Copyright, Censorship, and Information Control

Catalog description

This course will offer an in-depth examination of the larger question of who controls information. Beginning with a review of the concept and history of copyright laws as a means for assuring economic control, the course will then move into an analysis of censorship by schools, local communities, and national governments. A major portion of the course will also address the relatively new issue of information control effected by digital means - from the use of search engines and misinformation to influence public opinion to the tracking of individuals and the data harvesting that has become the primary economic driver of so many technology platforms.