Politics of Information

This course explores current debates about government regulation of online businesses. We start by examining the unintended consequences of digital advertising models that support many large online companies. We then review debates over antitrust, mis- and dis-information, privacy, content controls (e.g. pornography), and section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The primary focus of the class is on US policy, but we will examine the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the most significant data protection legislation to date. We also look briefly at the way that these issues are being addressed elsewhere in the world and discuss the challenge of national regulation of global businesses.

Now offered as Info 290S. Introduction to Politics of Information.