Hon H205: Technology
and Privacy
Prof. Pamela E. Mack
- Class meets M 2:30-3:45 in the Multipurpose Room in the
Honors Academic Activities Center in the basement of Holmes Hall
- this is a course for 1 hour of
credit and only meets once a week
- Email: pammack@clemson.edu
(I try to
respond to emails within 24 hours on weekdays)
- Office Hours: MWF 10-11, Mon. 12:10-1:00, and by
appointment in Hardin 006 (basement level)
- Office phone: 864-656-5356 (but email reaches me more
reliably
than leaving a message on my phone)
Course Description:
Is
the
internet
taking
away
our
privacy?
Do we care?
This course will focus on the impact of information technology on
privacy, in the context of changing personal and legal definitions of
privacy. We will examine how privacy is interpreted by different
disciplines and social groups and analyze common privacy
documents.
Attendance Policy: This
course meets once a week, so missing one class means missing a
significant part of the course. Therefore, the attendance policy
is that any time a student misses class, he or she is required to
hand in a 3 page double-spaced essay about the topic of the class he or
she missed. The makeup work is the same whatever the reason for
missing class and however many classes are missed.
Requirements:
20% class discussion
40% weekly assignments
40% final paper (4-6 pages)
Weekly assignment:
Students are required to hand in ½ to one page of writing at the
beginning of each class and also submit the same document on
Blackboard. This can be a philosophical reflection on the topic
for the class, background research on an issue that will contribute to
the day’s discussion, or a response to the reading.
Final paper: This is a
research and thought paper on
a subject of the student’s choice
relating to privacy. It should be 4-6 double spaced typed pages
with footnotes or references in any standard form. Due Thursday
May 5 (the final exam day for this block).
Academic Integrity: As
members
of
the
Clemson
University
community,
we
have
inherited
Thomas
Green
Clemson's
vision
of
this
institution
as
a
"high
seminary
of
learning."
Fundamental
to
this
vision
is
a
mutual
commitment
to
truthfulness,
honor,
and
responsibility,
without
which
we cannot earn the trust and
respect of others. Furthermore, we recognize that academic
dishonesty
detracts from the value of a Clemson degree. Therefore, we shall
not
tolerate lying, cheating, or stealing in any form.
This includes
representing someone else's work as your own or handing in the same
paper to two different courses without permission of the
instructors. Be careful to avoid plagiarism--text you take from a
web site, from a book, or from the online class notes must be either
quoted with the source given or restated almost
entirely in your own words, with the source given.
It is cheating to cut and paste or otherwise copy portions of a
argument paper, exam, or
discussion board posting from a book, web site, or from the online
class notes, even if you change a
few words, unless you quote and give the source. It is poor
writing for more than
about 20% of your paper to consist of quotes. In most cases when you use specific material
from any source you should paraphrase: cite the source and put the ideas into you own words
(generally no more than 5 consecutive words should match the source but
if the words are mostly the same it could still be plagiarism even if
there aren't 5 consecutive words).
Schedule:
Online intro Are you worried about
privacy?
Jan. 24
Consider the Facebook
privacy policy (read the entire privacy policy)
Jan. 31 What is
the right to privacy? (read http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/rightofprivacy.html)
Feb. 7
State, Surveillance, and Technology (read Michel Foucault. Discipline
& Punish (1975), III, 3: http://foucault.info/documents/disciplineAndPunish/foucault.disciplineAndPunish.panOpticism.html)
Feb. 14 Privacy
and Government (read chapter 1
of George Orwell, 1984)
Feb. 21
Surveillance cameras (read http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/97/05/)
Feb. 28 Smart
phones and smart mobs (read http://www.truste.com/blog/?p=825,
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/22/133966151/web-wiretaps-raise-security-privacy-concerns,
Mar. 7
Privacy and location technology (read http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/location-aware-apps-will-we-lose-privacy-loca)
see
also
http://www.eff.org/wp/locational-privacy
Mar. 14 Consumer
privacy (read http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/loyalty_cards.html)
Mar. 21 Spring Break
Mar. 28 Search Engine
Privacy (read http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-in-search-of-online-privacy-806284.html)
Apr. 5
Do we
no longer want privacy? (read http://nymag.com/news/features/27341/)
Apr. 11 Privacy
2.0 (read John Zittrain, The Future of the Internet and How to Stop it,
Chapter 9, http://yupnet.org/zittrain/archives/20)
See also http://www.applefritter.com/bannedbooks
Apr. 18
Reflections
Apr. 25
draft of final paper due, instead of
class there will be optional meetings (Hardin 006) for feedback about
papers
May 5
Final Paper due