Internet Law - Fall 2020

About the readings

A note on the readings: We’ll encounter a wide range of legal documents, including not just judicial opinions but also domestic and foreign statutes, administrative rulings, briefs, and policy proposals. We will also be reading book excerpts, as well as legal and social science scholarship. There is a massive body of legal, social, political, and economic research concerning the Internet, and Internet Law is always interdisciplinary to some extent. Perspectives from non-lawyers frequently also influence debates within Internet law itself.

Required materials

1. James Grimmelmann, Internet Cases & Problems (10th ed. 2020) (“GIL”)
2. All other readings will be found on Canvas or at the links provided.

Optional readings

On certain class days, I have supplied optional readings or resources. These are truly optional, but they provide some perspective, background, or interpretation that I find interesting or helpful.

Class 1 - August 18, 2020

Introduction: The Concept of Internet Law

Assignments

• submit initial survey and video introduction by 5 p.m. on Sunday, 8/16
• sign up for a memo week

Readings

• Ethan Zuckerman & Andrew McLaughlin, Introduction to Internet Architecture and Institutions
• John Perry Barlow, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace (GIL 56)
• Lawrence Lessig, Code v.2.0, Chapter 7 (Canvas)
• Julie E. Cohen, Law for the Platform Economy, 51 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 133, 191–199 (2017) (Canvas)
• Safiya Noble, Missed Connections: What Search Engines Say About Women (Canvas)

Optional

• Jessie Daniels, Race and Racism in Internet Studies: A Review and Critique, new media & society 15(5), 695-99, 704-707 (Canvas)
• Julian Dibbell, A Rape in Cyberspace
• Jennifer L. Mnookin, Virtual(Ly) Law: The Emergence of Law in LambdaMOO, 2 Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (1996).
• Frank Easterbrook, The Law of the Horse (GIL 11)
• Lawrence Lessig, What Cyberlaw Might Teach (503-513) (Canvas)

Class 2 - August 20, 2020

Geography, Jurisdiction and Sovereignty

Readings

• David R. Johnson & David Post, Law & Borders (GIL 60-63)
• Jack Goldsmith & Tim Wu, Digital Borders (GIL 77-81)
• Dow Jones & Co. v. Gutnick (GIL 73-77)
• Clemens v. McNamee, 615 F.3d 374 (5th Cir. 2010) (Canvas)
• Ayyadurai v. Floor64, Inc. (GIL 103-106)
• Equustek I, II, & III (GIL 81-89)

Class 3 - August 25, 2020

The First Amendment & Platforms as Forums

Readings

• Materials on the Commerce Clause, Preemption and the Dormant Commerce Clause (all of GIL 2.C.3)
• Marsh v. Alabama
• PruneYard Center v. Robins
• Manhattan Community Access Corp v. Halleck
• Packingham, Knight Institute v. Trump & notes (GIL 122-126)
• Cyber Promotions & Zhang v. Baidu (GIL 594-599)
• Prager University v. Google (9th Cir. 2020)

Optional

• The 1% Visit El Barrio

Class 4 - August 27, 2020

Harmful Speech I

Readings

• Whitney v. California (Brandeis, J., concurring)
• Brandenburg v. Ohio
• Danielle Keats Citron, Cyber Civil Rights, 89 B.U. L. Rev. 61, 61-81 (2009) (Canvas)
• Facebook Hard Questions Blog, Who Should Decide What is Hate Speech in an Online Global Community?
• United States v. Yassin (W.D. Mo. 2017) (Canvas)
• Ángel Díaz, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism’s ‘Transparency Report’ Raises More Questions Than Answers (Sept. 25, 2019)

Class 5 - September 1, 2020

Harmful Speech II

Readings

• Ex Parte Thompson (Canvas)
• State v. Austin (GIL 187-196)
• Danielle Keats Citron, Sexual Privacy, 128 Yale L.J. 1870, 1904-1929 (2019) (Canvas)
• Amanda Levendowski, Our Best Weapon Against Revenge Porn: Copyright Law?, The Atlantic (Feb. 4, 2014)

Class 6 - September 3, 2020

Intermediary Liability and Immunity: Section 230

Readings

• Section 230 (GIL 197)
• Zeran v. AOL (GIL 198-205)
• Herrick v. Grindr (Canvas)
• National Association of the Deaf v. Harvard University (Canvas)
• The Santa Clara Principles
• Jack M. Balkin, Free Speech in the Algorithmic Society: Big Data, Private Governance, and New School Speech Regulation, 51 U.C.D. L. Rev. 1149, 1172-79 (2017) (Canvas)

Class 7 - September 8, 2020

Intermediary Immunity Revisited

Readings

• Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship
• Glawischnig-Piesczek v. Facebook (Canvas)
• NetzDG (Canvas)
• Complaint, Airbnb v. Schneiderman (Canvas)
• Daphne Keller, Build Your Own Intermediary Liability Law
• Danielle Citron and Benjamin Wittes, The Internet Will Not Break, pp. 411-423 (Canvas)
• Jamila Jefferson-Jones, Shut Out of Airbnb (Canvas)

Class 8 - September 10, 2020

Net Neutrality

Readings

• Miami Herald v. Tornillo (Canvas)
• Red Lion v. FCC (Canvas)
• Turner Broadcasting v. FCC (Canvas)
• Materials on Net Neutrality (GIL 648-670)
• USTA v. FCC (Kavanaugh, J., dissenting from rehearing en banc - skim Part I of then-Judge, now-Justice Kavanaugh’s dissent, and read Part II) (Canvas)
• Jack Balkin, Free Speech is a Triangle (2037-47) (Canvas)
• Free Press, The Racial Digital Divide Persists

Optional

• Net Neutrality: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
• Annemarie Bridy, Remediating Social Media: A Layer-Conscious Approach, pp. 194-213 (Canvas)

Class 9 - September 15, 2020

Elections, disinformation, and political ads

Readings

• Washington Post v. McManus (4th Cir. ) (Canvas)
• Honest ADS Act (Canvas)
• Daniel Kreiss & Shannon C. Mcgregor, The “Arbiters of What Our Voters See”: Facebook and Google’s Struggle with Policy, Process, and Enforcement around Political Advertising, Political Communication (2019) (Canvas)
• Craig Timberg and Isaac Stanley-Becker, Black voters are being targeted in disinformation campaigns, echoing the 2016 Russian playbook, Wash. Post (Aug. 26, 2020)

Background

• Scott Shane & Vindu Goel, Fake Russian Facebook Accounts Bought $100,000 in Political Ads, N.Y. Times (Sept. 6, 2017)
• Niam Yaraghi, Twitter’s ban on political advertisements hurts our democracy, Brookings (Jan. 8, 2020)
• Deen Freelon et al., Black Trolls Matter: Racial and Ideological Asymmetries in Social Media Disinformation (Canvas)

Optional:

• The Great Hack (Netflix)
• Fresh Air, Christopher Wylie

Class 10 - September 17, 2020

Cryptography and Anonymity

Readings

• United States v. O’Brien (Canvas)
• Bland v. Roberts (GIL 135-137)
• Note on Cryptography (GIL 39-44)
• Bernstein v. U.S. Department of Justice (GIL 138-143)
• Doe v. Individuals, Whose True Names Are Unknown (GIL 271-276)

Background

• Michael H. Keller & Gabriel J.X. Dance, The Internet Is Overrun With Images of Child Sexual Abuse. What Went Wrong?, N.Y. Times (Sept. 28, 2019)
• Amelia Nierenberg, Signal Downloads Are Way Up Since the Protests Began, N.Y. Times (June 11, 2020)

Class 11 - September 22, 2020

Computer Fraud & Abuse Act

Readings

• Computer Misuse Statutes (GIL 358-360)
• United States v. Swartz, Indictment (Canvas)
• HiQ v. LinkedIn (GIL 371-377)
• Sandvig v. Barr (Canvas)
• CDK Global LLC v. Brnovich (Canvas)

Class 12 - September 24, 2020

Law Enforcement & Government Surveillance I

Readings

• Fourth & Fifth Amendments (GIL 221)
• Riley v. California, United States v. Spencer (GIL 225-236)
• Alasaad v. Nielsen (Canvas)
• Stored Communications Act (GIL 257-260 [focus on § 2703])
• Warshak & Carpenter (GIL 237-250)

Class 13 - September 29, 2020

Law Enforcement & Government Surveillance II

Readings

• United States v. Chatrie, Motion to Suppress (Canvas) (read pp. 1-13, 21-24)
• Affidavit in Support of the Complaint in the matter of Lore Elisabeth Blumenthal (Canvas)
• Desmond Upton Patton et al., Stop and Frisk Online: Theorizing Everyday Racism in Digital Policing in the Use of Social Media for Identification of Criminal Conduct and Associations (Canvas) (read pp. 1-5)

Optional

• Blanchard v. Memphis (Canvas) (read pp. 1-15, 22-29)
• Joseph Cox, How to Protest Without Sacrificing Your Digital Privacy (Jun. 1, 2020)

Class 14 - October 1, 2020

Privacy

Readings

• Police Used Smart Streetlight Footage to Investigate Protesters, Voice of San Diego (Jun. 29, 2020).
• Sam Biddle, Police Surveilled George Floyd Protests With Help From Twitter-Affiliated Startup Dataminr, The Intercept (Jul. 9, 2020).
• Kashmir Hill, The Secretive Company That Might End Privacy as We Know It, N.Y. Times (Jan. 18, 2020).
• Gawker Media v. Bollea (GIL 158-164)
• D.K.W. v. Source for PublicData.com, LP, 526 S.W.3d 619 (Tex. App.–Dallas 2017, pet. denied (Canvas)
• Keri Blakinger, Newsrooms Rethink a Crime Reporting Staple: The Mugshot, The Marshall Project (Feb. 11, 2020).
• Sarah Esther Lageson, Online Criminal Records Trap Americans in a Purgatory of Digital Punishment, Slate Magazine (Jun. 24, 2020).

Class 15 - October 6, 2020

Consumer Privacy

Readings

• In re Doubleclick (GIL 286-292)
• Eichenberger v. ESPN (GIL 292-296)
• ACA Connects v. Frey (Canvas)

Class 16 - October 8, 2020

The FTC’s Privacy and Security Regulation

Readings

• FTC v. Accusearch (Canvas (skim part B, on Immunity under the CDA))
• Amazon Privacy Notice (Canvas)
• In re Snapchat (GIL 304-310)

Class 17 - October 13, 2020

The GDPR and the CCPA

Readings

• GDPR materials (319-332)
• California Consumer Privacy Act (GIL 310-317)
• Google v. CNIL (Canvas)
• Chander, Kaminski & McGeveran, Catalyzing Privacy Law (Canvas (Part II))

Class 18 - October 15, 2020

Trademark and Copyright

Readings

• Tiffany v. eBay (GIL 389-395)
• A&M Records v. Napster (GIL 485-490)
• MGM v. Grokster (GIL 490-494)
• Section 512 (GIL 494-500)
• BMG v. Cox (GIL 506-511)

Class 19 - October 20, 2020

Fair Use; Section 1201

Readings

• Copyright Act [ Fair Use] (GIL 469)
• Lenz v. Universal Music Corp. (GIL 500-506)
• Authors Guild v. HathiTrust, 755 F.3d 87 (2d Cir. 2014) (Canvas)
• Digital Rights Management (GIL 520-531)
• Kyle Wiens, We Can’t Let John Deere Destroy the Very Idea of Ownership, Wired (Apr. 21, 2015).

Class 20 - October 22, 2020

Google v. Oracle

Guest speaker: Annemarie Bridy, Copyright Counsel, Google

Readings

• Oracle v. Google (GIL 422-429)
• Google v. Oracle petition for certiorari (Canvas)
• Listen to Google v. Oracle oral argument (Oct. 7, 2020)

  Optional

• Watch Pamela Samuelson, What’s at Stake in the Oracle v. Google Copyright Case?

Class 21 - October 27, 2020

Enforcement Mechanisms Old and New

Readings

• Arista Records v. Does (GIL 276-279)
• Materials on ContentID (GIL 512-519)
• Anna Chung, How Automated Tools Discriminate Against Black Language, Medium (Feb. 28, 2019)
• Hannah Bloch-Wehba, Automation in Moderation (Canvas) (read pp. 13-25)
• Maayan Perel; Niva Elkin-Koren, Accountability in Algorithmic Copyright Enforcement (Canvas) (read pp. 475-488)

Optional

• The Cleaners (documentary film)

Class 22 - October 29, 2020

Platforms and the Public Sphere

Readings

• Noam Scheiber, When Scholars Collaborate With Tech Companies, How Reliable Are the Findings?, The New York Times, Jul. 12, 2020
• Jeff Horwitz, Facebook Seeks Shutdown of NYU Research Project Into Political Ad Targeting (Canvas)
• Twitter v. Sessions (Canvas)
• Microsoft v. Dep’t of Justice (Canvas)

Class 23 - November 3, 2020

Labor and Employment

Readings

• People v. Uber Technologies, 2020 WL 6193994 (Canvas)
• Ehling v. Monmouth-Ocean Hospital Service Corp. (GIL 261-265)
• N.L.R.B. v. Pier Sixty (Canvas)
• Did Uber Just Enable Discrimination by Destination?, Bloomberg.com, Dec. 11, 2019.
• Kate Conger & Noam Scheiber, The Great Google Revolt, The New York Times, Feb. 19, 2020.

Class 24 - November 5, 2020

Antitrust, Dominance, and Power

Readings

• Note on Antitrust Law and Economics and U.S. v. Microsoft (GIL 631-641)
• Adrianne Jeffries & Leon Yin, Google’s Top Search Result? Surprise! It’s Google, The Markup (Jul. 28, 2020).
• One (or more) of the following podcasts:
  • Cato, The Antitrust Case Against Google
  • Brookings, What’s behind the US Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google?
  • Marketplace, The antitrust case against Google