Course Syllabus

Issues of Law and Policy in Computer Science

Course Goals

The overall goal for this course is to help you understand the ways law and policy intersect with the field of computer science. This is how we hope to achieve this goal:

1. Lectures will help you understand fundamental legal concepts and vocabulary
2. Readings will help you understand how legal concepts are applied to technology
3. Projects will require you to apply your legal and technical knowledge simultaneously

Course Description

This course will explore the intersection of public policy and computing technology. After a basic overview of the US legal system and administrative state, the course will examine the ways computing technology is regulated in areas such as privacy, crime, intellectual property, commerce, and national security. Students in the course will complete a series of technical projects related to legal issues, such as scrutinizing digital rights management technology, evaluating digital forensics reports and expert testimony, or critiquing software intellectual property disputes. Students will also be expected to regularly read and respond to excerpts from relevant legal opinions. Topics covered in the course will include Fourth and Fifth Amendment protections in cyberspace, network neutrality, antitrust, Section 230 and content moderation, the CFAA, AI and copyright, cryptocurrency and digital property, digital espionage, and cyberwarfare.

Course Staff

Instructor: Ryan Cunningham
Office: 2211 Siebel Center
Email: rcunnin2@illinois.edu
Office Hours: Wed, Fri 2pm-2:50pm in person or via ZoomLinks to an external site.

TA: Bhavana Bheem
Email: bbheem2@illinois.edu
Office Hours: Monday 1:30-3:30pm Siebel basement or Zoom

Grading

For the 3-credit version of the course, your grade will be based on the following:

Criterion	Percentage
Reading Quizzes	35%
Course Participation	15%
Course Projects	25%
Final Exam	25%

Cutoffs (Added 10/15 in response to student questions)

Below, you'll find tentative grade cutoffs. I reserve the right to modify these cutoffs, but they will never be revised upward. In other words, I will only change the cutoffs in your favor.

Grade	Cutoff
A	92%
A-	90%
B+	88%
B	82%
B-	80%
C+	78%
C	72%
C-	70%
D	60%

Reading Quizzes: There will be regular quizzes during class about the reading. The purpose of these quizzes is to help you stay accountable for the readings. The readings are where you will learn the most in this course. There's a lot of reading, but it's important!

Reading quizzes will be held on the following dates:

Quiz	Date
1	09/11
2	10/02
3	10/23 (moved from 10/21)
4	11/13 (moved from 11/06)
5	12/02 (moved from 11/20)

Reading quiz coverage can be found here.

Course Participation: You will be expected to come prepared to every lecture ready to discuss the readings. The instructor might call on you for basic information about them. You should be ready to answer. Being unprepared when called on will be marked as an absence, so make sure you keep up with the reading! Note: Please don't be afraid I'll try to stump you or trick you or embarrass you. This is not that kind of class.

Course Projects: There will be 4 projects over the course of the semester that will require applying both technical knowledge and legal knowledge. These projects can be completed in small groups of 3 - 4 students.

Final: There will be a comprehensive final exam during finals week that will cover both the readings and lecture material. We will use the official exam time and location assigned by the university. They usually announce this schedule about halfway through the semester.

Four-Credit Option

If you've signed up for the four-credit version of this course, you will have two additional responsibilities this semester.  The previous requirements will make up 75% of your grade. The following two requirements will make up the remaining 25% of your grade. These will both be due by the end of the semester, but I don't recommend waiting until the last minute. The two additional requirements are:

1. Courtroom observations (10%): You will be required to visit and observe a both a criminal and civil trial in person. You are not required to attend the entire trial, but you must observe for at least 2 hours each. More details are available here.
2. Law and Policy Review Paper (15%): You will write an extensive (approximately 15 page) review of an area of tech law and policy of your choice. Get approval for your topic from the professor before you go too deep on your research. You should review relevant written laws, case law, legislative proposals, policy white papers, and legal scholarship. You're also welcome to read and review relevant books.

Textbooks

Required Textbook

Grimmelmann, James. Internet law: Cases and problems. Fourteenth Edition. Semaphore Press, 2025.

You will need this book! Most of our reading will come from this book. Fortunately, it's very affordable and easy to obtain at this link.

Optional Books

McKinsey, John A., and Debra Burke. Carper's Understanding the Law. Seventh Edition. Cengage Learning, 2022.

This book is a great introduction to basic legal concepts. The lectures are directly tied to chapters in this book.

Kerr, Orin S. Computer Crime Law. Fifth Edition. MN: West, 2022.

This book is for law students and goes much deeper into criminal law. Some of the reading comes from this book, but I will supply PDFs of that material.

Course Policies

Excused Absence

An excused absence for the course should fall into one of the categories described for obtaining an absence letter in the Student Code. This includes things like: prolonged illness, life threatening injury of an immediate family member, death of a family member, religious beliefs, volunteer emergency work, or significant and compelling circumstances beyond a student's control. Note: Job interviews and personal travel are explicitly excluded. You are responsible for resolving conflicts in your own schedule. This is, after all, a course about being professional.

If you have a significant life event, an absence letter might help.

Academic Integrity

Since this is an ethics course, I will be very strict about academic integrity in this course. Please be aware that when you submit an assignment in this course, you are representing that submission to the world as your own independent work. That work will be held to the standards of the university academic integrity policy. If you are uncertain if something constitutes an academic integrity violation, you must ask before you submit your assignment. Once you submit your assignment, it is too late.

There are a few details of the university's academic integrity policies I want to make crystal clear: 

• If you use someone else’s ideas or quote someone in your work, proper acknowledgement must be given. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism.
• If another person's exact words appear in your paper, they must be quoted. Failing to quote another person's work constitutes plagiarism. Rewriting someone else's exact words to avoid quoting them also constitutes plagiarism.
• Words generated by software (e.g. an LLM) are not your own. If you use them in your paper, this constitutes plagiarism.
• Using invented facts or sources is explicitly against the university's academic integrity policy. This includes so-called "AI hallucinations." It is your responsibility to verify the information in your work. If you include false information in your submission, this constitutes fabrication.

Late Registration

If you register for this course late, you are responsible for submitting all prior assignments within one week of your registration as well as keeping up with future due dates. If you are considering registering late, you are welcome to contact the instructor to get access to view and submit assignments prior to being officially registered.

Mental Health

Diminished mental health, including significant stress, mood changes, excessive worry, substance/alcohol abuse, or problems with eating and/or sleeping can interfere with optimal academic performance, social development, and emotional well-being. The University of Illinois offers a variety of confidential services including individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, psychiatric services, and specialized screenings at no additional cost. If you or someone you know experiences any of the above mental health concerns, it is strongly encouraged to contact or visit any of the University’s resources provided below. Getting help is a smart and courageous thing to do -- for yourself and for those who care about you.

Counseling Center: 217-333-3704, 610 East John Street Champaign, IL 61820

McKinley Health Center:217-333-2700, 1109 South Lincoln Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801