background read:
(PCM) Electromagnetic Spectrum, The Economist 12/21/91-1/3/92.
(PCM) On the New Telecommunications, from The New Telecommunications: Infrastructure for the Information Age, Williams, 1991.
Read:
(PCM) The Impact of Law and Regulation on Technology: The Case History of Cellular Radio, Berresord, 44 Bus. Law. 721 (1989).
(PCM) Free as Air, excerpt from the Economist.
(PCM) Elbowing Is Becoming Fierce for Space on the Radio Spectrum, Bradsher, Wall Street Journal, 6/24/90.
(PCM) Innovations Force FCC to Change the Station, Holmes, Insight, Aug. 12, 1991.
(PCM) Control of, and Access to, On-Line Computer Data Bases: Some First Amendment Issues in Videotext and Teletext, Beck, 5 Comm/Ent 1 (1982).
(PCM) The FCC is About to Clear the Air - A Little, BusinessWeek, 6/17/91.
(PCM) Common Law for the Electronic Frontier, Anne Branscomb, Scientific American, Sept. 1991, p. 112.
(PCM) Free as Air, excerpt from the Economist.
(PCM) Building the Information Highway, Schlefer, Technology Review.
(PCM) Brink of a Revolution, Sikes, Newsweek, Jan. 14, 1991.
Read and form an opinion about:
(PCM) Licensee Responsibility to Review Records Before Their Broadcast
Skim to understand the basic issues:
(PCM) The Spectrum Scarcity Doctrine: A Constitutional Anachronism, Rossini, 39 Sw. L.J. 827 (1985).
Useful Web References:
The Federal Communications Commission’s web site.
Questions to consider:
1. Up to this point we have been concentrating on information. With this class we will focus on some of the systems through which that information flows and how changes in technology are forcing changes in the legal and regulatory control mechanisms. Various regulatory approaches have evolved for specific areas of the telecommunications world such as broadcast television and telephones. What are the differences and similarities of these regulatory approaches?
2. As the "borders" between internet, telephone and television begin to blur do we need to rethink our current approaches to regulating these areas?
3. What is the most appropriate regulatory approach for the Internet?
Week Five
ACCESS TO INFORMATION - THE RIGHT TO KNOW
Class 8 - Tuesday July 21
Guest Lecturer: Deborah Johnson
The Right to Know - the Flip Side of Privacy
• The philosophy of access to information
• Political consequences of information technology
Read:
(TXT) Chapter 8, Deborah Johnson, Computer Ethics
(PCM) Free Press v. Privacy: Haunted by the Ghost of Justice Black, Peter Edelman, 68 Tex. L. Rev. 1195 (1990).
(PCM) Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility v. U.S. Secret Service (72 F.3d 897 (1996)).
Useful Web References:
The Privacy Paradox. Argues that news gathering and reporting are hampered by an ever-increasing wall of restrictions erected in the name of protecting personal privacy with the result of a possible loss to the public good greater than the protections gained.
Questions to consider:
1. It is claimed that both democracy and a free market system depend on access to information. What information should be accessible and to whom in the Information Age society?
2. Is the need for information access in conflict with the desire for privacy?
Class 9 - Thursday July 24
Access to Information in the Hands of the Government
• Information collection and retention by government
• What rights of access to government information
FOIA
Public trials/publicity versus prejudice
Read:
(PCM) The History of the Freedom of Information Act and Its Treatment of Business Information, Chapter 2 from "Entrepreneurship, Productivity, and the Freedom of Information Act," by Casey, Marthinsen and Moss (Lexington Books, 1983).
(PCM) Central Intelligence Agency v. Sims, 471 U.S. 159 (1985).
(PCM) What Ever Happened to ‘The Right to Know’?: Access to Government-Controlled Information since Reihmond Newspapers, Michael Hayes, 73 Va. L. Rev. 1111 (1987).
(PCM) Leaky Seals, Forbes, Dec. 10, 1990.
(PCM) Firm’s Secrets Are Increasingly Bared by Courts, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 4, 1991.
(PCM) Insurance Case Tests Just What Judge Can Seal , Wall Street Journal, July 14, 1997, B1.
Useful Web References:
http://www.rcfp.org/pp_pt2.html#a
The Privacy Paradox. Summary of various laws granting access to government records.
http://www.rcfp.org/pp_pt3.html
The Privacy Paradox. Discussion and links to information regarding access to court documents and records.
http://www.bna.com/e-law/cases/delorme.html
This is the judicial opinion in an interesting FOIA case in which DeLorme Publishing, a Maine company that makes computer mapping software, sought electronic "raster" compilations of nautical charts prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA).
Questions to consider:
1. What information that is the hands of the government should be accessible to the public? What information should not be accessible? Who decides?
2. Is the Freedom of Information Act effective? Is it a model for access?
Week Six
Class 10 - Tuesday July 28
Access to Information in Private Hands
• Importance of information in modern society - access as necessary to social mobility
• Conflict with ownership and privacy rights
• Importance of credit information
• Balancing credit industry needs and desires with individual needs and desires
Read:
(PCM) Michael Alexander, Controversy Clouds New Clipper Chip, Infosecurity News, July/August 1993, pg. 40.
(PCM) Access to Customer Information Being Investigated, Public Utility Reports, California, Mar. 1, 1990.
(PCM) New Massachusetts Law Cracks Open Medical Records, Boston Globe, Mar. 14, 1991.
(PCM) Key Research Should Not Be Hoarded, Boston Globe, Dec. 23, 1990.
(PCM) Pollution Study Sparks Debate Over Secret Data, Wall Street Journal, April 7, 1997, B1.
(PCM) The New Meaning of Joblessness, excerpt from Powershift, by Alvin Toffler (Bantam Books, 1990).
(PCM) The Information Divide, excerpt from Powershift, by Alvin Toffler (Bantam Books, 1990).
(PCM) The View from Nowhere, The Economist, June 15, 1990.
(PCM) Fair Credit Reporting Act: What You Don’t Know May Hurt You, Bonnie Camden, 57 U. Cin. L. Rev. 267 (1988).
Useful Web References:
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra.htm
The full text of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
Questions to consider:
1. Should individuals have access to information about them that is in the hands of private companies?
2. Who "owns" the information?
3. What rights and responsibilities are associated with individual information in the hands of private enterprise?
4. Who "owns" your personal credit information?
5. Does the Fair Credit Reporting Act work?
6. Does the individual need something like FCRA in other areas besides credit information?
PROPERTY IN THE INFORMATION AGE
Class 11 - Thursday July 30
The Concept of Property
• Philosophical basis for the concept of property.
• The challenge to the traditional property concepts in the Information Age.
Read:
(TXT) Chapter 4, Deborah Johnson, Computer Ethics
http://www.epistemelinks.com/Text/LockText.htm
John Locke, Concerning Civil Government Chapter V
Useful Web References:
http://www.yahoo.com/Government/Law/Intellectual_Property
Yahoo Intellectual Property Index
http://www.cohums.ohio-state.edu/philo/people/moore.286/IPAnthology.html
Home Page for Intellectual Property: Moral, Legal, and International Dilemmas
Questions to consider:
1. What is property? How does one become the "owner" of property?
2. Can or should one "own" an idea? Information?
Week Seven
Class 12 - Tuesday August 4
Intellectual Property and the Information Age
• Overview of basic intellectual property concepts: patents, trademarks, trade secrets and trademarks.
• The challenge to the traditional intellectual property concepts in the Information Age.
Read:
(PCM) David R. Ellis, Cyberlaw and Computer Technology: A Primer On the Law ff Intellectual Property Protection, 72-JAN Fla. B.J. 34 (1998)
(PCM) William A. Tanenbaum, The Challenge of Cyberspace Intellectual Property, 15 NO. 2 Computer Law. 14 (1998)
Useful Web References:
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/doc/ipnii
Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure - the Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights. The report explains how intellectual property law applies to Cyberspace and makes legislative recommendations to Congress to fine tune the law for the digital age.
http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual_property
The Electronic Frontier Foundation’s intellectual property on-line archive.
Franklin Pierce Law Center’s intellectual property mall with extensive hyperlinks to IP materials.
Questions to consider:
1. How do the traditional concepts of intellectual property apply to the information age economy?
2. Mr. Tanenbaum asserts that intellectual property will change in cyberspace. Do you agree with this assertion?
RESPONSIBILITY IN THE INFORMATION AGE
Class 13 - Thursday August 6
General ethical responsibilities - Cyber Crimes
• The philosophical basis for responsibility
• The Ring of Gyges Problem
• Hacker "ethics"?
• Crimes in cyberspace
Do the old concepts work?
Read:
(TXT) Chapter 6 & 7, Deborah Johnson, Computer Ethics
(PCM) Computer Crime, 29 American Criminal Law Review (1992).
(PCM) Philip Elmer-Dewitt, Cyberpunks and the Constitution, Time, (Apr. 8, 1991).
(PCM) Computer Communications Networks Face Identity Crisis over their Legal Status, BNA Daily Report for Executives, (Feb. 26, 1991).
(PCM) Cyberspace: Pioneers will define the law in the new electronic frontier, Dick Dahl, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, (Mar. 4, 1991).
(PCM) The Constitution in Cyberspace, Laurence Tribe, The Humanist, (Sept/Oct. 1991).
(PCM) Sex Crimes on Your Screen?, John Swartz, Newsweek, (Dec. 23, 1991).
(PCM) Book Details Theft of Digital’s Software, Lawrence Edelman, Boston Globe, (July 30, 1991).
(PCM) A Nationwide Computer-Fraud Ring Is Broken Up, New York Times, (Apr. 19, 1992).
(PCM) Risky Business: Tackling Computer Security, I. Peterson, Science News.
(PCM) Long Distance Service Theft: Who Pays?, Thomas Crowe, National Law Journal, (Oct. 19, 1992).
Useful Web References:
http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Programs/HighTechLaw/courses/ccp/ccp1.html
Southern California University site on computer crimes and privacy.
http://www.jmls.edu/cyber/cases/morris.txt
Text of the judicial opinion from the trial of a graduate student in Cornell University's computer science program, charged with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, for releasing a "worm" on the internet. [United States v. Morris, 928 F.2d 504 (2d Cir. 1991)]
http://www.jmls.edu/cyber/cases/lamacchi.txt
Text of the judicial opinion from the trial of a MIT student who used MIT's computer network to operate an electronic bulletin board that contained popular software programs that could be downloaded by other users. [United States v. LaMacchia, 871 F.Supp. 535 (D. Mass. 1994)]
Questions to consider:
1. What ethical responsibilities do the owners and users of information have?
2. Is anonymity on the net good or bad?
3. The information age has brought new "crimes" and old crimes committed in new ways. What exactly is a computer crime? Is it just an old fashioned crime committed with the help of a information technologies or are there new types of criminal activity that need to be defined and prescribed?
4. What should be done with computer criminals?
Week Eight
Class 14 - Tuesday August 11
Information/Data and Liability
• General concept of torts
• Information torts versus the garden variety types
• When information harms
• Software cases
Read:
(PCM) When Information Harms -summary of television , movie and book liability cases(103) Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Services Company, 1995 WL 323710 (N.Y.Sup.), 63 USLW 2765, 23 Media L. Rep. 1794 (1995)
(PCM) Tort Liability for Mishandling Data, Zammit, 322 PLI/Pat 429 (1991)
(PCM) Repossession by Disabling Software in User’s Warehouse Spurs Suits, 7 Computer Law 34, No. 12 (December 1990).
Useful Web References:
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/4th/962412p.html
A book written as a how-to guide to becoming a professional hit man found to be "reprehensible" and "induce nausea," publishers held liable in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the survivors of three people killed by a man who followed the book's instructions.
http://snyside.sunnyside.com/cpsr/free_speech/daniel_v_dowjones.txt
Dow Jones online new service sued by subscriber who claims that he made bad investment based on false and misleading information provided by news service. [Daniel v. Dow Jones & Co., 520 N.Y.S. 2d 334 (N.Y. Civ. Ct. 1987)]
Questions to consider:
1. This class will be an introduction to the area of "information torts" - namely those torts where the harm is caused by information rather than a physical instrumentality. Everyone is clamoring to own the important assets of the Information Age, but what happens when the information you own causes harm to another?
2. Does watching certain types of content cause harm to viewers? Should young viewers be protected in some way? If there is harm caused what should be done about it? Who should be responsible?
3. Is the internet a "dangerous neighborhood" that requires some level of policing?
4. As broadcast television and the internet industries converge should the rules and responsibilities for the two medium also converge?
BUSINESS IN CYBERSPACE
Class 15 - Thursday August 13
Money in the Information Age
• Money as information and information as money
Read:
(PCM) Knowledge: A Wealth of Symbols, from Powershift by Alvin Toffler (Bantum 1990).
(PCM) Micros and Money, from High-Tech Society by Tom Forester (MIT Press).
Useful Web References:
http://www.wired.com/collections/future_of_money/4.10_wriston1.html
Interview in Wired with Walter Wriston, former CEO of Citibank, on the future of money.
http://www.ios.com/~lroth/clips/emoney.html
Article from the Economist (Nov. 26, 1994) on the cashless society.
Home pages of various purveyors and promoters of electronic money.
http://www.sec.gov/rules/concept/33-7516.htm
Discussion of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules on on-line securities operations.
Questions to consider:
1. What is money?
2. How do we determine what something is worth?
3. What are the ethical and legal issues associated with the development of "electronic cash"?
Week Nine
Class 16 - Tuesday August 18
Electronic Commerce
• The use of new technologies in commerce and its effect on the law
• Contracting in the cyberspace
Read:
(PCM) The Challenge of Electronic Commerce, Meyer, ABA Journal, March 1992.
(PCM) Contracts Without Paper, Wright, Technology Review, July 1992.
(PCM) Overview of Electronic Data Interchange, from Electronic Contracting Law by Kutten, Reams, & Strehler (Clark Boardman 1991).
(PCM) Contract Formation through EDI, from Electronic Contracting Law by Kutten, Reams, & Strehler (Clark Boardman 1991).
(PCM) This Is What The U.S. Must Do To Stay Competitive, Business Week, Dec. 19, 1991, p. 92.
Useful Web References:
http://bandon.unisg.ch/links/elcomm/index.html
Collection of web links on electronic commerce.
http://www-slis.lib.indiana.edu/TIS/ecomcfp1.html
Abstracts of articles in special issue of the Information Society Journal regarding the theory and practice of electronic commerce.
http://www.ljx.com/internet/excerpt.html
On overview of Shrink-Wrap/Point-and-Click Agreements.
http://www.ljx.com/internet/97_12_click.html
Discussion of some of the issues surround the use of point and click contracts in cyberspace.
http://www.ljx.com/internet/UCC2Bintro.html
Some quick insight into the proposed UCC article 2B, which will govern transactions in computer programs and licenses of information (regardless of media). Some argue that this "new law" is one of the most important in the information age economy.
Questions to consider:
1. The information revolution is changing the methods by which everyday commerce is conducted. Are the legal rules that developed in an earlier age still appropriate? For example, what does the "meeting of minds" element in contracts mean when it is the computer of Company A placing an order with the computer of Company B via EDI?
NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - CHANGES IN THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE
Class 17 - Thursday August 20
Evidence in the information society
• Evidence in the paperless society
• Use of simulations
Read:
(PCM) Judd v. Citibank, 435 N.Y.S. 2d 210 (1980).
(PCM) AMOCO v. Valenti, 426 A.2d 305 (1979).
(PCM) General Proof Issues, Wright, The Law of Electronic Commerce (Little, Brown 1991).
(PCM) Courts Enter the Computer Age, but Slowly, Neal, National Law Journal, March 30, 1992.
(PCM) Moving Graphics, Sherman, National Law Journal, April 6, 1992.
(PCM) Computer Simulations: How They Can Be Used at Trial and Arguments for Admissibility, Chaney, 19 Ind. L. Rev. 735 (1986).
(PCM) Computer-Based Information as Evidence, DeRensis, ALI-ABA (May 10, 1991).
(PCM) Electronic Evidence - Can You Prove the Transaction Took Place?, Miller, 9 Computer Lawyer 21 (May 1992).
(PCM More Lawyers Use Animation to Sway Juries, Bulkeley, Wall Street Journal, 8/18/92, B1.
Questions to consider:
1. As we move deeper into the information age, trial evidence is moving to include more and more digital information and data, what problems and issues are involved with using computer evidence?
2. Should there be limits on the use of simulations and animations as "evidence" in civil trials? Criminal trials?
Week Ten
Class 18 - Tuesday August 25
Jurisdiction in a Wired World
• Overview of the concept of jurisdiction
• Old wine in new bottle or something totally different?
• Cyberspace jurisdiction
Business regulation
Criminal activity
Read:
(PCM) Questions of Authority: Jurisdiction Cases Crop Up as Internet Sales Erase Borders, John Gibeaut, ABA Journal, June 1997, 42.
(PCM) Jurisdiction.com: Personal Jurisdiction in Cyberspace,, William Saturley and Gordon MacDonald, NH Bar Journal, June 1997, 6.
The cases are beginning to proliferate in this area. You might want to sample some:
http://www.bna.com/e-law/cases/edias.html
Edias Software v. Basis Int’l Ltd.
, 947 F.Supp 413 (D. Arizona, 1996)http://www.law.emory.edu/6circuit/jan96/96a0032p.06.html
United States v Thomas
, 74 F.3d 701 (6th Cir. 1996)http://www.courts.state.mn.us/library/archive/ctappub/9709/c69789.htm
State of Minnesota v. Granite Gate Resorts
, 568 N.W.2d 715 (Minn. Ct. App. September 5, 1997)http://www.bna.com/e-law/cases/playmen.html
Playboy Enterprises Inc. v. Chuckleberry Publishing Inc.,
939 F. Supp. 1032 (S.D.N.Y. 1996)CompuServe Inc. v. Patterson, 89 F.3d 1257 (1996)
http://www.bna.com/e-law/cases/cyb_gold.html
Maritz, Inc. v. Cybergold, Inc.
, Case No. 96CV01340 (August 19, 1996)Useful Web References:
http://www.gse.ucla.edu/iclp/dhdm.html
Reprint of article from the Los Angeles Daily Journal (July 15, 1996) - Personal Jurisdiction and the Net: Does Your Website Subject You to the Laws of Every State in the Union? Web site maintained by the UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy.
http://www.hotwired.com/synapse/braintennis/97/34/index0a.html
An on-line debate between David Post, co-founder and co-director of the Cyberspace Law Institute and a law professor at Temple University, and Jack Goldsmith is associate professor of law at the University of Chicago, on who should have the right to govern cyberspace.
For a more in-depth analysis take a look at:
Richard S. Zembek, Jurisdiction And The Internet: Fundamental Fairness In The Networked World Of Cyberspace, 6 Alb. L.J. Sci. & Tech. 339 (1996)
Paul Edward Geller, Conflicts Of Laws In Cyberspace: Rethinking International Copyright In A Digitally Networked World, 20 Colum.-VLA J.L. & Arts 571 (Summer, 1996)
Questions to consider:
1. The new information technologies are challenging the traditional notions of jurisdiction. Under what circumstances should a government (national or local) be able to exert jurisdiction over individuals and organizations operating in the cyber-world?
2. Is the whole concept of a territorially defined "sovereign", which is at the heart of our legal and political system", threatened by the new wired world of the Information Age?