SPCM 449 - Law and Policy of Communication Technologies

This course was previously numbered SP 449.

This course explores the forces which design to shape our media and by extension our character. After a brief introduction to the field, we'll begin by exploring the regulation of media content, with particular regard to questions of "the public interest," and the different ways it's been understood and pursued not only in "formal" regulation by the government, but also in :informal: industry self-regulation and public advocacy.

In the next part of the course, we?ll turn back to look at how the historical regulation of media industries and technologies shaped the development of our contemporary system; How did we get here from there, what alternatives were left by the wayside, and what kinds of regulatory issues and problems surfaced along the way? Next, we'll look ahead to the digital futures of American media regulation. As these futures approach and arrive in the present, they bring new problems-like the promiscuity of digital content (think Napster).

Finally, we'll take a quick look beyond our borders, at the policies and politics of global media flows, and the conflicting forces behind the fall and rise of national boundaries.

This course can be applied towards the:

• Social Sciences (B.S.)

Textbooks and Materials

All readings are online. No textbooks are required.

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