CS 405 Ethics and Law in Computing, 3 credits
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY
Department of Computer Science
Course Description -- Fall, 2025


Sec. 1 Mon/Wed 9-10:15 a.m.  Horizon 4008  Otten  (Class Dates: 8/25-12/8; Exam: Mon. 12/15, 7:30-10:15 a.m.)

Sec. 2 Mon/Wed Noon-1:15 p.m.  Horizon 4010  Maddox (Class Dates: 8/25-12/8; Exam: Mon. 12/15, 10:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m.)

Sec. 3 Mon/Wed 1:30-2:45 p.m.  Horizon 2017  Maddox (Class Dates: 8/25-12/8; Exam: Wed. 12/10, 1:30-4:15 p.m.)

Sec. 4 Mon/Wed 3-4:15 p.m.  Planetary Hall 224 Otten  (Class Dates: 8/25-12/8; Exam: 12/15, 1:30-4:15 p.m.)

Sec. 5 Tue/Thu 3-4:15 p.m.  Thompson 2022  Laufer (Class Dates: 8/26-12/4; Exam: 12/11, 1:30-4:15 p.m.)

Sec. 6 Tue/Thu 4:30-5:55 p.m.  Thompson L004  Laufer (Class Dates: 8/26-12/4; Exam: 12/16, 4:30-7:15 p.m.)

Sec. 8 Wed 1:30-4:10 p.m.  Innovation 209  Geldon (Class Dates: 8/27-12/3; Exam: 12/10, 1:30-4:15 p.m.)

Instructors:

John E. Otten (Sections 1, 4)    Email: jotten2@gmu.edu  Office Hours: Mon Noon-1, Wed 4:30-5:30 PM or by appt.
            Campus Phone: (703) 993-1669;  Campus Office: ENGR 5335

Tamara Maddox (Sections 2, 3)   Email: tmaddox@gmu.edu  Office Hours: Mon 3:30-4:30 PM, Wed 4:30-5:30 PM or by appt.
            Campus Phone: (703) 993-1525;  Campus Office: ENGR 5347

Alexander Laufer (Sections 5, 6)  Email: alaufer@gmu.edu  Office Hours: Available before or after class

Fred Geldon (Section 8)   Email: fgeldon@gmu.edu   Office Hours: Available before or after class

Online Class Syllabus: http://cs.gmu.edu/syllabus/syllabi-Fall25/CS_405All.html
Canvas Link: https://canvas.gmu.edu

Writing TA's: 

            Sections 1, 4 (Otten): Vyakhya Verma
            Sections 2 (Maddox): Daphne Ziegenfelder
            Section 3 (Maddox): Meet Rajesh Popat
            Sections 5-6 (Laufer): Summer Reardon
            Section 8 (Geldon): Meet Rajesh Popat

UTA's:
            Sec. -001 (M/W 9-10:15 AM) (Otten): Emily Nguyen, Ibraheem Abdulrazzaq
            Sec. -002 (M/W Noon-1:15 PM) (Maddox): Min Cheol Chang, Ming Tang
            Sec. -003 (M/W 1:30-2:45 PM) (Maddox): Anand Madanapalli
            Sec. -004 (M/W 3-4:15 PM) (Otten): Yara Alsakbani, Anand Madanapalli
            Sec. -005 (T/R 3-4:15 PM) (Laufer): Ibraheem Abdulrazzaq, Deewosh Karmacharya
            Sec. -006 (T/R 4:30-5:45 PM) (Laufer): Deewosh Karmacharya, Anand Madanapalli
            Sec. -008 (Wed 1:30-4:15 PM) (Geldon): Isabella Pureza, Yara Alsakbani
            At large / Piazza (All instructors): TBD

Course Prerequisites: CS 105/110, COMM 100/101, ENGH 302; Completion of at least 85 credit hours

Req'd Textbook: Ethics and Law in Computing: Exploring Legal Issues and Ethical Concerns in 21st-Century Technology, 1st Ed. (Geldon & Maddox), Cognella, 2023. To order, you may go to gmu.bncollege.com or order more directly from the publisher at https://store.cognella.com/83768-1B-NI-007. The textbook is available in both print and digital versions. (Students who order the print version directly from Cognella will be given access to the first 30% digitally without extra charge to provide initial access while the materials are in transit.)

Course Description: This course is intended to help students culminate their undergraduate education in the field of computer science by examining many of the challenging legal and ethical issues surrounding computer technology and its use and building a foundation for dealing with those challenges. Students will use the skills they have learned in other aspects of their undergraduate work to explore legal principles related to computing and the philosophical bases for ethical decision-making and how to apply them to issues raised by computers and technology. They will also learn substantive aspects of technology-related law, including the legal frameworks for free speech and intellectual property law.  Additionally, students will learn how to communicate the results of their work effectively, both verbally and in writing, with an awareness of audience, purpose, and context.

Why you should care: This is a course about law, ethics, and big ideas.  We will spend much of our time reading, discussing, and writing about actual legal cases dealing with constitutional and computer-related issues.  It is a chance for you to understand how the law really works, and how it may apply to your future career in computing.  It is also an opportunity to consider the ethics of many computer-related issues that may actually affect you. We hope to provide you with new insights, and we may challenge what you think you know!  We expect that you will bring us new insights as well.

YOU are the most important component of this class, so please come prepared to think, discuss, and argue!  At the same time, remember to treat others respectfully, even if you disagree with their positions.

Course Outcomes:

This course is a Mason Apex course:

  1. Integrate skills, abilities, theories, or methodologies gained across a Mason student's undergraduate education to explore complex issues in original ways. [Mason Apex Course Learning Outcome 1]
  2. Communicate effectively the results of the student's work with awareness of audience, purpose, and context using both oral, written, and video modalities. [Mason Apex Course Learning Outcome 2]
  3. Be able to work with a partner and/or group to satisfy a complex task.
Technology Requirements:  All Fall, 2025 CS 405 classes are being offered in-person, so we will not be offering any online synchronous class sessions.  However, all students will have certain asynchronous requirements as well as many materials and assignments that will require Canvas  access to complete. Accordingly, all students will need to be prepared for the following technology requirements to successfully complete this class:

Writing Intensive Component: Computer Science majors do not always recognize the key role writing will play in their future professional careers. Although CS professionals working outside academia do not generally have discipline-specific writing in the conventional sense, CS majors are required to write on a regular basis in order to communicate with both technical and non-technical personnel, to explain their code and ideas, to justify their proposals, to persuade customers of the usefulness or quality of their products, and to collaborate in planning and building complex software. Thus, it is critical that CS majors learn to write clearly, to understand their audience, to explain complex ideas in language that can be understood by those with less technical expertise, and to write persuasively in order to convince others that their proposals are worthwhile, feasible, and ethical. In addition, CS majors often must create clear and organized instructional materials for those who use their systems.

CS 405 is a Writing Intensive (WI) Course that, together with CS 321, meets the GMU WI Requirements for the BS CS and BS ACS programs. Accordingly, each student in CS 405 is required to write a minimum of 1750 individual words, which will be graded and returned to the student with feedback. Students will also receive instruction on the writing process as part of class lectures and activities.  Students will satisfy the following Writing Intensive Outcomes as part of the Writing Intensive Component of the course:

    Writing-to-Learn: students will use informal or formal writing in ways that deepen their awareness of the field of study and its subject matter. 
    Writing-to-Communicate: students will compose one or more written genres specific to the field of study in order to communicate key ideas tailored to specific audiences and purposes; genres may be academic, public, or professional. 
    Writing-as-a-process: students will draft and revise written works based on feedback they receive from instructors and peers, using strategies appropriate to the genre, audience, and purpose.

Students will conduct informal writing [Writing to Learn] for in-class Writing Workshops and other activities, discussion board posts, and peer exchanges. They will provide written feedback on both discussion board and mock trial assignments. [Writing to Communicate] To work on writing as a process, students will draft and revise one or more written works based on feedback received from instructors and peers, and for at least one assignment will receive at least one week to incorporate such feedback. Writing assignments will include an initial Essay; an individual discussion board post that will be revised based on feedback received from both instructors and peers; individual portions of the semester-long Mock Trial group project [Writing as a Process, Writing to Communicate]; and a formal essay of at least 1250 words related to law and ethics, including in-class writing that will be revised based on instructor feedback and tailored to a specific audience and purpose and submitted for a draft grade, then revised again based on additional feedback and submitted as a final version for a separate grade. [Writing as a Process, Writing to Communicate] Students will also work with partners to research and prepare substantial written materials in preparation for their Mock Trials.

Grading Policy:
    1. Class Participation (incl. in-class activities and short preparatory assignments) (15%)
    2. Regular quizzes on assigned reading and recent lecture material (10%)
    3. Essay Assignments (15%)
    4. Non-trial Discussion Board assignments (10%)
    5. Mock Trial Group Project and Presentation (30% total for trial + all pretrial assignments)
    6. Final Exam (20%)

Late Work:  You are expected to submit all work by the stated due date.  Late work may be accepted at the discretion of the instructor, but if accepted will be subject to a late penalty, typically 5-10% per day (incl. weekends).  The group project is divided into several parts, and no late work will be accepted after the due date for the next sequential part. NO late work of any kind will be accepted for credit after Monday, December 8, 2025 (the final day of regular classes).  

Attendance:  Participation is extremely important to this class, and participation is difficult without attendance. Students should plan to attend ALL class sessions prepared to participate and ready to discuss the readings assigned for that day.  Failure to do so will be reflected in your class participation grade.  Students who fail to attend during the first week of classes may be dropped from the class. (Students unable to attend class due to emergency or illness should contact their instructor immediately to make special arrangements for any missed classes.) Group project grading may include a confidential review of participating group members by each student, and individual grades may be adjusted later in the semester if deemed appropriate based on repeated lack of participation or poor work quality as evidenced by either instructor observation or report by fellow group members. If an assignment requires inclusion of the Class Honor Code Pledge, it may be found here.

Course Materials: Certain slides and/or lecture recordings may be made available through Canvas.  Please note also that instructor lectures and course materials, whether written text, audio recordings, or video recordings, are protected by US Copyright law and also by GMU policy.  Instructors are the sole owners of the copyright on course materials they create.  You may NOT copy, distribute, upload, post, or display CS 405 lectures or course materials, or allow others to do so, without the creating instructor's explicit written consent.  

Honor Code:  Students are expected to abide by the GMU Common Course policies set forth here: https://stearnscenter.gmu.edu/home/gmu-common-course-policies/. All exams and certain assignments, such as the required essays, are to be individual efforts. Certain homework and portions of group or team assignments may require individual effort as well. Failure to give proper credit by using quotes and cites constitutes plagiarism. Use of unauthorized sources, including electronic assistance such as ChatGPT, is not permitted and will be considered unauthorized assistance under the aforementioned GMU Common Course standards. See here for an explanation of quotes and cites for this class. If you have any questions about proper citation method, contact your instructor.

AI policy: All assignments in CS 405 are expected to be your own work (either individually, or in the case of group work, in collaboration with your group members). Use of AI assistance, such as ChatGPT, is strictly forbidden for both individual and group work unless explicitly authorized for a particular assignment and purpose by your professor.

Special Accommodations: If you are a student with a disability, please see your instructor and contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS) at (703) 993-2474. All academic accommodations must be arranged through the ODS: http://ods.gmu.edu. Should any accommodations involve a request for time extensions, please make sure that you contact your instructor regarding such extensions well in advance of any specific due date, since some extensions may not be possible without advance notice. Please note that ODS accommodations generally do not apply to group work.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS):  Contact CAPS at (703) 993-2380 or http://caps.gmu.edu.
Writing Center: Johnson Center, Room 227E, (703) 993-1200 or http://writingcenter.gmu.edu.

Student privacy rights under FERPA: https://registrar.gmu.edu/ferpa
Mason General Education: This course meets the Mason Apex Core Requirement and (together with CS 321) the WI requirement.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: None of the information presented in this course should be considered specific legal advice. Each situation is unique and requires individual attention. Students with individual legal concerns should not rely on information obtained in this course in making any legal decisions. Should you have a problem or concern requiring legal attention, you should seek specific advice from an attorney of your choosing.