Massachusetts Institute of Technology 6.4590 - STS.085/STS.487 Foundations of Internet Policy Fall 2022 Course website: mit.edu/6.4590 Week 0: Pre-semester assignment Status: Up-to-date as of 8/26 This assignment is due on September 7 at 11:59 pm Eastern time, which is the day before the first class. You must turn in this assignment in order to finalize your admittance to the course. Submit the assignment by Google Forms as described below. Please bring a laptop to every class this semester. Assignment 0 - Briefing Judicial Opinions (due September 7 11:59pm) ● ● ● Read the Sample Case Brief, which illustrates how to brief the case Cubby v. Compuserve, 776 F.Supp 135 (SDNY, 1991), an important decision about liability of ISPs and system operators. You should at least skim Cubby and then read the sample brief, noticing how the brief (a) is short; (b) covers the essential elements of the case. You do not need to turn in anything for this part of the assignment, but you might want to make notes to refer to in class. Refer to this useful guide on how to read and brief a judicial opinion from UC Berkeley Law Prof. Orin Kerr, How to Read a Legal Opinion: A Guide for Law Students Read and write a brief of the “Do Not Call” case: Mainstream Marketing Services v. Federal Trade Commission. 358 F. 3d 1228 - Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit 2004 Be sure that your brief has these six key sections: 1. Issue: What is the legal question to be decided? 2. Procedural History: Who are the Parties to the dispute? Procedural Posture; what has happened in the court system before the case arrived at this court for decision? 3. Facts: What are the key facts that the court finds as true and relevant to applying the legal rules to the dispute? (Resist the temptation to recite ALL facts. Instead, think about which facts are really important to the holding.) 4. Holding: What is the result of the case — an answer to the question posed by the Issue relative to the Parties. 5. Reasoning: Why did the court hold as it did? 6. Dissent: Did any of the judges disagree with the majority decision of the court? On what grounds? Note that briefs are short, and typically for this class are written in outline form, not paragraphs. Maximum length for this assignment is two pages. You must turn in your brief by September 7 at 11:59pm in order to be admitted to 6.4590 for the fall. Note that September 7 is the day before the first class. Submitting the assignment: Upload your assignment as a PDF using this Google Form: https://forms.gle/t6fqU5x6Hukm5VuB7 We are using Google Forms to be more flexible for the first day of class. In the future, assignments will be submitted via Canvas. If for some reason you cannot use this Google Forms or are having trouble submitting your assignment, please email the course staff with your assignment at 6.4590-staff@mit.edu. Reading due for class on September 8: Read the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Internet Policymaking Principles (focus on pages 6-10). This reading is necessary for the class activity.
