Woodrow Hartzog

3 credits

This readings seminar will focus on emerging issues of civil liberties in our digital society, with special attention paid to privacy and freedom of speech in the age of social media, platforms, and artificial intelligence. We will explore the potential and dangers of the Internet revolution in communications, and how it is affected by the activities of users, by companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, and by government attempts to restrain or shape the evolution of online activity through law. The course will be structured around discussions of principal readings of relatively recent (and readable) books and articles, including the possibility of videoconferencing or in-person lectures with some of the authors to discuss their work. There will be three student papers required ¿ two short papers due during the semester providing a critical review of one of the readings chosen by the student, and a slightly longer paper due at the end of exams comparing and critiquing two of the principal readings. In addition to gaining a deeper understanding of the topics of the books, we will work on developing essential skills for lawyers of close reading and clear and persuasive writing. UPPER-CLASS WRITING REQUIREMENT: A limited number of students may use this class to satisfy the requirement. ** A student who fails to attend the initial meeting of a seminar. or to obtain permission to be absent from either the instructor or the Registrar, may be administratively dropped from the seminar. Students who are on a wait list for a seminar are required to attend the first seminar meeting to be considered for enrollment.

3 credits

The collection, use, storage, and sharing of personal data has become increasingly important throughout society, from commerce to government and from health care to finance. For good reason, we call this the Information Age. Recall the countless high- profile privacy and data security controversies you have heard about recently: location tracking; AI systems using personal data to deny people jobs and benefits; data breaches, hacking and identity theft; and government surveillance. Law has responded with a dizzying array of new rules -- and a rapidly growing area of professional specialization for attorneys. This course serves as an introduction to the emerging law of data privacy. By the end, you will be well grounded in many challenges facing any enterprise, public or private, that collects, processes, uses, and stores personal information. In addition to knowledge of federal and state rules and enforcement activity, we will learn about the policy questions that arise in this dynamic area, the legally relevant questions to ask when assessing information practices. You will gain a basic understanding of data privacy regulation in other countries, particularly the European Union. You will also learn how to think about the relationship between law and technology more broadly. All students will benefit from more sophisticated knowledge about an issue that appears in the news every single day. But there are significant professional payoffs too. Major law firms have organized entire practice areas devoted to privacy and data protection law. These trends mean that law school graduates will have increasing job opportunities in data privacy and security law. Meanwhile, in many other practice areas -- such as securities, labor and employment, health, advertising, and the list goes on -- familiarity with privacy and security law has become a major asset. Plus, the issues are fascinating and fun. If nothing else, you can have great conversations at parties.

3 credits

The collection, use, storage, and sharing of personal data has become increasingly important throughout society, from commerce to government and from health care to finance. For good reason, we call this the Information Age. Recall the countless high- profile privacy and data security controversies you have heard about in the last year: location tracking; inaccurate credit reports causing lost jobs; data breaches, hacking and identity theft; and government surveillance. Law has responded with a dizzying array of new rules -- and a rapidly growing area of professional specialization for attorneys. This course serves as an introduction to the emerging law of data privacy. By the end, you will be well grounded in many challenges facing any enterprise, public or private, that collects, processes, uses, and stores personal information. In addition to knowledge of constitutional, statutory, and common law rules as well as federal and state enforcement activity, we will learn about the policy questions that arise in this dynamic area, the legally relevant questions to ask when assessing information practices, and some of the many nonlegal models of information governance. You will gain a basic understanding of data privacy regulation in other countries, particularly the European Union. All students will benefit from more sophisticated knowledge about an issue that appears in the news every single day. But there are significant professional payoffs too. Major law firms have organized entire practice areas devoted to privacy and data protection law. In the last seven years the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), a key trade association in this space, more than tripled in size to 12,000 members. These trends mean that law school graduates will have increasing job opportunities in data privacy and security law. Meanwhile, in many other practice areas -- such as securities, labor and employment, health, advertising, and the list goes on -- familiarity with privacy and security law has become a major asset. Plus, the issues are fascinating and fun. If nothing else, you can have great conversations at parties.

4 credits

Principles of civil recovery for injury, including strict liability, negligence, and the intentional torts, with emphasis on the social, economic, and moral underpinnings of the doctrines.