The Global Internet:  Policies and Trajectories

Fall semester, 2000

ITRN 701.021
Tuesday, 7:05-9:35 p.m.
Rm 245, Arlington Campus
School of Public Policy
George Mason University

Dr. Todd M. La Porte
Visiting Associate Professor
Office hours: by appointment
Rm. 248, Arlington Campus
(703) 993-3351
(202) 686-7115 (home, preferred)
tlaporte *at* gmu.edu

Revised: November 6, 2000

Course Description

This seminar aims to introduce students to the opportunities and problems created for organization and society by the emerging global Internet, and to policies affecting the trajectory of Internet developments. Two major themes will be considered:

The seminar will use a variety of approaches to the study of technology, emphasizing its social and political nature as it is embedded in organizations, and deeply influenced by economics and politics.   The appropriate roles of the private sector and the government in the development of the Internet, and its contribution to community and public needs, will be addressed throughout the course.

Due to the extremely rapid pace of change in this field, the seminar will address a series of topic and issue areas. These will be addressed with the best available research and writing, some of which is in published form, and some of which is emerging through the social and political processes of Internet development itself.  Because the seminar covers a very wide terrain, students should be prepared to read extensively and monitor on-going Net developments.  Class discussion is emphasized, including regular electronic discussion between class sessions.  Readings will be available on the class website when possible.

Course Requirements

The course will be conducted as a seminar. Students will be expected to:

Discussion, term paper and website project topics will be chosen in consultation with the instructor.

Grading

Grades will based on the following allocation:

Texts

The following books will be used more than for just a chapter or two. You may wish to buy them, but copies will also be on reserve in the library. In this field, the literature dates quickly, so I have tried to use discretion in specifying these as course texts.

Cairncross, Frances, The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Will Change Our Lives, (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997).

The New Information Infrastructure: Strategies for U.S. Policy, William J. Drake, ed., (New York: Twentieth Century Fund Press, 1995).

Sussman, Gerald, Communication, Technology, and Politics in the Age of Information, (Beverly Hills: SAGE, 1997).

National Information Infrastructure Initiatives: Vision and Policy Design, Brian Kahin, and Ernest Wilson, eds., (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997).

Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997).

Reserves

Readings will be on electronic reserves, with one or two sets of paper copies, in the Johnson Center Library. Providing these materials electronically means that there is no course-pack fee, and they are more readily accessible than by the traditional methods. However, since the GMU computer network is often congested in the evening, it is strongly advised that you access the readings during off peak times. Using on campus computers will also ease access to the electronic reserve system.

To access electronic reserves over the Internet, on or off campus, go to http://ers2000.gmu.edu/ and follow the menus to locate this course. To access the readings, enter "laporte" as the user name, and "Fall00" as the password. Adobe Acrobat is necessary to read the texts or print them out.

Listserves and Websites of Interest

There are a number of news digests and electronic information sources you are encouraged to subscribe to, or scan, if you do not already. They will help you to keep abreast of developments in the field, which come at a fast pace.  Students are strongly advised to subscribe to either Edupage or Benton Headlines.

For telecommunications professionals: For those interested in educational technology developments:

Guidelines for Electronic Discussions

Each week, questions will be assigned for discussion on WebCT, GMU's electronic conferencing system.  Discussion questions are listed with each week's reading.  Students are required to write short answers to these questions, and to respond to answers given by other students.

Because these electronic postings will count as part of the discussion requirement for the course, I will assign points for posting, and these will be factored into your discussion grade. Most important, the quality of the discussion matters, and will also be taken into account in assigning the grade.  Concise writing that refers to ideas or points in the readings will be especially well regarded.  In addition, responses that support and build on others' ideas are encouraged.

While it is expected that students will take care to write well, for those students whose native language is not English should feel no pressure to perfect their language skills in these exercises.  The ideas are more important than grammar or spelling.

WebCT can be accessed by going to http://w3.mason.gmu.edu . Registration is required to participate.  Follow registration instructions, and send me your user i.d. so that I can give you permission to post answers and responses.

All postings must be completed by the afternoon the day before class.  Late submissions will receive lower credit in assigning grades.

Guidelines for Seminar Papers

Each week, a group of seminar members will be responsible for preparing a short discussion paper and leading some of the discussion of that week’s readings and topic. These discussion papers summarize very briefly the week’s readings, and highlight some important points for the group’s consideration.

Each paper should be no more than one page, and copies should be made available by noon before each class by e-mail or posted on the class website.

Guidelines for Term Papers and Web Projects

Students may choose either to write a term paper (about double-spaced 20 pages), or to create a website or set of webpages. Topics should relate to the substance of the seminar, but should allow deeper exploration of a particular subject of interest, and should be neither too broad nor too narrow. For both papers and websites, material should be carefully researched and documented and related to the literature in the field: this is not a place for uninformed or unsubstantiated opinion.

"Term paper support groups" will be established at the third class session.  Longstanding experience shows that students learn at least as much from each other as they do from class readings or even the instructor, so this is a formal way to encourage informal discussion and dialogue.  These groups will provide you with a small, friendly network of people with whom you will exchange ideas, paper or webpage drafts and critiques.  Participation in these groups is not required, but is strongly encouraged.

If you choose to write a term paper, a number of approaches are possible: comparison of theories that explain developments in an area; single or comparative case studies of situations, organizations, or events; or review and analysis of specific policy issues. Other types of papers are possible as well.

A website project is a relatively new approach to a major component of a course, and the genre is still very much in flux. The idea of a website project is not to make the coolest site, or one that uses sophisticated webpage design techniques. Rather it is to provide students with:

Content

Papers or websites should be analytical, not merely descriptive or historical (although description and history are welcome to make material relevant and engaging). Arguments should have premises, and be presented in clear, concise, and well-supported prose. A research question, stated at the outset, is welcome. For those unfamiliar with writing such papers, the instructor will be available for assistance.

It is tempting to make great use of information published on the Web, to the neglect of the published literature. Avoid overindulging in this impulse. Quality control on the Net is not uniform, and much that glitters is not gold. You are expected to use the published literature as much you can.

Policy on Plagiarism, Citations

You are strongly encouraged to use other people's work in your writing, with appropriate citation, but all work must be your own.  Plagiarism is an Honor Code violation, and students who willfully plagiarize will be failed for the course, and possibly expelled from the University.

Citation practice in American universities is to reference all sources of both direct and indirect authority, except when common knowledge.  If you find a useful quote that makes an important point, then cite it.  If the quote itself is quoted, indicate both the original and the intermediate source.  The main idea is to permit the reader to find the source, and to understand the authority or evidence invoked as proof of an argument.  Failure to provide this reference trail constitutes plagiarism.

Structure and Format

The following structural elements may be helpful for a paper, and should also inform the design of a website, taking into account the non- or less-linear properties of hypertext:

A good analytical paper consists of 5 major elements: executive summary or abstract (one page), thesis (one or two paragraphs), analytical presentation (body of paper), summary and conclusions. The format of the paper can be in any consistent and logical system, of which there are many (Turabian, MLA, APA). The paper must be double-spaced on regular white paper. Spelling, punctuation and syntax are important, and will be considered in the final evaluation. See the instructors if you have any questions about selecting a style.

To be effective and useful, websites or pages should also conform to some design principles. However, a consensus has not yet emerged on standards for academic website design. Work for this class should not explore the outer limits of hyptertext or computer graphics. But exploitation of the medium's special properties to convey meaning and make connections does not require mastery of the hottest new design techniques. Students are encouraged to experiment with the Web to expand their horizons to see what potential the new medium can offer. A few resources to help you are noted below.

The design and contents of website especially should take into account the intended audience. If the intent is to analyze recent international telecommunications trade agreements for a trade group, the website will be different from one designed to be used by government officials in developing countries. Specifying who the audience is and relating the website effectively to that audience is an integral part of the project.

Due Dates

The final paper or project is due on the last regular class session. A one-page proposal is due by the fourth class session. A proposal need not be elaborate, but should indicate:

A first rough draft of the paper is due by the eighth class session.  If you are having any trouble with any aspect of the course, please let the instructors know as soon as you can.  You may also wish to see the writing advisers at the Writing Center, on the first floor of Robinson Hall, on Fairfax campus.

Web Design Help

Help for student web projects is available from the Student Technology Assistance and Resource (STAR) office at the Johnson Center, Rm. 311 JC, http://media.gmu.edu/web/webstar.html

See "Page Builder," the STAR on-line presentation on student web projects at http://media.gmu.edu/pagebuilder

GMU's "Web Development" website provides a number of resources and services for university web page designers: http://www.gmu.edu/mlnavbar/webdev/findex.html

Books and Web Resources on Website Design:

"Web Design Basics," an on-line tutorial prepared by Allyn Summa, of the GMU Office of University Computing and Instructional Services, is available at http://www.gmu.edu/departments/ucis/webdesign/

Lynch, Patrick and Horton, Sarah, Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999). Web version: http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/

Greenspun, Philip, Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing, (New York: Academic Press, 1999). Web version: http://www.photo.net/wtr/thebook/

Waters, Crystal, Web Concept & Design: A Comprehensive Guide for Creating Effective Web Sites, (New Riders Publishing, 1996).

Flanders, Vincent, and Willis, Michael, Web Pages That Suck: Learn Good Design by Looking at Bad Design, (Sybex, 1998). Website: http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/suckframe.htm .

Veen, Jeffrey, Hotwired Style: Principles for Building Smart Websites, (Hardwired, 1997). Short web version: http://www.hotwired.com/webmonkey/98/07/index0a.html?tw=design .

Castro, Elizabeth, HTML 4 for the World Wide Web, (Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 1998).

Jakob Nielsen’s Website, http://www.useit.com , contains a wealth of web-related useability information, including the resources listed above. Good examples include:

Course Outline

Week 1 Overview

Week 2 Provocations

Cyberspace and the Internet have spawned a remarkable amount of rhetoric, much of it promotional, some of it critical. Visions of a new industrial revolution, unending freedom and prosperity are sometimes (but less frequently) matched by fears of Big Brother, the death of community, and the sharply increased inequality. Readings and discussion this week put some of these visionary statements on the table.

Readings:

Dyson, Esther, George Gilder, George Keyworth, and Alvin Toffler, "Cyberspace and the American Dream: A Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age," release 1.2, August 22, 1994, http://www.pff.org/position.html

Schiller, Herbert I., "The Global Information Highway: Project for an Ungovernable World," Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information, James Brook and Iain A. Boal, eds., (San Francisco: City Lights, 1995), pp. 17-33.

Winner, Langdon, "Cyberlibertarian Myths and the Prospects for Community," paper presented at the conference on Ethics and Computing, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, June 1997, http://www.rpi.edu/~winner/cyberlib2.html

Cooper, Jeffrey, "The CyberFrontier and America at the Turn of the 21st Century: Reopening Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier," First Monday, vol 5., no. 7,July 3, 2000, http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_7/cooper/

Winner, Langdon, "Artifact/Ideas and Political Culture," in Technology and the Future, 7th ed., Albert H. Teich, ed., (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), pp. 289-299.

Discussion questions:

What are the key elements that distinguish Dyson and company, Schiller, and Winner?  What does each value most, and how do new information technologies affect these values?

How would you compare Gilder's and Winner's view of technology: what it is, where it comes from, who benefits from its use in society?

Cooper's thesis is a provocative one, comparing the frontier of cyberspace to that of the American West.  Do you find it persuasive?  Why or why not?

The Internet is associated with revolutionary changes in many aspects of life.  For some this is a benefit, for others a threat.  Why doesn't everyone see it the same way?

Week 3 Cyberspace and the Internet: How Different Are They (From Anything Else)?
Term paper support groups to be organized

Cairncross, Frances, The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Will Change Our Lives, (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997), chapter 1, "The Communications Revolution," pp. 1-26, and chapter 4, "The Internet," pp. 87-118.

Hakken, David, Cyborgs@Cyberspace?: An Ethnographer Looks to the Future, (New York: Routledge, 1999), chapter 2, "An Alternative to Computer Revolution Thought," pp. 15-35.

Solomon, Richard Jay, "Telecommunications Technologies for the Twenty-first Century," in The New Information Infrastructure: Strategies for U.S. Policy, William J. Drake, ed., (New York: Twentieth Century Fund Press, 1995), pp. 93-111.

National Research Council, Realizing the Information Future: The Internet and Beyond, chapter 1, "U.S. Networking: The Past Is Prologue," http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/rtif/toc/ .

Review the various Internet histories, available at the Internet Society, http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/ .

Take a look at the new cyberspace atlases, Bill Cheswick and Hal Burch, "Internet Mapping Project," http://www.cs.bell-labs.com/~ches/map/ and "An Atlas of Cyberspaces," http://www.cybergeography.com/atlas/atlas.html .

Discussion questions:

What are the key technologies and events that have affected the development of the Internet?

What have been the respective roles of government, military, universities and the private sector in developing the Internet? Does the history of the Internet square with the rhetoric about it?

Has there been, or is there now going on, a computer and information technology revolution? What is the evidence for or against it? What are some of the questions that can be used to analyze the relationship of computers and information technologies to social changes?

What are the key social structures or practices that affect the development of the Net?

Week 4 The Political Economy of Telecommunications: Industry Origins, Evolution, Prospects
Paper proposals due

Davies, Andrew, Telecommunications and Politics: The Decentralized Alternative, chapter 2, "From competition to monopoly," and chapter 3, "National monopoly and the decentralised alternative," pp. 19-84.

Sussman, Gerald, Communication, Technology, and Politics in the Age of Information, (Beverly Hills: SAGE, 1997), pp. 1-93.

Straubhaar, Joseph D., "From PTT to Private:  Liberalization and Privatization in Eastern Europe and the Third World," in Bella Mody, Johannes M. Bauer, and Joseph Straubhaar, eds., Telecommunications Politics:  Ownership and Control of the Information Highway in Developing Countries, (Mahwah, NJ:  Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1995), pp. 3-30.

Discussion questions:

Who are the main stakeholders in telecommunications regulatory debates? What are their interests? How are those interests exercised or promoted?

How do the economics of telecommunications networks shape the politics of telecommunications networks?

Discuss the role of the government in shaping the outcome of telecommunications developments. How does it vary in different countries?

Week 5 National Information Infrastructures and Information Societies

Kahin, Brian, "The U.S. National Information Infrastructure Initiative: the Market, the Net and the Virtual Project," in National Information Infrastructure Initiatives: Vision and Policy Design, Brian Kahin, and Ernest Wilson, eds., (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 150-189.

Henten, Anders, Knud Erik Skouby, and Morten Falch, "European Planning for an Information Society," Telematics and Informatics, vol. 13, nos. 2/3, 1996, pp. 177-190.

Skim at least one other national case study of a national information infrastructure initiative in National Information Infrastructure Initiatives: Vision and Policy Design, for example Japan, France, India, Brazil.

European Commission, Directorate-General for Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs, Building the European Information Society for Us All: Final Policy Report of the High-level Expert Group, April 1997, http://mason.gmu.edu/~tlaporte/buildinginfosoc.rtf

U.S. Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, The National Information Infrastructure: Agenda for Action, September 15, 1993, http://metalab.unc.edu/nii/NII-Table-of-Contents.html

European Commission, White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness, and Employment: The Challenges and Ways Forward into the 21st Century, COM(93) 700 final, Brussels, 5 December 1993, http://europa.eu.int/en/record/white/c93700/contents.html

Discussion questions:

Why an NII? What does one consist of?  How does an NII differ from an Information Society?

Who do you think is behind it, and what do they hope to get out of it? Who is going to pay for it (and how much), and who is going to benefit (and how much)? Could such developments happen without a government program?

What are some of the key components of the various national or regional plans? Are there any differences, and if so, what accounts for them?

It could be argued that the underlying technologies of modern telecommunications are pretty much the same worldwide. If so, it might be expected that NII initiatives should also be pretty much the same. Do you agree?

Week 6 The Global Digital Divide

Norris, Pippa, Digital Divide?  Civic Engagement, Information Poverty & the Internet in Democratic Societies, (currently under development, New York,: Cambridge University Press, publication Fall 2001), chaps. 1-4: "Information Poverty in the Emerging Internet Age," "Understanding the Digital Divide," "The Global Divide," and "The Social Divide." http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/people/pnorris/book1.htm#Research resources

Discussion questions:

Does Norris think that there is a long-term problem with Internet access around the world?

What are the main impediments to widespread Internet diffusion?  What are the most important remedies?

What are the main theories Norris uses to support her points?

Week 7 Columbus Day--no class

Week 8 Globalization, Governance, and the Global Information Infrastructure

Garcia, Linda "The Globalization of Telecommunications and Information," in The New Information Infrastructure: Strategies for U.S. Policy, William J. Drake, ed., (New York: Twentieth Century Fund Press, 1995), pp. 75-92.

Rutkowski, Anthony M., "Multilateral Cooperation in Telecommunications: Implications of the Great Transformation," in The New Information Infrastructure: Strategies for U.S. Policy, William J. Drake, ed., (New York: Twentieth Century Fund Press, 1995) pp. 223-250.

Baer, Walter S., "Will the Global Information Infrastructure Need Transnational (or Any) Governance?" in National Information Infrastructure Initiatives: Vision and Policy Design, Brian Kahin, and Ernest Wilson, eds., (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 532-552.

"The Invisible Handlers," [set of three articles about the Internet Engineering Task Force, the International Telecommunication Union, and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers], tele.com, issue 419, October 4, 1999, http://www.teledotcom.com/419/features/tdc419_pkgintro.html .

Blau, John, "The World Stage," [report on Telecom '99 in Geneva], tele.com, October 4, 1999, http://www.teledotcom.com/419/features/tdc419_issues.html

Gore, Al, and Ron Brown , The Global Information Infrastructure: Agenda For Cooperation, (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, February 1995), http://www.iitf.nist.gov/documents/docs/gii/giiagend.html

World Trade Organization, The WTO Negotiations On Basic Telecommunications, (Geneva: World Trade Organization, last update June 3, 1998), http://www.wto.org/services/tel.htm

U.S. Federal Communications Commission, World Trade Organization Basic Telecommunications Agreement, http://ftp.fcc.gov/ib/wto.html .

Global Information Infrastructure Commission, http://www.gii.org/index.html

Discussion questions:

What exactly is globalization, and how is it different from earlier international economic relationships?

Given that intenational telecommunications networks have existed since the 19th century, why is globalization now such an issue?

What are the key economic considerations and developments?

What are the institutions and rules that govern international information flows and transactions? Why do they matter? Who decides them, and how? Who should decide them, and how?

Week 9 Trajectories I: E-commerce and the Digital Economy

Cairncross, Frances, The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Will Change Our Lives, (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997), chapter 5, "Commerce and Companies," pp. 119-153, and chapter 8, "The Economy," pp. 209-232.

Kling, Rob, and Roberta Lamb, "IT and Organizational Change in Digital Economies: A Socio-Technical Approach," paper presented at conference on Understanding the Digital Economy: Data, Tools and Research, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington, DC, May 25 and 26, 1999. Available at http://mitpress.mit.edu/UDE/kling.rtf

Steinfield, Charles, and Pamela Whitten, "Community Level Socio-Economic Impacts of Electronic Commerce," unpublished paper, October 1, 1999, http://mason.gmu.edu/~tlaporte/steinfield.htm. Forthcoming in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication ( http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/) , vol. 5, issue 2, (December 1999).

Orlikowski, Wanda J. and Suzanne Iacono, "The Truth is Not Out There: An Enacted View of the Digital Economy," paper presented at conference on Understanding the Digital Economy: Data, Tools and Research, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington, DC, May 25 and 26, 1999. Available at http://mason.gmu.edu/~tlaporte/orlikowski.rtf . An older version is at http://mitpress.mit.edu/UDE/orlikowski.rtf

Atkinson, Robert D. and Randolph H. Court, The New Economy Index: Understanding America’s Economic Transformation, (Washington, DC: Progressive Policy Institute, 1998), PDF version (830K), http://www.neweconomyindex.org/

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, "The Economic and Social Impacts of Electronic Commerce," http://www.oecd.org/subject/e_commerce/ebooks/009-026.pdf

Kelly, Kevin, New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected World, (New York: Viking, 1998). Browse the book generally.

U.S. Department of Commerce, The Emerging Digital Economy, April 17, 1998, http://www.ecommerce.gov/emerging.htm and The EmergingDigital Economy, II, June, 1999, http://www.ecommerce.gov/ede/report.html

Paul Wallich, "Your 0.002 Cents Worth," Scientific American, June, 1999, http://www.sciam.com/1999/0699issue/0699cyber.html

The Information Economy:  The Economics of the Internet, Information Goods, Intellectual Property and Related Issues, compiled by Hal Varian, http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/resources/infoecon/

The Internet Economy Indicators, http://www.internetindicators.com/

World Trade Organization, webpages on electronic commerce, http://www.wto.org/wto/english/tratop_e/ecom_e/ecom_e.htm

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Developpment, "A Borderless World:  Realising the Potential of Global Electronic Commerce," Ottawa, Canada, 7-9 October 1998, http://www.oecd.org/subject/e_commerce/

Discussion questions:

Are we really in a Digital Economy? What evidence can you cite, either for or against, to support your conclusion?

What are the main theoretical approaches to the conceptualizing the digital economy? What are their main points?

What are the major concerns or worries about what some commenters have called "friction-free capitalism"?

How are local communities likely to be affected by the vigorous growth of electronic commerce?

What policy issues concerning electronic commerce need to be addressed, in your opinion?

Week 10 International Policy Developments I: Speech, Privacy and Encryption
First rough draft of term papers due

Mayer-Schönberger, Viktor and Teree E. Foster, "A Regulatory Web: Free Speech and the Global Information Infrastructure," in Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 235-254.

"Self Regulation of Internet Content," Internet Content Summit, Munich, September 9-11, 1999, http://www.stiftung.bertelsmann.de/internetcontent/english/frameset_home.htm

Gellman, Robert, "Conflict and Overlap in Privacy Regulation: National, International and Private," in Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 255-282.

Barth, Richard C., and Clint N. Smith, "International Regulation of Encryption: Technology Will Drive Policy," in Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 283-299.

National Research Council, Committee to Study National Cryptography Policy, Cryptography's Role in Securing the Information Society, Kenneth W. Dam and Herbert S. Lin, editors, (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1996), http://www.nap.edu/catalog/5131.html , "Growing Vulnerability in the Information Age," pp. 19-50, http://books.nap.edu/books/0309054753/html/19.html#19

American Association for the Advancement of Science, "Anonymous Communications on the Internet," July 9, 1999, http://www.aaas.org/spp/anon/

Campbell, Duncan, "Interception Capabilities 2000: Report to the Director General for Research of the European Parliament (Scientific and Technical Options Assessment programme office) on the development of surveillance technology and risk of abuse of economic information," April, 1999, http://www.iptvreports.mcmail.com/interception_capabilities_2000.htm

European Parliament, Scientific and Technological Options Assessment research unit, "An Appraisal of the Technologies of Political Control," interim report executive summary, September, 1998, http://www.europarl.eu.int/dg4/stoa/en/publi/166499/execsum.htm#up .
See also the final report by the Omega Foundation for STOA, September, 1998, and the interim report, January 6, 1998, http://cryptome.org/stoa-atpc.htm , especially sections on surveillance technologies.

Electronic Privacy Information Center, Cryptography and Liberty 1999: An International Survey of Encryption Policy, (Washington, DC: Electronic Privacy Information Center, June, 1999). Web version: http://www.epic.org/reports/crypto1999.html .
See website generally, http://www.epic.org .

Some useful sites:

Privacy International, http://www.privacy.org/pi/ .

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility:

copyright issues, http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/web/current-copyright.html ,
privacy, http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/web/current-privacy.html ,
encryption, http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/web/current-key.html .
Echelonwatch:  http://www.aclu.org/echelonwatch/index.html

Anonymizer provides anonymizing services and resources, http://www.anonymizer.com .

Glen Robert's site on how to find personal information on the Net, http://www.glr.com.

Assignment:

Please do the reading as usual, and be prepared to discuss it in class.

In addition, imagine that you are an investigative reporter. Your assignment: find out as much as you can about yourself via the Internet. Some things to look for: address, telephone number, map of location, photograph, school records, credit information, newsgroup postings. You may use any and all means available.

Big Brother points will be awarded for the *first* posting on WebCT of a search technique, helpful website, etc. The most creative strategies will also receive points. There will be a prize awarded at the end of class for the team that has the most points or best strategy.

In place of the usual writing assignment, each of you should submit to WebCT a brief write-up of what you found, where you found it, and how. This exercise will take some creativity, so don't be afraid to ask classmates for help or advice.

We will talk about the readings in class, and then we will share what we learned about privacy and security in part through our own experience. Presenters will give us their view of the readings and the exercise, as usual.

Discussion questions:

What are the main forces driving the debates about privacy, encryption and surveillance?

What do you think are the prospects for free speech and personal privacy in cyberspace?

How should a balance be struck between citizens' desires for privacy, governments' desire for political control, and the private sector's desire for profits?

Is encryption policy the best way to resolve these conflicts?

Given what you have found about yourselves, are there any ways to reduce or eliminate personal exposure? Would this be a good thing? Or is there a case to be made that limited privacy is in the public interest?

Week 11 Trajectories II: Digital Government

Taylor, John A., "Governance and Electronic Innovation: Whither the Information Polity?" Information, Communication and Society, vol. 1, no. 2, Summer, 1998, pp. 144-162.  Web version:  http://www.infosoc.co.uk/00102/feature.htm

London, Scott, "Civic Networks: Building Community on the Net," March, 1997, http://www.west.net/~insight/london/networks.htm

JonKatz, "Is The Net About to Transform Politics?" Slashdot, Sept. 15, 1999, http://slashdot.org/features/99/09/14/1655205.shtml

Rheingold, Howard, Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, (New York: HarperPerrenial, 1993). Web version: http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/ .

United Kingdom, Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, Electronic Government: Information Technologies and the Citizen, Peter Hirst and Michael Norton, primary authors, (London: UK Parliament, February, 1998), http://www.parliament.uk/post/9802.htm .

Clift, Steven, "Democracy is Online," OnTheInternet, March/April, 1998, available at Democracies Online Newswire, http://www.e-democracy.org/do/ .

Aikens, G. Scott, "A History of Minnesota Electronic Democracy, 1994," First Monday, issue 5, 1996, http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue5/aikens/

Group of 7, Democracy and Government On-Line Services: Contributions from Public Administrations Around the World, release 2, Steven Clift and Olov Ostberg, eds., January, 1999, http://www.statskontoret.se/gol-democracy/

Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, "Electronic Civic Consultation:  A Guide to the Use of the Internet in Interactive Policymaking," G. Rijpstra, trans., April, 1998, http://scheele.huizen.dds.nl/elcivco.pdf

Discussion questions:

Using the ideas that London introduces in his article on civic networks, a) describe a community that you participate in using the Internet and b) describe its main positive and negative attributes.

Slashdot is an interesting example of extended electronic discussion. After familiarizing yourself with Slashdot's unique form of posting and scoring (see FAQs), reflect on his argument, and on the main points of the other posters. How could the Net change the conduct of politics? What are the necessary ingredients?

Taylor argues that information technologies's contribution to democratic governance can be important, but that obstacles keep quick change from occuring.   What is/are these obstacles?  How do they affect the way technologies enter into use by and for governments?

Has the Net transformed politics in the 2000 election?  In other words, is Katz wrong?

Week 12 International Developments II: Internet Governance and Intellectual Property

Mathiason, John R. and Kuhlman, Charles C., "International Public Regulation of the Internet: Who Will Give You Your Domain Name?" paper presented to "Panel on Cyberhype or the Deterritorialization of Politics? The Internet in a Post-Westphalian Order," the International Studies Association, Minneapolis, March 21, 1998, http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/130dftmail/Mathiason.htm

Mueller, Milton, "ICANN and Internet Governance: Sorting Through the Debris of 'Self Regulation'," Info, vol. 1, no. 6, December, 1999, pp. 497-520,
http://www.icannwatch.org/archives/muell.pdf

Holitscher, Marc, "The Reform of the Domain Name System and the Role of Civil Society," presentation at the 3rd Workshop of the Transatlantic Information Exchange Service (TIES), Paris, April 6-7, 2000, http://www.internetstudies.org/members/holitscher/paris.html

Klein, Hans, "Internet By-Laws: An Analysis And Critique Of Three Proposals," September 26, 1998, http://www.cpsr.org/dns/analysis.html

"Governing the Commons: The Future of Global Internet Administration," a conference by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, September 24-25, 1999, Alexandria, Virginia, http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/dns99/dnsconf99.htm . Audio and video recordings are available on this site.
See especially the following statements or presentations:

Session 1: Introduction to the Issues

Hans Klein, http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/dns99/spkr-Klein.ppt , (Powerpoint)
Session 4: The Big Picture: The Emerging Institutional Order
Michael Froomkin, http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/events/cpsr-99-froomkin.html (Web Powerpoint), or http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/dns99/spkr-Froomkin.htm (summary statement)

Milton Mueller, http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/icann/events/cpsr-99-mueller.html (Web Powerpoint), or http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/dns99/spkr-Mueller.htm (summary statement)

United States Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, "Management of Internet Names and Addresses," White Paper, Docket Number: 980212036-8146-02, June 5, 1998, http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/6_5_98dns.htm

National Research Council, "The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age," (Washington, DC:  National Academy Press, 1999), http://books.nap.edu/catalog/9601.html

WIPO Internet Domain Name Process, "Final Report of the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process," WIPO publication no. 92-805-0779-6, April 30, 1999, http://wipo2.wipo.int/process/eng/processhome.html .

Froomkin, A. Michael, "A Critique of WIPO's RFC 3," ver.1.0a, revised March 14, 1999, executive summary and paragraphs 1-63, http://www.law.miami.edu/~amf/critique.htm .

Commernts of CPSR, EFA, and EFF on WIPO RFC-3, Interim Report of the WIPO Internet Domain Name Process," March 5, 1999, http://WWW.CPSR.ORG/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/web/wipo-3-reply.html

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility:

Domain name issue:  http://www.cpsr.org/dns/ . This is an excellent resource.  Browse intensively.
Copyright and intellectual property issue: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/web/current-copyright.html
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): http://www.icann.org/

ICANN Watch: http://www.icannwatch.org/

Internet Democracy Project:  http://www.internetdemocracyproject.org/

New York Times, "Internet Governance," index page, http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/reference/index-domain.html .  Requires registration.

Discussion questions:

Controversy about control over domain naming has a number of interrelated aspects.  Using references to the readings, analyze the positions of a) trademark holders, b) private citizens, c) the United States Government, and d) ICANN.

E-commerce vs. free speech:  this is one way the domain name dispute can be characterized.  Does the current process strike the right balance? Support your answer with examples or references.

Self-regulation, national regulation, international regime are all approaches to managing domain names.  Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each, and give your own view, in light of all the competing interests.

Some analysts argue that impending changes in technology will resolve the domain name issue.  Summarize these arguments, and assess their validity.

Week 13 Trajectories III: Telemedicine and Distance Learning

John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, "Universities in the Digital Age," in Brian L. Hawkins and Patricia Battin, eds., The Mirage of Continuity:
Reconfiguring Academic Information Resources for the 21st Century, Washington, DC: Council on Library Resources, 1998.

Noble, David, "Digital Diploma Mills: The Automation of Higher Education," First Monday, issue 3, 1998, http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue3_1/noble/

International Telecommunication Union, Telecommunication Development Bureau, Impact of Telecommunications in Health-care and Other Social Services, report on Question 6/2 by ITU-D Study Groups, First Study Period (1995-1998), (Geneva: International Telecommunication Union, 1998), especially chapters 1-4, 7-11. Sample cases in appendix. http://mason.gmu.edu/~tlaporte/telemed.pdf

National Research Council, Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care, (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1996). Available at http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/enter2.cgi?0309055318.html . The report summary is at http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/telemed/summary.html

World Bank, Global Distance EducationNet, http://www1.worldbank.org/disted/index.htm . Browse the complete site.

Discussion questions:

In the readings from our earlier readings on electronic commerce, Kling and Lamb, and Orlikowski and Iacono discuss analytic perspectives on the introduction of new information technologies into organizations.  Briefly summarize their main concepts, and discuss them in terms of telemedicine or distance learning projects, as sketched in this week's readings.

David Noble has long been a critic of how business implements technologies in workplaces, which he sees as detrimental to workers' economic and political interests.  In the case of the use of information technologies in higher education, he does not disappoint.  What does Noble think is happening, and what should be done about it?

Brown and Duguid provide some basic concepts for thinking about what educational institutions do.  They also give some reasons why open or distance learning cannot be easily applied.  What are their main ideas?  Concretely, how should organizations wishing to sell distance learning technologies, or organizations wishing to use them, take Brown's and Duguid's ideas into account?

Imagine you are about to be appointed administrator or budget officer in the Ministry of Social Services or Education of a medium-sized developing country.  You have been chosen to oversee an ambitious telemedicine or distance learning program aimed at providing services to poor rural communities.  Before you accept the job, you want to be fully informed about the situation that you would face.  Discuss the three or four most important concerns would you raise, or questions would you ask, about the projects, referring to concepts or points addressed earlier in this course.

Week 14 International Developments III: Sovereignty and the Nation States in International Affairs
Term papers due

Cairncross, Frances, The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Will Change Our Lives, (Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997), chapter 10, pp. 257-279.  Skim.

Perritt, Henry H., Jr., "The Internet as a Threat to Sovereignty? Thoughts on the Internet's Role in Strengthening National and Global Governance," Indiana Journal of Global Studies, vol. 5, issue 2, Spring, 1998, pp. 423-442, http://www.law.indiana.edu/glsj/vol5/no2/4perrit.html

Sassen, Saskia, "On the Internet and Sovereignty,"  Indiana Journal of Global Studies, vol. 5, issue 2, Spring, 1998, pp. 545-560, http://www.law.indiana.edu/glsj/vol5/no2/9sas.html

Kedzie, Christopher R., "The Third Waves," Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 107-128.

Reidenberg, Joel R., "Governing Networks and Rule-Making in Cyberspace," Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 84-105.

Kobrin, Stephen J., "Electronic Cash and the End of National Markets," Foreign Policy, no. 107, Summer, 1997, pp. 65-77.

Wriston, Walter, B., "Bits, Bytes, and Diplomacy," Foreign Affairs, vol. 76, no. 5, September/October, 1997, pp. 172-182.

Barber, Benjamin R., "Jihad vs. McWorld," The Atlantic, vol. 269, no. 3, March, 1992, pp. 53-65, http://www.theatlantic.com/election/connection/foreign/barberf.htm , or
Jihad vs. McWorld, (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996), Introduction, pp. 3-20.

Wilson, Ernest J., "Organizing Foreign Policy: A Pragmatic Approach to the Information Revolution," iMP, May, 1999, http://www.cisp.org/imp/may_99/wilson/05_99wilson.htm

United States Institute for Peace, Virtual Diplomacy Project, http://www.usip.org/oc/vd/vdpresents.html#present

Castells, Manuel, The Power of Identity, volume 2 of The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, (London: Blackwell Publishers, 1997), chapter 5, "The Powerless State?", pp. 243-261, 299-308.

Discussion questions:

Cairncross argues that the state will shrink under the influence of the Internet and other new communications systems. Describe her main points, and evaluate them critically.

Perritt and Sassen take opposing viewpoints about the future of national sovereignty in the age of the Internet.  Describe the reasons each gives to justify their positions.  Do you agree with one or the other?  What are your reasons?

Kedzie is optimistic about the prospects for democracy, but Barber's essay sounds an alarm about it's future. Describe the ideas in both their articles briefly, and then use them as a guide to analyze the current developments in the Internet. Be sure to give your own view of the future of democracy around the world.

Week 15 Conclusions….
 
 

Week 16 Reading week—no class