POL S 334: Law, Surveillance, and Technology
Spring Quarter 2026
Professor Brie McLemore | email: bmclem@uw.edu
Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:30 - 12:50 | Thomson Hall 101
Office Hours: Wednesdays from 12pm to 2pm, by appointment
Office: Gowen Hall 25
Recent surveys reveal that the majority of U.S. adults are concerned about government uses of data, distrust tech corporations, and are skeptical about the effectiveness of existing privacy protections. These anxieties have manifested in increased pressure on governments and corporations to safeguard consumer privacy. Yet, significant gaps remain in regulating mass-surveillance technologies.
This course will ask how and why technologies often evade regulatory efforts while contending with the real-world implications of surveillance. Students will hone their analytical skills by critically examining the possibilities and limitations of regulatory efforts by the courts, as well as local, state, federal, and international governing bodies. Through an intersectional lens, students will examine the disproportionate impact of surveillance on marginalized communities and how regulatory efforts fuel and legitimize such inequities.
This course will be historical in nature, situating contemporary manifestations of data-driven technologies within a lineage of increasing surveillance techniques adopted by the state and corporations. This will entail tracing the evolution of both technological innovations, as well as American legal reasoning from its Western philosophical origins to the court rulings and legislation of the present. Might it be possible that conceptions of freedom and self-determination, which serve as the foundation for privacy rights, actually function to undermine them in the digital age?
This course counts towards the Field D, American Government and Politics, requirement for Political Science majors.
Course Objectives:
After successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
- Read, comprehend, and synthesize regulatory documents (i.e., court rulings, legal and policy briefs, statutes, ordinances, executive orders, international data protection laws, and corporate privacy policies)
- Evaluate the gap between the aims of such regulatory attempts and their actual impact, with a particular focus on implementation
- Contextualize contemporary regulatory efforts within the broader historical construction of the American legal and political landscape
- Identify the consequences of “big data” for individuals and social groups
- Differentiate and critique the particular ramifications of surveillance for vulnerable groups
Assignments:
- Participation
- Reading Responses (2)
- Mid-Term Exam
- Final Essay