Test III Grades are Up!

Nicely done! Class average was a 79 percent. Highest raw score was a 96, leaving a 4 percent curve added to every score. The posted grades also include any extra credit you received. 

Lecture recordings are all posted and current - please download now!

Don't want a Dropbox meltdown before the final exam. 

Study Guide, Test III

Here you go. Study!!

Journalist's Privilege & Prior Restraint Prezi

Download the PDF. 

FCC Media Ownership Policy

Struggling with the term paper? Check out this 2014 Congressional hearing on the subject, including expert testimony from groups on both sides of the issue. 

Interested in learning more about FOIA?

Click here to access "A Citizen's Guide on Using the Freedom of Information Act." I strongly encourage folks to submit a FOIA request on a matter of public concern, perhaps in connection to a research project you are working on.

Also check out this group, called OpenTheGovernment.org, which is fighting to keep governments accountable. 

Access to Information Prezi

Want Privacy? It will cost you!

AT&T's Gigabit level internet service now will charge customers who decide to keep their web-browsing private. From Ars Technica: 

AT&T is boosting profits by rerouting all your Web browsing to an in-house traffic scanning platform, analyzing your Internet habits, then using the results to deliver personalized ads to the websites you visit, e-mail to your inbox, and junk mail to your front door....AT&T charges at least another $29 a month ($99 total) to provide standalone Internet service that doesn’t perform this extra scanning of your Web traffic. The privacy fee can balloon to more than $60 for bundles including TV or phone service. Certain modem rental and installation fees also apply only to service plans without Internet Preferences.

Importantly, Google's Fiber service doesn't monitor your browsing (unless you are using Google services, which it does monitor). 

Book Launch for The Real Cyber War, April 18, 5-8 PM

Folks: Consider joining me at a book-launch event for The Real Cyber War @ Ebrik April 18. Come anytime between 5-8 PM and to learn about the project, ask questions, or just enjoy a delicious cup of coffee (or tea). We'll also be selling discounted books and signing, of course. No pressure at all, of course, but in case you are interested, you can learn more here. 

Facebook's Auto-tagging Features May Violate Illinois Law

Interesting new law suit filed against Facebook, connected to this week's discussion of privacy: 

A Chicago man has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Facebook, alleging that the social networking giant is in violation of an Illinois state law that requires users to expressly consent to instances where their biometric information being used. 

Plaintiff Carlo Licata argues that he and countless other Illinois residents have had their rights violated under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by Facebook's "Tag Suggestions" feature. That feature is powered by facial recognition technology, and operates without the consent of those being tagged. 

Licata wants the Cook County court to declare that Facebook is in violation of BIPA, ordering it to halt its practice, and to award statutory damages to the class, which has yet to be certified.

What do you think? What is the significant difference between opt-in and opt-out clauses? Does Facebook's terms of service agreement shield it from this and similar lawsuits?

Minor Rights Prezi

Download the PDF here. 

Surveillance & MLK

Folks: as promised, I wanted to share the uncensored FBI letter sent to MLK that clearly outlines the risks of domestic surveillance. From the NYT's article about the letter: 

The unnamed author suggests intimate knowledge of his correspondent’s sex life, identifying one possible lover by name and claiming to have specific evidence about others. Another passage hints of an audiotape accompanying the letter, apparently a recording of “immoral conduct” in action. “Lend your sexually psychotic ear to the enclosure,” the letter demands. It concludes with a deadline of 34 days “before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.” 

“There is only one thing left for you to do,” the author warns vaguely in the final paragraph. “You know what it is.” 

When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. received this letter, nearly 50 years ago, he quietly informed friends that someone wanted him to kill himself — and he thought he knew who that someone was. Despite its half-baked prose, self-conscious amateurism and other attempts at misdirection, King was certain the letter had come from the F.B.I. Its infamous director, J. Edgar Hoover, made no secret of his desire to see King discredited. A little more than a decade later, the Senate’s Church Committee on intelligence overreach confirmed King’s suspicion.

Something to chew on this week while we discuss privacy rights and surveillance. 

Defamation Prezi

PDF here. 

Test II Grades are up!

Check 'em out. These grades reflect a 7 point curve (two students received a raw test score of 93), as well as any extra credit you earned between the first and second tests. I'll see everyone next week!

Thursday Media Law Class is Cancelled!!

(Monday students, please ignore this post.)

Tuesday/Thursday Folks: I’ve got to cancel tomorrow’s class. Terribly sorry for the late notice. We’ll meet again next Tuesday and talk about defamation & libel.

PLEASE use tomorrow’s cancellation as an opportunity to head to the library and work on your TERM PAPER. It is worth 35% of your grade. I will help you as much as I can to get an A on the paper, but you need to get started for me to be able to help you. 

Hope everyone has a nice week, and I look forward to seeing you next Monday/Tuesday. 

Test II Study Guide is here!

Let's hit the books folks! Download the study guide here. 

Indecency * Obscenity Prezi

Or download a PDF version here. 

Sample Term Papers

Due to popular demand, here are two sample term papers from previous semesters. Please note the following:

1. I have omitted section one from both papers so as to not give away the answer to that part of the assignment;
2. Neither paper is perfect, and I don't vouch for the content of either. These are samples for those who are really struggling to understand what the paper should look like. 
3. You should follow the actual assignment outline in writing your paper. This year's assignment is slightly different from previous assignments, so if you only follow these samples (and not the actual assignment requirements), you will fail. So READ the ASSIGNMENT. 
4. Don't be stupid and plagiarize from either of these papers, or from anywhere else. Plagiarism means failure. And cite your sources. 

Email with questions. Or come to my office hours. 

Careful what you say about your employer online...

Ars Technica is reporting a crazy story out of Abu Dhabi: A US citizen who works in the UAE as a helicopter mechanic was arrested in Abu Dhabi for disparaging his employer via a Facebook post. Thirty-three year old Ryan Pate of Belleair Bluffs, Florida, is accused of slandering his employer, which is illegal in the Emirates:

He wrote in December about his superiors at Global Aerospace Logistics being "backstabbers." He left Florida to return overseas, pack up his stuff, and quit his job. Police called him to come to the station, and he was arrested last month.

Pate has a March 17 trial date and, if convicted, could be sentenced to five years in jail. 

Commercial Speech Prezi #2 (False advertising)