Instructor: Susan Landau

Important Announcements:

CS 184 Cyberlaw and Cyberpolicy is crosslisted as ILO L235. That said, there is a single Canvas site for the course—this one, listed under the CS 184 number.
This course is offered as a Computer Science course. This means that the class schedule will follow the AS&E calendar, not the Fletcher calendar.
Fletcher students should note that the first day of classes is Wednesday September 4.
There will be an extra optional class on Saturday September 7, time TBD, on how the Internet works. Those who taken/are taking networking courses, Cyber for Future Policymakers, or How Systems Work can comfortably skip. Those who do not know how the Internet works will find the class useful. This extra class is not required.
No class on October 2; in lieu of class, there is a video to watch with a short reflection piece due on October 15th.
Fletcher students should also note that there will be classes on November 12 and 13 (Fletcher New York Career days), but these will be on Zoom and taped to accommodate Fletcher students who are on the New York trip.

Course Location:

Bromfield-Pearson 106

Course Description:

Wiretapping, copyright, and espionage haven’t been the same since the Internet came into play—and law has been having a hard time keeping up with the changes that the new technology has wrought. This course is an introduction to the complex legal issues introduced by digitization and the Internet.

Topics to be covered include:

How is the Internet different from other electronic communications systems?
How does the Internet challenge international borders?
How do free speech, copyright, and search change as a result?—or do they?
What legal issues does use of the Internet raise?
Why is the tech industry so concentrated? And what are the legal implications of this concentration?

Learn how the Digital Revolution impacts the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment law, the failure and solutions of copyright in the Digital Age, about the failures and limitations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. As there are few international agreements on cyber, to understand how the Digital Revolution causes changes in the law, this course will mostly focus on U.S. law and jurisprudence, but will periodically examine issues from an international perspective.

Expect to write, think, and argue!

Course Non-Description:

Or what this course isn't. This isn't a law course. It isn't a course in jurisdiction, speech, search, evidence, copyright, or response to attacks, each of which deserves a full legal course on their own focusing on the laws of a particular nation. This is, instead, a course on how the Internet affects law and policy in a number of crucial domains (jurisdiction, speech, search, etc.), the logic and causes behind the law and policy changes, and the laws and policy that result.

Readings:

There will be a number of readings, including US Supreme Court cases, various government reports, law review articles and other papers, The course reading is demanding; please plan on reading intensively and apportion time accordingly.

We will have a handful of readings from James Grimmelmann, Internet Law: Cases and Problems, 14th edition. The Grimmelmann text is available for download only at Semaphore Press. I encourage you to read about Semaphore Press's publishing approach on its website, a small piece of which I am excerpting here:

"Each publication has a suggested price. We price full casebooks based on our belief that it is fair to ask a student pay about $1 for the reading material for each one-hour class session. Different schools use different calendars and credit hours, so we've settled on a suggested price for most of our casebooks of $30. We ask that you pay the suggested price either with a credit card (by clicking the appropriate link on our page), or by sending us a check, and then download a digital copy of the casebook. Note that if your professor has assigned, e.g., only 10 class sessions of material from a Semaphore Press book, then we suggest that you pay $10."

I strongly support support this pricing model and hope you will as well. Thank you.

Grading and Assignments:

There will be two short policy briefs due September 29th and October 27th. Each will count 15% of your grade.
Instead of class on October 2, you will view a short video and then write a short reflection (200-300 words) on how seeing the video changed your thinking. The reflection piece will count 5% of your grade and will be due October 15th.
In addition, each of you will participate in a group project in which you prepare a group policy brief and do a group presentation in class arguing one side of an issue; there will be an opposing group arguing the other side. The group policy brief will count 20% of your grade, the group presentation and response to questions, 10%. These presentations will be on November 20, 25, December 2 and 4. Each of you will develop part of the group policy brief; these will be shared with your group and me two weeks before the group presentation. Then the group will put together the group presentation. Your individual presentations will not be graded; only the group one will be. The group policy briefs will be due one week before your presentation.
There will be a final that will count 23% of the course grade.
Class participation is worth 10% of the grade. Note that the course has extensive readings that are an integral part of the course; I expect you to reflect on the readings and participate actively in class.
And submitting a short description of yourself and your interests by September 8 5 pm is the remaining 2% of your grade.

Course Prerequisites

There are no course prerequisites but it is recommended that students have either an understanding of computing and how the Internet works or some sophistication in policy, political science, or law.

Syllabus:

The syllabus can be found here.

Class: class location TBD.

Office Hours: Office hours will be Mondays 1:30-2:30 and Wednesdays 10:30-11:30; they will be held in my office in the Cummings Center, room 355.

Note that there will be no office hours on the following days: September 18. Office hours on October 2 will be via Zoom.

University and Class Policies

Appreciating and Respecting Diverse Viewpoints

You come to this class with different backgrounds and experiences. Such different perspectives are always great to have; they will be particularly valuable in a course that looks at law undergoing dynamic change. This change is happening in large part because of technology but the changes in the law are shaped by social dynamics. Your different perspectives will provide valuable contributions, and I look forward to having your participation.

At Tufts, we treat everyone with respect and dignity, and I expect the same in this course. Please let me know if you feel that principle has been violated. Please note the Computer Science Department's statement on diversity Links to an external site., which I and the other members of the teaching staff strongly support.

Use of AI Systems in Assignments

Since writing, analytical, and critical thinking skills are part of the intended outcomes of this course, work students submit for this course must be their own. In particular, students are not allowed to use any generative artificial
intelligence tools (e.g., ChatGPT or Dall-E 2) at any stages of the work process, including preliminary ones. AI-generated submissions are not permitted and will be treated as plagiarism. Let me also point out that using such systems is not only prohibited in this course; it is also a really bad idea, as ChatGPT and its friends hallucinate. Hallucinations are a particularly bad idea in submissions to courts, legislative bodies, and the like.

To be fully clear, the following are not permitted in this course:

Submitting all or any part of an assignment statement to an online learning support platform;
Using AI to brainstorm, formulate arguments, or template ideas for assignments;
Incorporating any part of an AI generated response in an assignment;
Using AI to summarize or contextualize source materials;
Submitting your own work for this class to an online learning support platform for iteration or improvement.

If you are uncertain whether you are using an online learning support platform appropriately in this course, please discuss with me; failure to do so does not excuse a violation of this policy. Any submitted content composed by anyone—or anything—other than you, regardless of whether that resource is human or digital, must be attributed to the source through proper citation.

Unattributed use of online learning support platforms and unauthorized sharing of instructional property are forms of scholastic dishonesty and will be treated as such.

Academic Honesty

Fletcher students: You should be familiar with the Fletcher Academic IntegrityLinks to an external site. policy.

AS&E students: You should be familiar with the Academic IntegrityLinks to an external site. policy for Graduate and Undergraduate Students, available on the Dean of Student Affairs website.

All students: We take academic integrity seriously. Academic dishonesty includes the following: buying papers; borrowing papers; lending papers (or parts of papers) to other students; submitting the same assignment for two different classes without the express permission of both instructors; plagiarism, defined as quoting material from other sources without using quotation marks or paraphrasing materials without proper citation; and uploading corrupted files to Canvas.

Laptops, Cell Phones, and All That

Laptops, cell phones, and all that are immensely distracting, not only to you, but to your neighbors. So no open laptops or cell phones in class. If you want to take notes, pen and paper work better (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Your brain will enjoy the break from email, Twitter, FB, Snapchat, ... , and so will your concentration. Though this paragraph is written gently, it is a command: no open electronic gadgets in the class—with the exception of those who have special dispensation from me.

Students with Disabilities

Tufts University values the diversity of our students, staff, and faculty; recognizing the important contribution each student makes to our unique community. Tufts is committed to providing equal access and support to all qualified students through the provision of reasonable accommodations so that each student may fully participate in their educational experience. If you believe you require accommodation, please email accessiblity@tufts.edu or, in the case of Fletcher students, staarcenter@tufts.edu or 617-627-4539 to make an appointment to determine appropriate accommodations. Please be aware that accommodations cannot be enacted retroactively, making timeliness a critical aspect for their provision.

Late Papers

No late papers with three exceptions:

Bereavement (e.g., the death of a parent, a step-parent, a sibling, or another close relative);
A life-threatening illness in your immediate family; or
A serious illness or medical emergency that requires you to receive immediate medical attention.

In the case of bereavement or a family emergency, an AS&E student must ask his or her Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education (“alpha dean”) in Dowling Hall to send us notification. In the case of a serious illness or medical emergency, the student is required to provide medical documentation from Health Service or other medical provider information if the student is too ill to take an in-class mid-term or in-class final examination.

Please remember that any student in such unfortunate circumstances is still responsible for obtaining documentation from your respective dean and/or Health Services in a timely fashion. A timely fashion means within a day or two, not three or four weeks.

Class in a Time of Covid

This continues to be a time of Covid and nothing is entirely easy. Because of my health issues, I will be teaching masked. Hanging out together, having informal discussions, spending time in my office are all harder, but we'll all do our best.

Some of you will likely become ill with Covid this fall. You'll need to quarantine and you'll miss class. The most important thing to do if this happens is to take care of yourself and get medical help if needed. As for schoolwork, each of you right now should find two students with whom you'll share notes in case that happens (and don't just form clusters of groups of three, since if all three of you become ill ...). I will, of course, allow delayed assignments when if are ill.