This course will examine the global Internet in order to encourage students to think critically about social conditions on the emerging 'information superhighway.' Mailing lists, online chat lines, newsgroups, advertising and online sales provide new ways for people to interact, but also generate problems, including unequal access, unregulated collection and marketing of information, widespread violations of copyright law, 'flaming,' pornography, 'hackers,' and uncertain roles for government, corporations and police online.These issues will be examined in historical context, such as the past of publishing, film, and broadcast media. Students will begin with introductory readings from cultural studies to understand how this field examines issues in terms of the institutions, practices and roles available to participants. Then, over the course of the semester, we will read the work of cultural critics including Ted Friedman, Andrew Ross, Catherine MacKinnon, Mark Poster and Steven Rubio, examine popular advertisements, newspaper and magazine articles, professional journals from the computer industry and the bestselling books of Laurence Canter, Martha Siegel, Clifford Stoll and Nicholas Negroponte.