Course assignments are designed to improve your analysis and writing skills.
All assignments should be in PDF format and emailed to Deidre (dkm@ischool), Heather (hford@ischool) and Jess (jhemerly@ischool).
All assignments are due at noon on the date listed below. Late assignments will be penalized: each day an assignment is late will result in a deduction of half a grade. Recognizing that emergencies arise, exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Assignment #1 (15%)
Due: Wednesday, February 2
Maximum length: 2-3 pages double-spaced in a normal font
Reflection piece: Please use the readings from classes 1 and 2 to discuss a technology you’ve encountered. Some examples: voting machines, ATM, phone, reservation system, airport screening systems, car black box, shopping kiosk, or music player.
A key objective of assignments in this class is to provide you with opportunities to apply both the theoretical and practical learning from the course to new problems. Another, as I’ve mentioned in class, is to develop your skills as readers—critiquing, building upon, and relating various pieces we read.
Reflection pieces are an invitation to synthesize readings and ideas that came up during our discussion, use insights from both to analyze an issue that’s of interest to you, critique readings, or anything else you would like. The requirements of the writing are small in number: 1) seriously engage with the readings (could be one, could be two, could be more); and 2) you write about something that interests you.
Do not, under any circumstances, provide me with a summary of the articles.You’ve read them. I’ve read them. I know you’ve read them.
The form is in between short essay and journal entry. This is a playful style. I want to get a sense of what you are taking away from the class and what sorts of thoughts, ideas, questions it is raising for you.
Assignment #2 (30%)
Due: Wednesday, March 16
Maximum length: 1500 words or 6 pages double-spaced in a normal font
You and your fellow University of Wisconsin alumni have started a Facebook page to support the union protests.
The page is designed to be a source of information for alumni. One group of contributors provides detailed information about the facts on the ground, gleaned from news reports that they read early in the morning and post before the local papers are delivered. Another group is providing intelligence, including data reported by activists on the ground, and information provided by an insider in the Governor’s office who is leaking information and documents. Recently, the insider leaked a corpus of email that reveals the content of email conversations between the Governor’s office and outside corporate interests as well as the names and affiliations of those who sent the emails. Your colleagues have made this available on the Facebook page.
The Governor’s office and Republican law makers have complained to Facebook about your activities and launched a public relations attack on you, your colleagues, and the page.
Facebook has begun to examine whether you and your page are in violation of their terms of use, particularly Section 5: https://www.facebook.com/terms.php
In response to the Governor’s complaints, they’ve removed the corpus of email as well as a set of leaked documents that reveal visitors to the Governor’s mansion in the last week. They have also, of their own accord, removed the factual reports.
Please consider the legal and policy implications of your colleagues’ news gathering techniques; the Governor’s complaint to Facebook; and Facebook’s ability to terminate your page. Remember to use cases and readings we have discussed in class to support your rationale.
Assignment #3 (40%)
Due: Sunday, May 8
Maximum length: 12 pages, double-spaced in a normal font
Important Note: Please read the assignment carefully. There are two parts to the response. Like assignment 2, you will need to identify the key issues and support your argument with relevant class readings. There is no need to turn to outside sources for this assignment.
The Scenario
Fed up with Facebook for taking down your content, the Wisconsin protestors (from Assignment 2) decide to move the online initiative to another online social network. Because some of its supporters are still posting comments to the Facebook group, the protestors decide to write some code to scrape that data from Facebook and display it in real time on the new social network site. The code works around a technical limitation in Facebook’s design meant to prevent users from scraping data from Facebook pages.
The new social networking site is called Free Speech Now! and advertises itself as a platform for groups to publicize campaigns against government activity. One of the group members found the site via an ad he saw during a game of Words with Friends. The ad read: “Free Speech Now! The uncensored social network for the people! Your content will never be removed, for any reason.” Unlike Facebook, Free Speech Now! charges a fee of $25 for registration, but does not charge any fees beyond that.
Encouraged by the media attention that they received from the last debacle, one of the protest supporters has surreptitiously recorded conversations taking place in the governor’s office using their mobile phone’s recording device and using a packet sniffer captured incoming and outgoing email traffic from the Governor’s office servers, which they post to the new page. The mole in the governors office slipped a flash drive containing records of employees in the governor’s office, which include social security numbers, names and addresses.
Your Response
Your response to this hypothetical should take two forms:
Part A: The governor’s office has determined that their network has been breached and they’ve lost info that includes Social Security Numbers, names, and potential account numbers of employees as well as email messages. They are very concerned about the leaked conversations and want to explore legal options available against the leaker. They are weighing their legal options as well as identifying any legal liability they may face. As the General Counsel you’ve been asked to prepare a memo that outlines potential legal claims that might be brought.
Part B: The day after protestors publish the new content, they hear that the governor is demanding that Free Speech Now! turn over their account data, and take down all the comments and content from the new page. Free Speech Now! puts a hold on the protesters’ account, preventing them from adding or editing any of the page’s content. They also remove the data that had been scraped from the old Facebook page and reposted at Free Speech Now!. The group is very upset about Free speech now breaking their promises and wants to know what legal relief they might have. The group is concerned that their data may have been provided to the governor’s office without appropriate legal process. You’ve been asked to brief the group on these issues. Write a memo that examines the group’s actions and relevant legal recourse.