Cyber Law
Students will gain a broad knowledge of constitutional, civil, criminal, and related legal considerations that arise in the context of work or citizenship in an increasingly cyber/digital world. Whether the student seeks a career in the public or private sector, the student will gain insight into both the limits and authorities on government or private sector activities, from the creation and protection of intellectual property, to the investigation of unlawful cyber activities, to the considerations of cyber operations in an increasingly dangerous world. This broadened awareness will help students successfully navigate and strengthen personal and professional choices as they move ahead.
Course Material
Assignment 1
You have landed a position as an intern (paid) for the governor of Virginia.
Assume that Virginia has not enacted any privacy laws to protect the personal information/data of its citizens.
Hearing about recent incidents of thefts and misuse of personal information/data, Virginians have been calling the Governor’s office to angrily complain about the lack of protection of their personal information/data. A large number of the callers believe that their privacy is being violated. As it now stands, their personal information/data is being collected and used by people and organizations – sometimes with and sometimes without their consent. Some citizens express concern about the collection and use of their “biometric data”; others mention something about “PII”; and others call for Virginia to enact a law like the “GDPR”. The Governor wants to understand the problem better and perhaps propose legislation (the Governor is up for re-election in November). The Governor learned that you are taking a Cyber Law course and has turned to you for help understanding the issues.
Writing Assignment Spring 2024
Assignment 2
“Without a warrant or particularized suspicion, U.S. citizens are forced through invasive screening procedures at U.S. airports, sports events, and courthouses. Citizens’ laptops, mail, and luggage are also checked at the border and at the entrances to critical infrastructure components and other sites attractive to terrorists. We allow such warrantless searches because the government’s order and security interests are high and the searches reasonable and proportionate to the task. Analogous searches for analogous reasons on masses of domestic communications seem untoward because of the number of communications involved and because we do not think bits of data or strings of code can do much harm. But bits and strings can do, and are doing, enormous harm, and there might be little way for the government to check this harm short of having a comprehensive picture of what is happening in the network. In such a world, massive government snooping in the network can be lawful if proper and credible safeguards are put in place.”
This essay nicely illustrates one of the tensions present in cyber – balancing privacy against security.
Here is the topic for discussion: Do you agree with the use of a government-coordinated intrusion-prevention system like EINSTEIN across all non-government networks in the U.S?