Outline:
This course is about rules, and what happens when they are broken. But where do the rules that govern our society come from?
At its heart, the law that governs our society is a system of rules that is designed to keep society orderly. In as much as possible we want the law to have some kind of moral standing---to be fair and just, to punish those who do things that we find morally wrong and to reward those who engage in behavior that benefits society. The law doesn't always do that, of course.
We would like to think that our law is designed to encourage ethical behavior. By ethical, we mean behavior that is consistent with some kind of moral system or philosophy. Some of the ethical principles that US society is based upon is articulated in the Declaration of Independence---phrases like "all men are created equal" come to mind. Other ethical standards are frequently left unmentioned---such as our society's approach to revenge, gambling, and the social use of alcohol. A question that continues to be debated in modern American society is whether or not our laws should be based on the ethical standards set forth in the Bible---assuming that people can agree on what those ethical standards actually are, of course.
In this course we'll see that there are many sources of both law and ethical standards when it comes to computers and information technology. Besides US law and regulations, many professional organizations have adopted codes of conduct or ethics. Another source is the actual codes that we run on our computers---they too place limits on what can and cannot be done.
In this class we'll be discussing:
On the other hand, as academics, both Diffie and Landau have always tried to convince others of the correctness of their argument through an open and honest discussion of the facts. They feel that their case is best made by presenting the information as they know it---all the information---and allowing readers to come to their own decisions. In a book that is intensely political, they have tried to keep their own politics out of their writing and presentation.
The Introduction of the book sets the stage for the story that will follow. It relates how electronic communication technology has changed the rules regarding privacy and surveillance. But the same could be said for many other areas that we will study in this course. It's possible to readily tell if someone has opened a physical enveope and read it, whereas an electronic mesage can be read without leaving a trace. The same can be said of a store: it's usually easy to tell if a book has been stolen from a physical store, but it can be hard to tell if an e-book has been illegally downloaded. As you read the introduction, look for other similarities between the issue that the authors are addressing and other topics that we will discuss in this course.
Chapter 2 of Privacy on the Line is a primer on cryptoraphy and electronic communciations. This chapter is the longest in the book. You will find that much of this chapter, especially the discussion of ciphers, goes into much more detail than we need for our purposes. Feel free to skim the technical sections, but please make sure that you understand every word that appears in italics.
As you read this book you will see that there are many raised numbers in the text. These numbers link to notes in the back of the book. In most cases the notes contain interesting side comments which will add to your understanding of the material but which would break the flow of the paragraph. Both Diffie and Landau know a lot about this topic---it's practically all they talk about---and they have a lot of interesting but extraneous information that they have put in the back pages. You are not responsible for the information in the notes, but if you don't read them you will be missing some very enjoyable material.
Each week we will make available optional readings as well. If you find things that you think are interesting, please add them to the wiki!