This portion of the senior design course is intended to give you some experience with how computer science and computer engineering technology interacts with economic/societal issues and legal issues.

Rarely do decisions about technology get made without balancing the pros and cons of the technology with other considerations. Companies consider not only the technology, but also the cost, potential profit, impact upon other products, and whether the approach is legal. Other institutions consider not only the potential benefit of the technology, but also the impact upon the economy and the impact upon society.

We will briefly delve into these issues using a case study related to Net Neutrality (NN). The defnition of Net Neutrality is hotly debated. See the wikipedia entry on NN for an overview. The topic has been hotly debated in the United States Congress as well as other venues for the last few years.

Assignment to be completed before class (1/18 for CSE 181B, 1/25 for EECS 129B):

Expect to spend about 4 hours on this assignment before class.

In class on Friday (1/18 for CSE 181B, 1/25 for EECS 129B), your group will be called upon to present an argument for or against Net Neutrality. To prepare for this task, I recommend the following reading.

• Read the Congressional Research Service's Net Neutrality: Background and Issues and Access to Broadband Networks to get an introduction to Net Neutrality and the issues surrounding it. These reports were prepared for members of Congress to learn about the issue.
• Read Background for net neutrality case study, which I wrote to give you background on technical and legal aspects underlying the issue.

Where you go from here to find additional information is up to you. Here are some possibilities:

• Look at some of the advertisements on net neutrality that were placed in publications commonly read by congressional staffers.
• View some of the Internet video pieces on net neutrality.
  • Pro net neutrality video by savetheinternet.com [Click on play on the YouTube video.]
  • Anti net neutrality video by handsoff.org
  • A description of net neutrality by Sen. Stevens, Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in 2006 (audio only).
  • Coverage of net neutrality on The Daily Show.
  • An amusing remix of Sen. Stevens comments.
  • Net neutrality music (here and here).
• Read some of the media coverage of net neutrality (Note: You must be logged into a UCI computer or using the VPN to access these):
  • The New York Times, Tollbooths on the Internet Highway (February 20, 2006) (available through http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/)
  • The Washington Post, The Eden Illusion (March 13, 2006) (available through http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/)
  • Los Angeles Times, Phone, Cable May Charge Dot-Coms That Want to Race Along the Internet (April 9, 2006)
  • The Wall Street Journal, The Web's Worst New Idea (May 18, 2006)
  • Forbes, Nettlesome Idea (June 5, 2006) (UCI Libary Online Resources, search for Forbes, select source, search for "Nettlesome Idea")
  • Moyers on America, The Net @ Risk (watch video or read transcript at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/moyersonamerica/net/neutrality.html)

You are encouraged to find additional information by searching for additional media and academic papers on the issue.  The librarian has put together a webpage with links to information sources here. On this page, good starting points include LexisNexis Academic Universe, Opposing Viewpoints, and Wikipedia. However, plagiarism from any such source is a violation of the policy on academic honesty.

You are welcome to split up the reading among members of your group.

Each group must signup for the argument they will make. The signup consists of the combination of exactly one Position and one Basis.

The Positions are:

• Pro - Argue for Net Neutrality.
• Con - Argue against Net Neutrality.

The Bases are:

• Technical - Argue on the basis of the technical approach.
• Economic/Societal - Argue on the basis of the economic impact and what is good for society.
• Legal - Argue on the basis of what current Uniteds States communications law mandates, allows, or prohibits.

For instance, if your group selects to argue Pro & Economic, you must construct an argument supporting Net Neutrality and the argument must be based on the economic and societal impact.

I recommend reserving 2 hours for the reading, 1 hour to form your argument, and 1 hour to combine your individual arguments into a group position.

CSE 181B: To signup, please go here. Each student must signup before 1/15 10pm, in order to receive credit for this assignment.

EECS 129B: To signup, please go here. Each student must signup before 1/22 10pm, in order to receive credit for this assignment.

During class on 1/18 for CSE 181B, 1/25 for EECS 129B:

Each group will be called upon during class to present your argument. Each combination of Position and Basis will be expected to use exactly 2 minutes to present your argument. (EECS 129B: You will split this time with the other group that has your same Position and Basis.) Following the argument of the Pro and Con groups on a Basis, each side will have 1 minute to respond. You may elect one or more members of your group to speak. Following these arguments, we will discuss the issues raised, and I will attempt to answer any questions that arise.

Report to be completed after class:

Each group should write a brief report summarizing the arguments on each Basis that they found the most persuasive. You may choose to present your group's ideas and/or other group's ideas communicated during class. You may present arguments that you found in the literature (e.g. the advertisements, video, or media linked to above), but you must cite these as references.

You should turn in a single report for your group. The group report should be no less than 4 pages and no more than 8 pages (not including the cover page). Use 12 point font and reasonable page margins. There should be at least 1 page devoted to each of the three Bases.

You may format your report in postscript, PDF, or Microsoft Word. Please include the names and email addresses of everyone in your group on a cover page. The file size can not exceed 1MB.

The report must be submitted by a single group member by the following deadline:

CSE 181B: Sunday 2/10 10pm

EECS 129B: Sunday 2/3 10pm

To submit the report, login to e3.uci.edu and click on "DropBox", and look for a DropBox named "Net Neutrality". Submit the report to that DropBox in the AssignmentSubmission folder. Your upload will be timestamped, so I will know if you submitted it by the deadline. I will be able to review your report, but your classmates will not. Complete instructions on DropBox submission are here.