Public Policy and the Internet

Course Syllabus

Privacy: Problems and Possible Solutions Over the past few years, the Internet has become increasingly interactive in real-time. Any amount of interactivity over a computer-based system produces a data stream, and this data stream can be captured and used for purposes far different than those for which it was produced in the first place. Thus privacy is one of the chief controversies surrounding the use of interactive online systems, and something that will be of growing interest to policymakers. Digital encryption is the science of turning digital information, in the form of bits, into code that can only be decoded by the intended recipient. Many programs exist now that can turn digital information into code that is extremely difficult to break unless the user has the proper "key." A wide variety of people believe that digital encryption is the only true guarantee of privacy in the information age. Readings: Lessig, Chapter 11 "Why Internet Privacy Matters," by Jeffrey Rosen, The New York Times Magazine, April 30, 2000, at http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000430mag-internetprivacy.html. (Free registration to The New York Times Web site required.) "The Death of Privacy," by Jeffrey Rothfeder, CIO Insight magazine, September 5, 2006, at http://www.cioinsight.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=187895,00.asp. "Conduct Your Own Online Investigations," at http://www.privateinvestigatorsoftware.com/. Check links at Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), EPIC Online Guide to Privacy Resources, at: http://www.epic.org/privacy/. Look at "Facebook Privacy," on the EPIC Web site, at http://epic.org/privacy/facebook/default.html "RFID and Privacy," Junkbusters.com, at http://www.junkbusters.com/rfid.html. "National ID Cards On the Way?" by Declan McCullagh, CNet News.com, February 14, 2005, at http://news.com.com/From+high-tech+drivers+licenses+to+national+ID+cards/2100-1028_3-5573414.html. "Real ID," Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Government, at http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/programs/gc_1200062053842.shtm. "Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites," The New Scientist, June 9, 2006, at http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025556.200?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19025556.200. "How Public-Key Encryptions Works," at http://www.utexas.edu/lbj/21cp/syllabus/pke.htm "How Encryption and Digital Signatures Work," at http://www.tatanka.com/doc/technote/tn0035.htm. "How SSL Works," at http://computer.howstuffworks.com/encryption4.htm. "U.S. Encryption Policy Page," Center for Democracy and Technology, at http://www.cdt.org/crypto/admin/. "U.S. Domestic Surveillance Budget Fiscal Year 2006," EPIC, at http://www.epic.org/privacy/budget/fy2006/default.html. Federal Trade Commission Web page on the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, at http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/privacyinitiatives/childrens.html. Further optional reading: Privacy on the Line: The Politics of Wiretapping and Encryption, by Whitfield Diffie and Susan Eva Landau, The MIT Press, 1998. Technology and Privacy: The New Landscape, Philip E. Agre and Marc Rotenberg (eds.), The MIT Press, 1998. Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century, by Simson Garfinkel, O'Reilly & Associates, 2000. The Unwanted Gaze: The Destruction of Privacy in America, Jeffrey Rosen, Random House, 2000. Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson, HarperPerrenial, 1999. Crypto: How the Code Rebels Beat the Government, Saving Privacy in the Digital Age, Steven Levy, Penguin Putnam, 2002. Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World, Bruce Schneier, John Wiley and Sons, 2000.

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