Eng. 2 - Lecture Notes

Instructors and TA Contact Information

• Prof. Steve Zipperstein: szipperstein@international.ucla.edu
• Prof. Donald Browne: browne@seas.ucla.edu
• TA Krish Patel: krishpatel@g.ucla.edu
• TA Paul Fayet-Faber: paulfafa@g.ucla.edu

Administrative/Housekeeping Items

• Classes will not be recorded.
• On-time attendance is mandatory for class sessions and Discussion Sections. Absences will progressively lower your grade.
• Complete assigned readings for the entire week prior to each Tuesday class session.

Writing Assignment: Essay on Technology and Society (40% of Overall Grade)

• Topic Proposal:
  • Approximately 300 words.
  • Due via email to your TA by next Friday, April 11 at 5:00pm.
• First draft:
  • Approximately 1750 words (not including the list of references).
  • Due May 2; upload via the link on BruinLearn.
  • Must include correct citations of sources and a complete list of references for all works cited.
• Final version:
  • 2500 words or more (not including the list of references).
  • Due May 23; upload via the link on BruinLearn.
• ChatGPT and all other AI tools are strictly forbidden.

Class Participation (10% of Overall Grade)

• Many ways to participate: email questions, section, class, etc.
• Attendance alone does not earn participation credit.
• Unexcused absences will lower your grade, even with a 100% score on the essay, the final, and class participation.

Final Exam (50% of Overall Grade)

• Date: Saturday, June 7
• Time: 08:00 to 11:00
• Location: CS 24 (one of the big chemistry classrooms across the courtyard from Boelter Hall).
• CAE: Contact your TA or Professor Browne if you need more time to complete the exam.
• Allowed materials:
  • One sheet of paper (BOTH sides) with notes from lectures, PowerPoint slides, and assigned articles.
  • Dual language dictionary (if English is not your first language).
• Format:
  • Seven short-answer questions.
  • Answer six of the seven questions (you can skip one).
  • Write at least 300 words in response to each question.

Final Exam - Continued

• Answer format: Handwrite or handprint your answers in one or more Bluebooks.
• Prohibited items: Computers and mobile phones.
• Allowed items: Backpack, purse, etc.
• Time: Three hours to complete the exam.
• Budgeting: 30 minutes per question.
• Evaluation criteria: Strength of arguments, addressing potential counterarguments, and overall structure of the answer.

Overview of the Course

• Week 1: Regulation, Net Neutrality, and Intellectual Property
• Week 2: Intellectual Property (cont’d)
• Week 3: Privacy
• Week 4: 5G Technology; Blockchain, Bitcoin, and NFTs
• Weeks 5 and 6: Social Media
• Week 7: Autonomous Vehicles and Drones
• Weeks 8 and 9: Ethics (Prof. Browne); Artificial Intelligence
• Week 10: Virtual/Augmented Reality, Hacking, Cybercrime

Data as the New Gold

• Worldwide mobile messaging traffic = $28.2$ trillion messages (2017), not counting email.
• Email:
  • $205$ billion sent/received per day (2015), or $2.4$ million per second, or $74$ trillion per year
  • $306$ billion per day as of year-end 2020
• Humans generated $44$ trillion gigabytes of data as of year-end 2020

Palfrey, Four Phases of Internet Regulation (2010)

• Phase I: Open Internet
• Phase 2: Access Denied
• Phase 3: Access Controlled
• Phase 4: Access Contested

Phase One: The Open Internet (1960s-2000)

• Cyberspace viewed as unique, futuristic, amazing, borderless
• Beyond regulation
• Connecting people globally
• Unlimited access to knowledge
• Force for democratization (Arab Spring)
• Let it grow and thrive

Phase Two: Access Denied (2000-2005)

• Content Blocking/Filtering
  • China
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Indonesia v. Holland

Phase Three: Access Controlled (2005-2010)

• Sophisticated filtering
• User registration/authentication
• Google/China
• Network management - throttling, etc.
• Increased law enforcement activity

Phase Four: Access Contested (2010-present)

• Companies and Civil Society pushing back
• Public/Private “blend” of regulation emerging
• July 16, 2019: “Google shut down Chinese censorship project but won’t rule out working with China”
• Regulating individuals vs. platforms
• Fake News, Fake Political Ads, etc.

Key Regulatory Issues in a Digital World of "Radical Uncertainty"

• Who has jurisdiction?
  • Internet is borderless
• How do we resolve conflicting rules?
• What regulatory paradigm(s) should be used for cutting-edge technology to encourage innovation and investment?
  • Ex Ante: Too soon; stifle investment and innovation
  • Reactive: Too late; stranded investment
  • Proactive/Dynamic/”Sandbox:” regulatory test-bed
• Innovative Ecosystems: collaboration between incumbents and start-ups/incubators

Yahoo (9th Cir. 2006)

• Nazi images legal in California, but illegal in France
• Yahoo transmitted Nazi images stored on a server in California to France and targeted advertising to French users
• French court ruled against Yahoo
• Yahoo argued France lacked jurisdiction to enforce against Yahoo
• US Court of Appeals upheld the French order

Yahoo (cont’d)

• Dissenting opinion: "By denying adjudication, the majority abdicates our proper role in protecting Yahoo's constitutional rights. In so doing, it leaves in place a foreign country's vague and overbroad judgment mandating a U.S. company to bar access to prohibited content by Internet users from that country."
• Dissenting opinion: "This astonishing result is itself the strongest argument for finding Yahoo's claims ripe for adjudication. Are we to assume that U.S.-based Internet service providers are now the policing agencies for whatever content another country wants to keep from those within its territorial borders – such as, for example, controversial views on democracy, religion or the status of women?"

Should Facebook be Regulated?

• Obama Campaign, 2008
• Trump Campaign, 2016

Facebook's Data Scandal