Fall 2011 Course Description
In this course, we study and discuss legal issues related to crimes involving computers and networks. Our main topics will include recent and important case law, statutes, and constitutional clauses concerning authorization, access, vice crimes, search and seizure, wiretaps, the right to privacy, FISA, and jurisdiction. Students are assumed to be familiar with general computing concepts and applications, but the instructor will provide an introduction to legal concepts.
Students will complete substantial readings and significant written analysis of rulings, and they will participate in a lively class discussion. In addition, there will be quizzes and two or more exams. (This plan is preliminary and we may change these requirements before the start of the term.) Unlike most CS classes, there is no programming in this course. Part of your grade will be based on the quality of your written work, including the clarity of your reasoning and correctness of your grammar. Students will be graded on their ability to recall facts, critically analyze material, and express coherent, persuasive, and justified views. Students will be asked to express an opinion on many topics and challenge the instructors' views and analyses.
Some of the laws and cases that we'll be covering provide the courts' answers to these questions:- Can you be compelled by police to turn over the key to encrypted documents?
- Are you breaking the law if you connect to someone's open wireless access point?
- Does violating a web site's Terms of Service constitute criminal fraud?
- If you tell your employer you are leaving in two weeks, are you guilty of hacking if you then access your files at the company?
- Since data can be deleted immediately via remote commands, aren't police always justified in seizing equipment without a warrant to avoid the delay?
- Is program source code "free speech" that is protected under the first amendment?
- If obscenity is defined as a community-based standard, what does that mean for the Internet?
- Do employers have the right to read the personal messages of employees stored on the employer's system?
- Why do we have a right to "privacy" if the word never appears in the constitution?
These issues and the others we'll discuss are fundamental to our profession and our society.
This course counts as a CmpSci elective towards the BS or BA degrees, and it fulfills a menu requirement of the Security & Privacy Track.
Is this class a "seminar" or a "course"? It's a course. The university places the words "seminar" in front of any class that is new and yet to receive approval by the faculty senate. Since we don't have approval, we appear to be a seminar. Please keep in mind that the amount of work will be typical of a CS elective. Not having faculty senate approval has no effect on you and your degree at all; it's still a 3-credit course that counts towards the CS degree and your UMass degree.
Prerequisites: English 112 (or waiver for it). Students from departments other than CompSci are certainly welcome.
Acknowledgments: I'm very grateful to Professor William C. Snyder for providing me materials that assisted me in preparing this seminar.