Public Policy 190/290: Cyberlife (4 units)
Stephen Maurer, office hours 307 GSPP Fri 9-10
Lectures GSPP Room 105, Thurs. 5-8pm

A related course that economics undergraduates might find of interest is the Economics of Innovation.

 

ReADINGS: It is easiest to get the books from Amazon, Cody's, Border's, Barnes and Noble. You might want to buy many of the books listed, but in particular,

Weaving the Web, Harpers Business, 2000, by Time Berners-Lee
Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, Basic Books, 1999, by Larry Lessig

REQUIREMENTS: Grades in this course will be based on a Mid-Term, Final, Book Report, Class Participation, and Homework. Grades will be determined as follows:

-- MIDTERM (25%). The mid-term will last one hour and fifteen minutes. It will cover the first half of the course.

-- FINAL (40%). The final will last one hour and fifteen minutes. It will concentrate on the second half of the course, but will also include some earlier material. It will also presume knowledge of earlier material.

-- BOOK REPORT (25%). Book reports will be due on November 24. Students are expected to present a critical analysis of what they read using concepts from the course. You may obtain books from the attached list or make your own suggestion to the instructor. Graduate students may choose to review two research papers in lieu of a book report, provided that they obtain the instructor’s approval in advance.  Students are encouraged to discuss their book reports during office hours.

-- HOMEWORK (10%). I will distribute approximately eight homeworks by e-mail. Students should send a digital copy to mailto:smaurer@berkeley.edu and hand in a hardcopy at the next class. Label your homework by last name and homework number: For example, SMITH/hw3. Students should use the homeworks to confirm that they understand the readings and gain practice applying concepts discussed in class.

-- CLASS PARTICIPATION: Class participation is strongly encouraged and may be used to adjust your grade at the instructor`s discretion. It is important that you prepare for and attend each class, since this will often be the only occasion when a particular topic is discussed. Students will have a final opportunity for class discussion when we discuss book reports on the last day of class.

 

OVERVIEW; INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(Sept. 1)

No Assigned Readings

THE BIRTH OF THE INTERNET; The DIGITAL DIVIDE
(Sept. 8)

Required:

Berners-Lee, T., Weaving the Web, HarperCollins (1999), Chs. 1-9
How Robust is the Internet, Nature, 17 July 2000
Souped-up Search Engines, Nature, 11 May 2000
Home Computers and Internet Use in the U.S., August 2000, U.S. Census Bureau
Accessibility of Information on the Web, Lawrence and Giles, Nature, 8 July 1999, pp107+

Recommended:

T.R. Reid, The Chip (Random House 2001)
Scott McCartney, Eniac (Walker 1999)
Triumph of the Nerds (PBS video)

Homework 1

 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW AND ECONOMICS (Pt. 1)
(Sept. 15)

Required:

S. Scotchmer, Innovation and Incentives, Chs 1 (``Institutions``) and 2 (``Investing in Knowledge``). Note: These readings are available in a reader from Copycentral, 2483 Hearst Ave., Berkeley.

Recommended:

S. Maurer & S. Scotchmer, `Procuring Knowledge,` NBER Working Paper 9903 (2003).
Chapter 8, Digital Dealing by Robert Hall (Norton, 2001).
Paul Goldstein, Copyright`s Highway: from Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox, Hill and Wang 1994

Homework 2

 

intellectual property LAW ECONOMICS (Pt. 2); CODE AS LAW; Trespass & NUISANCE ON THE WEB
(Sept. 22)

Required: Lessig, Code, Chs. 1, 2, 10, 14; pp 100-108

Recommended:

Intel v. Hamidi, 30 Cal.4th 1342 (Cal. S.Ct. 2003)
Paul Goldstein, Copyright`s Highway: from Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox, Hill and Wang 1994
Dan Burk, The Trouble with Trespass, 4 J. Small and Emerging Bus. Law, 27

 

THE ULTIMATE INFORMATION GOOD: DATABASE POLICY.
(Sept. 29)

Required:

Maurer, et al, Science`s Neglected Legacy, Nature 11 May 2000, p117
Maurer and Scotchmer, Database Protection: Is it Broken and Should we Fix it, Science May 16, 1999
`
The Writing is on the Web for Science Journals in Print,` D. Butler, Nature 397, 21 Jan 1999

Recommended:

Maurer, Across Two Worlds: Database Protection in North America and Europe, in Intellectual Property and Innovation Policy in the Knowledge-Based Economy, Jonathan Putnam, ed, Industry Canada, forthcoming.

Homework 3

 

 NETWORK MARKETS; interoperability and Standards
(Oct. 6)

Required:

S. Scotchmer, Innovation and Incentives (2004), Ch 10 (``Networks and Network Effects``).

Katz & Shapiro, ``Systems Competition and Network Effects,`` Journal of Economic Perspectives 4(8), 1994, pp. 93-115.

Recommended:

The Economics and Law of Reverse Engineering, P. Samuelson and S. Scotchmer, Section IV
Information Rules by Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian

 

TELEPHONES, CELL PHONES, AND BROADBAND
(Oct. 13)

Required: Benjamin, Lichtman and Shelanski, Telecommunications Law and Policy, 3rd edition (2001), Chapters 9 (371-391), Ch 21 (867-914);
Lessig, Code, Ch. 5

Recommended

Access and innovation policy for the third-generation internet, Francois Bar, Stephen Cohen, Peter Cowhey, Brad DeLong, Peter Kleeman John Zysman, Telecommunications Policy 24 2000 489-518

 Homework 4

One-Hour Midterm
(Oct. 20)

Special Lecture TBD: No Reading Required


open source
(Oct 20)

Required: Eric S. Raymond, ``The Magic Cauldron`` in The Cathedral & The Bazaar (2001)
Recommended :Open Source Software Projects on User Innovation Networks, Eric Von Hippel

 

antitrust LAW (Pt. 1): Legal Backround; THE IBM and AT&T cases
(Oct. 27)

Required:

Church and R. Ware, Industrial Organization, McGraw-Hill 2000, pp 889-900
Letter from Abbott Lipsky re IBM Litigation (Will be distributed in class, but also can be found in The Transformation of Monopolization Law, 60
Texas Law Rev, p.639+)

Recommended:

U.S. v. AT&T (trial court opinion); Antitrust and Technological Innovation, by David M. Hart

 

ANTITRUST LAW (Pt. 2): THE microsoft Case.
(Nov. 4)

Required:

U.S. v. Microsoft, appellate decision, 2001.

Recommended:

     Richard Gilbert and Michael Katz An Economists Guide to U.S. v. Microsoft
District court opinion, Judge Jackson, Findings of Fact in US v. Microsoft.

Note:  You can find an abbreviated on-line version of the antitrust lectures at http://www.cs.washington.edu/education/courses/csep590/04au/lectures/.
 

Homework 5

privacy & encryption
(Nov. 10)

Required:

Code, Ch. 4, 11, 12,
Weaving the Web, Ch. 11,

Recommended:

Center for Democracy and Technology and The Electronic Privacy Information Center (privacy websites)
Reg Whitaker, The End of Privacy, The New Press 1999
Privacy-Enhancing Technologies for Internet Commerce (click download), L. Jean Camp and Carlos Osorio

 

CRIME AND TERRORISM.
(Nov. 17)

Required:

Dorothy Denning Cyberterrorism, Global Dialogue, Autumn 2000.

Recommended:

Dorothy E. Denning, Information Warfare and Security, Addison-Wesley 1999
Bruce Schneier, Secrets and Lies, John Wiley 2000
Bruce Schneier, Beyond Fear 2003

Book Reports Due Nov. 23.

 

ThanksGIVING - NO CLASS
(Nov. 24)

 

ThE WAR ON TERROR: DETENTION & iNTERROGATION POLICY
(Dec. 1)

No Readings - Tentative

 

SURVEILLANCE & LAW ENFORCEMENT
(Dec. 8)

No Readings - Tentative

Required:

European Parliament Report on Echelon and Related Technologies: Interception Capabilities 2000.

Kyllo v. Hawaii (US Supreme Ct., 2001)

Recommended:

USA Patriot Act

Illinois Institute of Technology Research, Independent Review of Carnivore System.

 

Homework 6