Syllabus Calendar Fall 2016 FSEM 100 Post 9 11 America and the Death of Privacy Section 34604R Units 2 Days Monday 2 00 3 50 p m Room LVL 3V Instructor Jonathan Kotler Contact Numbers email kotler usc edu campus phone 213 740 9944 Office ASC 202A Office Hours Monday Tuesday 10 30 a m 12 15 p m Wednesday 9 30 11 30 a m And by appointment Introduction There is a lot of talk about privacy in America today as would befit the country that invented the concept of personal privacy as a protectable right and yet it seems the more we talk about it the less we have Certainly when measured against the protection of privacy in the developed world and the European Union particularly we don t have much How come The answer to this question will be the focus of this seminar and hopefully by the time we have concluded you ll realize the truth in the words of cartoonist Walt Kelly s furry comic strip character Pogo the possum who famously said We have met the enemy and he is us Think not 1 O K How many of you have disabled the GPS devices on your smart phones Or the cookies on your computer Or did not click I agree or I accept the last time you downloaded a new piece of software or a new app And the tragedy that was 9 11 only exacerbated this process In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States the American people wanted assurances that our government was doing everything possible to make us safe and in doing so would prevent a repeat of what had happened that awful Indian summer morning early in a new century that began with so much promise for the future Forget for the moment that absolute protection against terrorism is impossible just ask Julius Caesar Abraham Lincoln William McKinley the Archduke Ferdinand John F Kennedy Ronald Reagan or more recently innocent moviegoers in Colorado and Louisiana or vacationers in Tunisia travelers in Brussels and Istanbul shoppers in Nairobi or ordinary folks out for an evening s entertainment in Paris or Dhaka people attending a Christmas party in San Bernardino or schoolchildren in Newtown Connecticut among others As a result what we got was not the absolute protection we pleaded for What we got was the illusion of protection Case in point the kabuki like security theater we engage in before getting on an airplane since 9 11 Yes we have to take off our shoes at the airport before we fly And for sure don t bring toothpaste of a certain size on the plane with us Or God forbid a bottle of water unless purchased AT the airport after we pass through security But as recent and unfortunately continual reports in the press have made clear the TSA is about as effective at stopping terrorism threats as were Lincoln s bodyguards Which is about what you d expect from folks who in reality are really one career move away from instead of asking us to remove our belts would be asking us instead You want fries with that Security theater Indeed immediately following 9 11 when the government security apparatus along with the corporations who had much to gain from supplying the government were just gearing up worried civil libertarians were asking How much liberty would you give up in the name of security Most Americans ignoring the words of Benjamin Franklin replied that they d give up whatever was asked of them Just make us safe they pleaded Two centuries earlier Franklin had said Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety Wise man that Franklin 2 Unfortunately in the years since 9 11 our government has created what is in essence The Surveillance State British novelist George Orwell had missed it by more than a quarter of a century but essentially he got it right And it will only get worse For a thirty year period between the late 1940s and late 1970s Americans in the millions turned on their televisions to be amused by a hidden camera reality comedy show called Candid Camera which was the brain child of TV pioneer Allen Funt It s premise was that you never knew when you d be caught on camera doing something stupid or embarrassing Accordingly its advertising tag line was Smile you re on Candid Camera Which is a close paraphrase to the words that appear on surveillance cameras set up at traffic intersections department store dressing rooms and public spaces the length and breadth of this country And if the omnipresence of surveillance cameras the stealing of our email the taking of our telephone metadata the cataloging of our library records the hacking into our digital data banks and the use of infrared satellite technology weren t enough of an intrusion upon what we used to call our privacy well welcome to the Age of the Drone So why am I not smiling And more to the point why are you Thus as we begin this semester s survey of the state of privacy today chew on this one Is there any fact about you anything at all that couldn t be found out by someone government terrorist tech company or lone hacker using today s readily available technology If you ve answered in the negative either you re kidding yourself or the fact in question just isn t that important which means in the private sphere at least that the disclosure of it cannot be made profitable by others Calendar August 22 Course introduction and short history of privacy as a protectable right August 29 Surprise video I ll bet you ve never seen this September 5 Labor Day no class September 12 No class 3 September 19 The Surveillance State Are we there yet September 26 No Class October 3 What Happens in Las Vegas Stays In Las Vegas October 10 National Security The fallback justification for invasion of privacy October 10 From the Folks Who Brought You Two World Wars The Erasure of the Past October 17 Fame Politics and Privacy October 24 Going to court privacy litigation October 31 No Class November 9 Trial by Social Media or Cecil s Revenge November 16 Discussion of Student Essays Seminar Roundup and Summary Course Requirements Class Format For most if not all of you this course is an add on signed up for in addition to your regular or required courses taken because of a specific interest or in the desire to pick up a couple of free no sweat units which when taken in conjunction with another Freshman Seminar next semester will count as a full elective course I get it I will try not to have your Freshman Seminar amount to an unreasonable academic burden on top of your already heavy course loads I know it sounds like a clich but