This concentration provides training and insight into the ethical, legal, and policy dimensions of contemporary information technology. Building on research and contemporary debates in law, policy and the social sciences, Ethics, Law and Policy (ELP) students learn about key processes and institutions shaping the technology landscape, and how these institutions are changing in turn to accommodate emerging technologies and practices. 

The core course related to this concentration is INFO 1200: Information Ethics, Law, and Policy.

Some faculty members whose research is related to this concentration include: Solon Barocas, Cristobal Cheyre, Chris Csíkszentmihályi, Tarleton Gillespie, Steve Jackson, Karen Levy, Helen Nissenbaum, Phoebe Sengers, and Gili Vidan.

Career Paths

  • Professional careers in law, management, and policy;
  • Graduate work in policy-related fields (law, management, policy, etc.)
  • IS students of all types seeking a better understanding the ethical, legal and policy dimensions of their work.

Information Ethics, Law, and Policy Courses

Please reference the Cornell Class Roster for details on the below courses.

A. Frameworks and Institutions (choose one) 

  • INFO 4113: Technology and Law Colloquium
  • INFO 4200: Information Policy: Applied Research and Analysis
  • INFO 4250: Surveillance and Privacy
  • INFO 4301: Ethics in New Media, Technology, and Communication
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - U.S. Copyright Law
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - Law, Policy, and Politics of Cybersecurity
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - Law, Policy and Politics of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • HADM 4890: The Law of the Internet and E-Commerce
  • PUBPOL 3460: Culture, Law, and Politics of Information Policy
  • STS 2761: Governing Everyday Life

B. Methods and Analysis (choose one)

  • INFO 2921: Inventing an Information Society
  • INFO 4240: Designing Technology for Social Impact
  • INFO 4800: Behavioral Science Interventions
  • ​INFO 4940: Special Topics - Good Tech, Bad Tech
  • ​INFO 4940: Special Topics - Technology and Social Change Practicum
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - Clockwork: Infrastructure, Work, and Time
  • COMM 4242: The Design & Governance of Field Experiments
  • CRP 3210: Introduction to Quantitative Methods for the Analysis of Public Policy
  • PUBPOL 2300 (previously PAM 2300): Introduction to Policy Analysis

C. Cases/Topics (choose one)

  • INFO 3200: Technology, Behavior and Society (previously New Media and Society)
  • INFO 3460: Crowds, Communities, and Technology
  • INFO 3561: Computing Cultures
  • INFO 4145: Privacy and Security in the Data Economy
  • INFO 4260: Computing on Earth: Planetary Dimensions and Consequence of Computing
  • ​INFO 4270: Ethics and Policy in Data Science
  • INFO 4390: Practical Principles for Designing Fair Algorithms
  • ​INFO 4561: Stars, Scores, and Rankings: Evaluation and Society
  • INFO 4940: Special Topics - Knowledge Infrastructures
  • STS 3440: The Data Science & Society Lab
  • STS 4040: Due Process Clinic

D. Tools and Technical Domains (choose one)

  • INFO 3300: Visual Data Analytics for the Web (previously Data-Driven Web Applications)
  • INFO 3350: Text Mining History and Literature
  • INFO 3370: Studying Social Inequality Using Data Science
  • INFO 4100: Learning Analytics
  • INFO 4120: Ubiquitous Computing
  • ​INFO 4300: Language and Information
  • INFO 4350: Conversations and Information

Students may petition the Director of Undergraduate Studies to allow any upper-level (3000 or above) technical IS course relevant to their work in ELP to satisfy Category D.