Topics, Readings, and Assignments
Essay |
Essay Assigned |
Essay Due |
Peer Reviews Due |
1 |
2/12 |
2/26 |
3/2 |
2 |
3/19 |
4/8 |
4/13 |
3 |
4/19 |
5/8 |
5/17 |
04/21 Ethics / HWYMYL
Please complete this survey by 3 PM before class!
04/21 Education
Please complete this survey by 3 PM before class!
04/14 Memes
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04/07 Copyright and Intellectual Property
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- Highly Suggested: de Cardenas, Antonio, "Patent vs. Copyright Protection for Computer Software"
- Highly Suggested: Stallman, Richard, "Misinterpreting Copyright A Series of Errors"
- Highly Suggested: Mullin, Joe, "Your criticisms are completely wrong: Stallman on software patents, 20 years in"
- Optional: Stallman, Richard, "The Danger of Software Patents"
- Optional: Heckel, Paul, "Debunking the Software Patent Myths"
03/31 Software Risks and Algorithmic Bias
Please complete this survey by 1 PM before class!
Software Risks:
Algorithmic Bias:
03/17 War
- Greenberg, "The Untold Story of NotPetya, the Most Devastating Cyberattack in History"
- Wakabayashi, Shane, "Google Will Not Renew Pentagon Contract That Upset Employees"
- Optional (note: strongly political, I am not endorsing the opinions expressed): Jurecic, "Why Did You Wait?": Moral Emptiness and Drone Strikes"
- Optional: Walzer, Michael "Just & Unjust Targeted Killing & Drone Warfare" (requires Berkeley VPN)
- Optional: Valentino, Benjamin "Moral Character or Character of War? American Public Opinion on the Targeting of Civilians in Times of War" (requires Berkeley VPN)
- Optional: Dunlap Jr., Charles, "The Military-Industrial Complex" (requires Berkeley VPN)
03/03 Jobs and Automation
Please complete this survey by 1 PM before class!
Please complete this survey by 1 PM before class!
- Required: Tufekci, "Russian Meddling Is a Symptom, Not the Disease"
- Required: Epstein, Ember, Gabriel, Baker "How the Iowa Caucuses Became an Epic Fiasco for Democrats"
- Required: Bertoni, "How Jared Kushner Won Trump The White House"
- Optional: Kolbert, "Why Facts Don't Change Our Minds"
- Optional: Smiley, "The College Kids Doing What Twitter Won't"
- Optional: Garrett, Resnick, "Resisting Political Fragmentation on the Internet"
02/18 Government Censorship and Surveillance (Slides)
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- Required: Gallagher, "Senior Google Scientist Resigns Over "Forfeiture of Our Values" in China"
- Optional: Mozur, Kessel, Chan, "Made in China, Exported to the World: The Surveillance State"
- Optional: Kayyali, "FBI's "Suicide Letter" to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Dangers of Unchecked Surveillance"
- Optional: Gage, "What an Uncensored Letter to M.L.K. Reveals"
- Extra: Shahbaz, Funk, "The Crisis of Social Media"
- Extra: Thompson, Allworth, "The Abyss Stares Back"
02/11 Scams (Slides)
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02/04 Free Time and Attention (Slides)
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01/28 Privacy (Slides)
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01/21 Free Speech (Slides)
In future weeks, readings will be required and there will also be a survey to fill out. For week 1, readings are optional and you can technically just show up cold, though it might be nice to have read the readings below for more context.