Law Commons^™

Cell Phones Are Orwell's Telescreen: The Need For Fourth Amendment Protection In Real-Time Cell Phone Location Information, Matthew Devoy Jones

Cleveland State Law Review

Courts are divided as to whether law enforcement can collect cell phone location information in real-time without a warrant under the Fourth Amendment. This Article argues that Carpenter v. United States requires a warrant under the Fourth Amendment prior to law enforcement’s collection of real-time cell phone location information. Courts that have required a warrant prior to the government’s collection of real-time cell phone location information have considered the length of surveillance. This should not be a factor. The growing prevalence and usage of cell phones and cell phone technology, the original intent of the Fourth Amendment, and United States …

Rights On Publicity As Remarkably Insignificant, R. George Wright

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article introduces the right of publicity through a brief consideration of high-profile cases involving, respectively, Paris Hilton, human cannonball Hugo Zacchini, and the famous actress Olivia de Havilland. With this background understanding, the Article considers the supposed risks to freedom of speech posed by recognizing rights of publicity in a private party. From there, the Article addresses the nagging concern that the publicity rights cases promote a harmful "celebrification" of culture. Finally, the Article considers whether allowing for meaningful damage recoveries in publicity rights cases appropriately compensates victims in ways promoting the broad public interest.

Against Notice And Choice: The Manifest Failure Of The Proceduralist Paradigm To Protect Privacy Online (Or Anywhere Else), John A. Rothchild

Cleveland State Law Review

Notice and choice are the foundational principles underlying the regulation of privacy in online transactions and in most other situations in which individuals interact with the government and commercial interests. These principles mean that before collecting personally identifiable information (PII) from an individual, the collector must provide the individual with a disclosure (notice) of what PII it proposes to collect and how it proposes to use that information. That knowledge enables the individual to make a rational decision (choice) about whether to allow that collection of information, generally by declining to enter into the transaction or, in some situations, by …

Game Of Phones: The Fourth Amendment Implications Of Real-Time Cell Phone Tracking, Cal Cumpstone

Cleveland State Law Review

With the help of technological advancements, law enforcement can now hijack a targeted individual’s cell phone to ping and track the phone’s exact location in real time. Based upon previous rulings, this new tracking process has apparently fallen into a "grey area" of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. However, real-time cell phone tracking should be a search in terms of the Fourth Amendment and, therefore, require a warrant. Real-time cell phone tracking infringes on an individual’s reasonable expectation of privacy, violates the trespass doctrine as a trespass to chattels, and violates the Kyllo standard by using technology not in general public use …

Social Data Discovery And Proportional Privacy, Agnieszka Mcpeak

Cleveland State Law Review

Social media platforms aggregate large amounts of personal information as "social data" that can be easily downloaded as a complete archive. Litigants in civil cases increasingly seek out broad access to social data during the discovery process, often with few limits on the scope of such discovery. But unfettered access to social data implicates unique privacy concerns—concerns that should help define the proper scope of discovery.

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended in 2015, already contain the tools for crafting meaningful limits on intrusive social data discovery. In particular, the proportionality test under Rule 26 weighs the burdens …

The Only Americans Legally Prohibited From Knowing Who Their Birth Parents Are: A Rejection Of Privacy Rights As A Bar To Adult Adoptees' Access To Original Birth And Adoption Records, Susan Whittaker Hughes

Cleveland State Law Review

Sadly, adult adoptees in America must confront the reality that, in most states, their right to access their original birth and adoption records is a very narrow right statutorily granted only to those who can show good cause. Part II of this paper will explore the reasons why adult adoptees search for information regarding their biological origins and the history of adult adoptees' access to original birth and adoption records. Part III will give a brief overview of the concept of constitutional privacy and discuss the several categories of privacy currently recognized in American law and the relationship between privacy …

Re-Righting The Right To Privacy: The Supreme Court And The Constitutional Right To Privacy In Criminal Law, Jana Nestlerode

Cleveland State Law Review

Since the 1970's, federal legislation has expanded privacy rights in nonconstitutional areas. Juxtaposed against this more liberal legislative trend is the action of a significantly more conservative judiciary which has, and is, contracting that right in those areas governed by the Constitution. An examination of the Supreme Court's most recent decisions in the criminal law arena readily bears witness to this proclivity.

Robbins, Belton And Ross: Reconsideration Of Bright Line Rules For Warrantless Container Searches, Christopher J. St. John

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note analyzes the development of these warrantless container search and seizure exceptions to furnish a comprehensive review of their justifications. The major focus is on the underlying rationale of Belton and Ross and the possible ramifications of such far-reaching warrant exceptions. The Note recommends that state courts interpret their state constitutions to allow the less drastic alternative of warrantless seizures of certain containers rather than warrantless searches as permitted by Belton and Ross under the federal Constitution. In addition, an analytic methodology for isolating interrelated yet distinct search and seizure questions is proposed. Initially, a general background of fourth …

The Psychological Stress Evaluator: Yesterday's Dream - Tomorrow's Nightmare, Deborah Lewis Hiller

Cleveland State Law Review

This note will examine the manner in which the Psychological Stress Evaluator functions and explore the legal implications stemming from its use as a lie detector. More specifically, three issues which arise in connection with the use of the PSE will be discussed: first, the validity and reliability of the PSE; second, the admissibility of PSE test results in evidence; and third, the potential remedies for subjects of PSE tests who have occasion to object.