Technology & Privacy
This course is entirely online. There will be one "live" class each week (9:00 - 10:30am Thursday), which students may "attend" from any location with a broadband Internet connection, or from the Computer Resource Center in the Rains Library. All other coursework is "asynchronous," meaning that students can participate at their convenience (within prescribed time windows). However, students should pay close attention to weekly schedules. Students who fall behind in their readings or required participation will not usually be able to make them up.
Course Description
Data Privacy has become a major legal practice area, as well as a matter of great public concern with the growth of social media, smart devices, artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. While federal law is slow to respond to emerging threats to privacy, states and foreign governments have rushed to fill the breach. As a result, lawyers must confront a panoply of overlapping and sometimes inconsistent regulations that touch every aspect of law (e.g., law enforcement, communications, commerce, national security). As one example, the European Union considers the United States to be a “non-compliant 3rd country” when it comes to data privacy. As a result, data transfers are tightly restricted, affecting everything from Google searches to Facebook messaging to finance and international trade.
This course surveys the various domains in which legal privacy issues arise: the privacy torts, constitutional right to privacy and anonymity, privacy and the media, privacy in electronic communications and social media, tracking systems, national security, financial privacy, health privacy, internet privacy, the California Consumer Privacy Act, privacy in Europe, and privacy enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission.
For Spring, 2022, enrollment is limited to 28 students.
Course Mechanics
The class will meet online via Zoom for a live discussion as a group for 90 minutes once per week, on Thursdays, from 9:00a.m.-10:30a.m. during the semester. Apart from this scheduled online discussion, all other course activities may be conducted at a time convenient to the student. Aside from live class, all other online activities occur on Brightspace <https://brightspace.lmu.edu>. Registered students will automatically be added to the Technology & Privacy course on Brightspace.
Students are expected to spend a minimum of 3 hours per week engaged in online course activities. This is in addition to the normal assigned reading. The course consists of the following components:
- Video lectures (usually prepared with PowerPoint slides). The faculty have pre-recorded lectures that cover that week’s topics. These lectures typically run 1 - 1½ hour per week. Students are required to review the pre-recorded lectures prior to the live class.
- Discussion Questions – Each student must submit a topical question (related to the reading assignment). The faculty frequently incorporate these questions into live class discussion.
- Live class – there will be a live online class each week, 9:00-10:30am Thursday, during which the lectures, questions students have prepared, and readings will be discussed. This will emulate as closely as possible a standard class (i.e., students may be called upon to answer questions).
- Weekly Quizzes –Weekly quizzes that address that week’s readings and discussions open online at noon on Thursdays during the Semester, and close at noon on Saturdays. Students may log in at any time to take that week’s quiz, and there is no time limit except your answers must be posted by Saturday noon. Quizzes usually pose 10 or more multiple choice questions.
Grading
- Each student will write a term paper worth 50% of her final grade. The topic must be approved by one of the instructors before the end of the 4th week of class. For students who are not using the course to satisfy the UDWR, the paper must be at least 20 pages long, including footnotes. Since the course can be used to satisfy the Upper Division Writing Requirement, students who intend to utilize their paper for this purpose must meet applicable law school standards for the UDWR, which are more extensive than the paper requirements for students who are not using the course to satisfy the UDWR.
- Scores on quizzes will be worth 30% of the final grade.
- "Class participation," as measured by class attendance, the quality of submitted questions, and participation in the live class, is worth 20% of the final grade.
- Due to the online nature of this course and because 50% of the final grade is based on a term paper, grading will not be anonymous.
Technical Requirements
If a student uses her own equipment, s/he must have access to a high-speed Internet connection. A headset with microphone is strongly recommended for participation in the online class discussions. A webcam will be needed for any video components of the live class sessions.
Students are responsible for their own equipment and Internet connections. In the event of technical problems, students may "attend" class and satisfy all the requirements using computers from the Computer Resource Center in the Rains Library. In addition, if they prefer to Zoom into the live class from campus, students may log into the live session from the classroom assigned to the course.