Draft Privacy Syllabus

This term I have been given free hands to design a privacy course for the Communication Department at UMass Boston – And I am VERY excited about it. Here is a first draft of the syllabus. If you are student at UMass and interested in taking the course please contact me.

WEEK 1: Privacy as Human Right Legislating Privacy (law & convention)

Wed, 9 Sep     Introduction

Fri, 11 Sep      Read Warren & Brandeis, ‘The Right to Privacy’, Harvard Law Review 1890-4(1), pp. 193-220.

Watch Glenn Greenwald: Why privacy matters (2014) TED Talk https://youtu.be/pcSlowAhvUk

Watch Alessandro Acquisti: Why privacy matters (2013) TED Talk https://youtu.be/H_pqhMO3ZSY

Write: Considering our technology use: Are W&B relevant today?

WEEK 2: Privacy vs Security

Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, said “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place”

Mon, 14 Sep   Discussion Why Privacy Matters

Wed, 16 Sep The Nothing to Hide Argument

Fri, 18 Sep      Watch The Hidden History of Privacy – Jill Lepore The New Yorker Festival 2013. https://youtu.be/zuth-_rppKM

Watch Daniel Solove: Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear? https://youtu.be/FqJ8EMwj7zY

Read: Solove, D. (2005) “The Digital Person and the Future of Privacy” in Privacy and Identity: The Promise and Perils of a Technological Age (Strandburg, ed.) http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dsolove/Digital-Person/text/Digital-Person-CH3.pdf

Read: Schneier, B. (2009) “Is aviation security mostly for show?” CNN, December 29. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/12/29/schneier.air.travel.security.theater/

WEEK 3: Spatial Privacy

Mon, 21 Sep   Discussion Privacy & Security: Bentham, Foucault and theatre of the absurd.

Wed, 23 Sep Panopticon: Is surveillance a deterrent?

Fri, 25 Sep      Read: Who’s Watching? Video Camera Surveillance in New York City and the need for Public Oversight. A Special Report by the New York Civil Liberties Union FALL 2006 http://www.nyclu.org/pdfs/surveillance_cams_report_121306.pdf

Write: There have been calls for police officers to carry body cameras. Discuss any privacy issues that could arise from this technology.

WEEK 4: Individual Rights and the Police

Mon, 28 Sep   Discussion: police surveillance

Wed, 30 Sep  Privacy and the 1st 4th & 5th amendments

Fri, 2 Oct         Read: Center for Constitutional Rights, Stop and Frisk – The Human Impact Report July 2012. http://stopandfrisk.org/the-human-impact-report.pdf

Read: Lippman, M. (2014) “Searches and Seizures”, Criminal Procedure 2nd ed. https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/53702_Lippman_Ch3.pdf

Read: You Have the Right to Remain Silent National Lawyer Guild https://www.nlg.org/sites/default/files/KYR-English-web1.pdf

Week 5: Surveillance Technologies in the wild

Ryan Calo “Robot-Sized gaps in surveillance law” in Rotenberg

Mon, 5 Oct      —

Wed, 7 Oct     From CCTV to Drones: Private Surveillance & Function creep

Fri, 9 Oct         Read: McNeal, G. Drones and Aerial Surveillance: Considerations For Legislators. November 2014. http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Reports/2014/10/drones%20aerial%20surveillance%20legislators/Drones_Aerial_Surveillance_McNeal_FINAL.pdf

Read: Thompson, R. M. (2013) Drones in Domestic Surveillance Operations: Fourth Amendment Implications and Legislative Responses CRS Report for Congress April 3. https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42701.pdf

Write:

Week 6: Tracking Devices “its only metadata”

 Mon, 12 Oct   CLOSED

Wed, 14 Oct   End of Culture? What your library says about you. Smartphones & Tablets: Did you read the license?

Fri, 16 Oct      CLOSED

Watch: Malte Spitz “Your Phone Company is Watching” TED Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/malte_spitz_your_phone_company_is_watching?language=en

Week 7: The Internet, Web & Social Media

Mon, 19 Oct   Does the Internet Spell End of Privacy?

Wed, 21 Oct   Watch: Citizenfour (Poitras, 2014)

Fri, 23 Oct      Watch: “The NSA, Snowden, and Surveillance” (CRCS Lunch Seminar) – Bruce Schneier talk https://youtu.be/3apzxHAA8mI

Write:

Week 8: The Internet, Web & Social Media continued

Mon, 26 Oct   Watch: Last Week Tonight With John Oliver – Edward Snowden Interview https://youtu.be/0zg7_4AMXGs

Watch: Terms and Conditions May Apply (Hoback, 2013)

Wed, 28 Oct   Sleepwalking, Convenience and Terms of Service

Fri, 30 Oct      Watch Do Not Track is a personalized documentary series about privacy and the web economy. https://donottrack-doc.com/en/intro/

Week 9: The Right to Hide?

Mon, 2 Nov     Discussion: Social Media Privacy

Wed, 4 Nov    Anonymity & Pseudonymity: Encryption & Masked protest.

Fri, 6 Nov        Read: Coleman, G. (2013) Anonymous in Context: The Politics and Power behind the Mask CIGI Internet Governance Papers. https://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/files/no3_8.pdf

Write:

Week 10: Identity, Privacy & the right to be forgotten?

 Mon, 9 Nov     Google vs Europe & the right to be forgotten

Wed, 11 Nov CLOSED

Fri, 13 Nov     Read: European Commission: Factsheet on the “Right to be Forgotten” ruling (C-131/12) https://youtu.be/r-ERajkMXw0

Read: European Commission: Myth-Busting The Court of Justice of the EU and the “Right to be Forgotten” http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/files/factsheets/factsheet_rtbf_mythbusting_en.pdf

Watch: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Right To Be Forgotten (HBO) https://youtu.be/r-ERajkMXw0

Watch: Viktor Mayer-Schönberger presents “Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age Berkman Center https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwxVA0UMwLY

Week 11: The Private Body: From fingerprints to DNA

Mon, 16 Nov Genetics and law enforcement

Wed, 18 Nov Is genetic privacy possible?

Fri, 20 Nov     Read: Stewart, J. & Thy Tran, D. (2007) “The Ethics of Genetic Screening” in The ethical imperative in the context of evolving technologies (Bassick ed)

http://www.ethicapublishing.com/ethical/3CH1.pdf

Read: Rothstein, M. “Keeping Your Genes Private”, Scientific American. September 2008. https://www.mcdb.ucla.edu/Research/Goldberg/HC70A_W12/pdf/keepyourgenesprivate.pdf

Read: Oscapella, E. (2012) Genetic Privacy and Discrimination: An Overview of Selected Major Issues. BC Civil Liberties Association https://bccla.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/2012-BCCLA-Report-Genetic-Privacy1.pdf

Read: Prabhakar, S. et al (2003) “Biometric Recognition: Security and Privacy Concerns”, IEEE Security & Privacy http://biometrics.cse.msu.edu/Publications/GeneralBiometrics/PrabhakarPankantiJain_BiometricSecurityPrivacy_SPM03.pdf

Watch: Whose DNA is it anyway? Wendy Bonython at TEDxCanberraWomen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLvtv2iYv4Y

Write:

Week 12: Bodies of technology

 Mon, 23 Nov  Selfies, Sexting, & Nonconsensual pornography (Revenge Porn)

Wed, 25 Nov  Gamification, Health apps, & User Data

Fri, 27 Nov     EXERCISE?

Week 13: Big data, algorithms & identity

 Mon, 30 Nov  Defining your identity: data or choice?

Wed, 2 Dec     Watch: Viktor Mayer-Schonberger and Kenneth Cukier, “BIG DATA: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYS_4CWu3y8

Fri, 4 Dec        Watch: Eli Pariser “The Filter Bubble” TED Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles?language=en

Listen: Joseph Turow “How Companies Are ‘Defining Your Worth’ Online” Fresh Air. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/22/147189154/how-companies-are-defining-your-worth-online

 Week 14: Looking elsewhere for solutions

Mon, 7 Dec     Subversion: Sousveillance, body cams, and masked demonstrators

Wed, 9 Dec     Privacy through Copyright

Fri, 11 Dec      Write: Are body cams a solution? Strengths & Weaknesses.

Week 15: The Future of Privacy

Mon, 14 Dec   Discussion – Where is privacy going?

Read Lee Rainie and Janna Anderson The Future of Privacy” Pew Research Center http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/12/18/future-of-privacy/