Law Commons^™

Making Room For Big Data: Web Scraping And An Affirmative Right To Access Publicly Available Information Online, Amber Zamora

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

This paper will explore the legality of web scraping through the lens of recent litigation between web scraper hiQ Labs and the online professional networking platform, LinkedIn. First, the paper will study the background of web scraping litigation, some challenges courts face in issuing consistent verdicts, and the most common claims companies make against web scrapers. Then the paper will address three of the most common claims and identify court motivations and limitations within the doctrines. The first claims are those arising from the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Next, the paper will investigate copyright claims and defenses …

Web Of Lives: How Regulating The Dark Web Can Combat Online Human Trafficking, Christopher Campbell

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This article argues that one of the ways to appropriately fight online human trafficking is through governmental regulation of the Dark Web. Specifically, this article argues that a new Attaching Criminal Dark Web Statute is the best method to combat human trafficking because it can incentivize prosecutors to use current human trafficking statutes to prosecute traffickers. This proposal can deter traffickers from enslaving people. Additionally, this article shows the evolution of online human trafficking laws, investigation, and prosecution (Section II); demonstrates why current and proposed laws do not effectively address the online human trafficking issue (Sections III and IV); introduces …

Privacy Remedies, Lauren H. Scholz

Indiana Law Journal

When consumers sue companies for privacy-intrusive practices, they are often unsuccessful. Many cases fail in federal court at the motion to dismiss phase because the plaintiff has not shown the privacy infringement has caused her concrete harm. This is a symptom of a broader issue: the failure of courts and commentators to describe the relationship between privacy rights and privacy remedies.

This Article contends that restitution is the normal measure of privacy remedies. Restitution measures relief by economic gain to the defendant. If a plaintiff can show the likely ability to recover in restitution, that should be sufficient to pass …

Data Scraping As A Cause Of Action: Limiting Use Of The Cfaa And Trespass In Online Copying Cases, Kathleen C. Riley

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

In recent years, online platforms have used claims such as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”) and trespass to curb data scraping, or copying of web content accomplished using robots or web crawlers. However, as the term “data scraping” implies, the content typically copied is data or information that is not protected by intellectual property law, and the means by which the copying occurs is not considered to be hacking. Trespass and the CFAA are both concerned with authorization, but in data scraping cases, these torts are used in such a way that implies that real property norms exist …

Terms Of Service And The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act: A Trap For The Unwary?, David A. Puckett

Oklahoma Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

The Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access To Digital Assets Act: Has The Law Caught Up With Technology?, Elizabeth Sy

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Data Privacy Regulation In The Age Of Smartphones, Matthew Hettrich

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Juxtaposition And Intent: Analyzing Legal Interpretation Through The Lens Of Literary Criticism, Joel Graczyk

Marquette Law Review

Disagreement exists within both the literary and legal communities about authorial intent’s proper role in interpretation. In an effort to balance textualism’s strict limits with intentionalism’s risk of constructed meaning, this Comment approaches the debate from a literary perspective focused on the text but open to limited evidence of the author’s intended meaning. Some literary critics suggest that evidence of an author’s understanding of and associations with particular words can provide a useful tool for objective interpretation. A judge drawing on such evidence could analyze statutory text by juxtaposing a statute’s language with limited evidence of the enacting legislature’s understanding …

Kill The Dinosaurs, And Other Tips For Achieving Technical Competence In Your Law Practice, Antigone Peyton

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

It is a challenge to practice law in the digital age. This is particularly true when a practice involves significant e-Discovery, Intellectual Property, and technology law—areas in which technical issues merge with legal ones. One of the major challenges of bringing a law practice up to twenty-first-century standards relates to dinosaur thoughts, a.k.a. an “old ways are best” mentality.

A Cloudy Forecast: Divergence In The Cloud Computing Laws Of The United States, European Union, And China, Tina Cheng

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Copyright Law, Privacy, And Illegal File Sharing: Defeating A Defendant's Claims Of Privacy Invasion, Daniel Gomez-Sanchez

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Finding The Solution In Wec Carolina Energy Solutions: The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act In The Workplace, Emily V. Malone

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cyber Security Active Defense: Playing With Fire Or Sound Risk Management, Sean L. Harrington

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

“Banks Remain the Top Target for Hackers, Report Says,” is the title of an April 2013 American Banker article. Yet, no new comprehensive U.S. cyber legislation has been enacted since 2002, and neither legislative history nor the statutory language of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) or Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) make reference to the Internet. Courts have nevertheless filled in the gaps—sometimes with surprising results.

Amending The Economic Espionage Act To Require The Disclosure Of National Security-Related Technology Thefts, David Orozco

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Expected Harm Approached To Compensating Consumers For Unauthorized Information Disclosures, Rachel Yoo

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

On May 22, 2007, the Executive Office of the President of the United States issued a memorandum concerned with safeguarding personal information, which first defined the term “personally identifiable information” as follows:

[I]nformation which can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, such as their name, social security number, biometric records, etc. alone, or when combined with other personal or identifying information which is linked or linkable to a specific individual, such as date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc.

Restraining Amazon.Com's Orwellian Potential: The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act As Consumer Rights Legislation, Alicia C. Sanders

Federal Communications Law Journal

In 2009, Amazon.com decided to correct a potential copyright violation by deleting e-books by George Orwell and Ayn Rand from the Kindles of users who had already purchased the offending texts. Two of those users, Justin Gawronski and Antoine Bruguier, claimed that Amazon.com had violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) by accessing their Kindles without authorization. The plaintiffs also relied on other causes of action, including breach of contract and trespass to chattels. Although the dispute quickly settled, the Gawronski lawsuit remains a useful case study that shows why the CFAA is a useful protection for consumers. Recently, …

Hacking Into Federal Court: Employee "Authorization" Under The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act, Thomas E. Booms

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Few would disagree that computers play an important role in modern United States society. However, many would be surprised to discover the modest amount of legislation governing computer use. Congress began addressing computer crime in 1984 by enacting the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The CFAA represented the first piece of federal legislation governing computer crimes and has undergone eight amendments to date, making it one of the most expansive criminal laws in the United States. In 1994, Congress added a civil provision opening the door for application of the statute in novel situations. Initially enacted to target crimes …

Agency, Code, Or Contract: Determining Employees' Authorization Under The Computer Fraud And Abuse Act, Katherine Mesenbring Field

Michigan Law Review

The federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ("CFAA ") provides for civil remedies against individuals who have accessed a protected computer without authorization or in excess of their authorization. With increasing numbers of employees using computers at work, employers have turned to the CFAA in situations where disloyal employees have pilfered company information from the employer's computer system. The vague language of the CFAA, however, has led courts to develop three different interpretations of "authorization" in these CFAA employment cases, with the result that factually similar cases in different courts can generate opposite outcomes in terms of employee liability under …

A Marriage Of Convenience? A Comment On The Protection Of Databases, Jane C. Ginsburg

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Information Privacy And Internet Company Insolvencies: When A Business Fails, Does Divesture Or Bankruptcy Better Protect The Consumer?, Farah Z. Usmani

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.

The Crime Of "Interruption Of Computer Services To Authorized Users" Have You Ever Heard Of It?, Jeff Nemerofsky

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

The "interruption of computer services to authorized users," involves a violation of a series of federal and state computer-related crime laws which are designed to protect the authorized users of computer systems.Because most of these laws have only recently been legislated, and since few people have ever actually been charged with such violations, there is very little history or case law in this area. However, as computer-related crimes continue to escalate, these statutes could prove to be a positive force in efforts to catch the electronic criminals of the future. "Although there has never been accurate nationwide reporting of computer …