THE FIRST AMENDMENT & THE INTERNET
PROFESSOR SKOVER

FALL 2008

SYLLABUS


The following shorthand has been used in the list of reading assignments:

  • "Text" refers to Madeleine Schachter and Joel Kurtzberg, Law of Internet Speech (Carolina Academic Press, 3rd ed. 2008)

  • "Lessig" refers to Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture (Penguin Press, 2004)


Note
:  In order to access any of the Lexis documents hyperlinked below, it is necessary first to sign onto Lexis in your browser. Cases and law review articles will be uploaded immediately upon clicking the links below. Magazine and news story links, however, will deliver a single search item that you must click to upload the actual document.


I.  NORMATIVE VALUE THEORIES

Assignment 1: Values Served by the First Amendment Text
Assignment 2: First Amendment Normative Theories
 
Alexander Meiklejohn, Political Freedom PDF File
Martin Redish, "The Value of Free Speech"
Stanley Ingber, "The Marketplace of Ideas"
PDF File
Lexis
Vincent Blasi, "Holmes & the Marketplace of Ideas" Lexis


II.  THE NATURE OF THE INTERNET

Assignment 1: The Nature of the Internet 
Randall Bezanson & Gilbert Cranberg, "Taking Stock of Newspapers"
Rick Morris, "The End of the Networks"

Timothy Sandefur, "The Information Age, Again"

Submit at the Beginning of Class a Hard Copy of  the Order Granting Petition of Certiorari & the Identification of Justices
 

Text
Lexis
Lexis
Lexis

Assignment 2: The Dichotomy Between Speech & Press
Susan Balter-Reitz, "In Search of Truthiness"
Richard Wolf, "Blogosphere Spurs Government Oversight"
Paul Horwitz, "Or of the [Blog]"
Harvard Law Journal -- Developments in the Law of Media: "Application of the Journalist's Privilege to Bloggers"

 
Text
Lexis
USA Today

Lexis
Lexis
Assignment 3: The Press & Internet Publications
Harvard Law Journal -- Developments in the Law of Media:
"Viewpoint Discrimination & Media Access to Public Officials"
Text
Lexis

 

Assignment 4:
 
Analytical Frameworks for Internet Speech Text
Assignment 5: Jurisdiction as an Illustration

Harvard Law Journal -- Developments in the Law of Media:
"Internet Jurisdiction: A Comparative Analysis"
Scott Jansen, "Oh, What a Tangled Web"
Text

Lexis

Lexis


III.  REGULATION OF INTERNET CONTENT

Assignment 1: First Amendment Analytical Frameworks
Chart: Freedom of Speech Analysis
 
Text
PDF File
Assignment 2: Hate Speech & Harmful Speech - 1
  
Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette
United States v. Alkhabaz
Internet Speech Related to Violence
 

Lexis
Text
Text
Assignment 3: Hate Speech & Harmful Speech - 2
 
R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul
Virginia v. Black
Rice v. The Paladin Enterprises, Inc.

Submit at the Beginning of Class a Hard Copy of Individual Justice's Research Bibliography
 

Text
Lexis
Text
 
Assignment 4: Speech Relating to Matters of National Security -1
 
 
  New York Times v. U.S.
U.S. v. The Progressive
Harvard Law Journal -- Developments in the Law of Media:
"Criminal Liability for the Act of Publishing"
Geoffrey Stone, "Government Secrecy v. Freedom of Press"
 
Text
Text

Lexis
FAC First Reports
 
Assignment 5: Speech Relating to Matters of National Security - 2
 
 
  Collins & Skover, "What Is War?  Reflections on Free Speech"
Stone & Posner Debate: "What's Wrong with the Patriot Act?"
Lexis
Legal Affairs
 
Assignment 6: Regulation of Internet Obscenity & Indecency
 
  

Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union
Ashcroft v. ACLU
Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition
Robert Corn-Revere, "Can Broadcast Indecency Regulations Be Extended to Cable TV & Satellite Radio?"
Clay Calvert, "Imus, Indecency, Violence & Vulgarity"  
 

Text
Lexis
Lexis
Progress on Point

Lexis

Assignment 7: Filtering Obscenity & Indecency
 
Mainstream Loudoun v. Trustees of the Loudoun County Library
United States v. American Library Association
 
Text
Lexis

IV.  DEFAMATION

Assignment 1: Publication
 
   Introductory Comments Text
Publication by Conduits
Batzel v. Smith
Characterizing Content Providers
Text
Lexis

 
The CDA & Archived Materials
Fair Housing Council v. Roommates.com
 
Text
Lexis
Assignment 2: Of and Concerning the Plaintiff / Defamatory Import / Falsity
Browne v. Avvo, Inc.
Text
Lexis
 
Assignment 3: Requisite Degree of Fault
Levine, "UK's Sullivan Gives Press More Leeway to Report"

Transmit Word Files of the First Draft Opinions
of Individual Justices
by E-Mail
 
Text
First Amendment
Center

 
Assignment 4: Matters of Public Concern
Public & Private Figures in Internet Communications

The Libel Lawyers' Perspective: A Symposium
hosted by the
Seattle University School of Law (11/99)
Louise Story, "Can a Sandwich Be Slandered?"
 
Text
Text
Symposium Text
or A
udiotape
Lexis

V.  PRIVACY INTERESTS

Assignment 1: Common Law Invasion of Privacy Rights
 

Text

Assignment 2: Data Mining & Data Protection Values
Excerpt from Froomkin, "The Death of Privacy"
 

Text
Lexis at 1461-1505

Assignment 3: Data Protection Paradigms
Excerpt from Froomkin, "The Death of Privacy"
Privacy Protection Act

Text
Lexis at 1524-1528
Text
 

Assignment 4: The Electronic Communications Privacy Act
Sarah Lai Stirland, "Reluctant Snoops"
 

Text
Search archives of
Seattle Times

 

Assignment 5: Access to Information & FOIA
Impact of the 2002 Homeland Security Act
 

Text
 Freedom Forum

Assignment 6: Technology Privacy Protections  

Transmit Word Files of the First Draft Opinions of the Court by E-Mail
 

Text

VI.  PROPRIETARY INTERESTS IN CONTENT 

Assignment 1: Copyright Infringement Claims
Zeller, "Trying to Tame an Unruly Technology"
Leeds & Lohr, "No Pot of Gold in Court Ruling for the Studios"

 

Text
Lexis

Lexis
Assignment 2: Fair Use Defense
 
Text
Assignment 3:

Assignment 4:

Digital Millennium Copyright Act - 1

Digital Millennium Copyright Act - 2
 

Text

Text

VII.  THE INTERNET: THE LOSS OF A "FREE CULTURE"

Assignment 1: Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture
Consider Questions for Analysis & Discussion
 
Lessig xiii-xvi,
1-173
Assignment 2:    Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture
Consider Questions for Analysis & Discussion
 
Lessig 177-306

Submit at the Beginning of the Last Day of Class a Hard Copy of: (1) the Final Drafts of All Individual Opinions, (2) the Final Drafts of All Court Opinions, and (3) the Evaluations of Contributions of Group Members

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