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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Law

U.S. Media Law Update, Lyrissa Lidsky, Racheal Jones Jan 2016

U.S. Media Law Update, Lyrissa Lidsky, Racheal Jones

Faculty Publications

In June 2015 the United States Supreme Court completed what was hailed as its most ‘liberal term of the ages’, issuing major decisions on controversial issues, such as same-sex marriage, affirmative action and the Affordable Care Act. The Court’s free press jurisprudence, however, remained largely unchanged after its last term. The Court did not decide any significant press cases. Instead, the Court sidestepped the opportunity to resolve important questions about the constitutional limits on the prosecution of threats made via social media in one notable case, and set a new, more speech-protective standard for determining when a law is content-based …


Privacy And The New Press, Lyrissa Lidsky Jan 2015

Privacy And The New Press, Lyrissa Lidsky

Faculty Publications

In The First Amendment Bubble, Professor Amy Gajda comprehensively examines privacy threats posed by digital media and “quasi-journalists” and demonstrates how their intrusive practices threaten existing press freedoms.


Secret Consumer Scores And Segmentations: Separating Consumer 'Haves' From 'Have-Nots', Amy J. Schmitz Jan 2014

Secret Consumer Scores And Segmentations: Separating Consumer 'Haves' From 'Have-Nots', Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

“Big Data” is big business. Data brokers profit by tracking consumers’ information and behavior both on- and offline and using this collected data to assign consumers evaluative scores and classify consumers into segments. Companies then use these consumer scores and segmentations for marketing and to determine what deals, offers, and remedies they provide to different individuals. These valuations and classifications are based on not only consumers’ financial histories and relevant interests, but also their race, gender, ZIP Code, social status, education, familial ties, and a wide range of additional data. Nonetheless, consumers are largely unaware of these scores and segmentations, …


Regulating Offensiveness: Snyder V. Phelps, Emotion, And The First Amendment, Christina E. Wells Jan 2010

Regulating Offensiveness: Snyder V. Phelps, Emotion, And The First Amendment, Christina E. Wells

Faculty Publications

In its upcoming term, the Court will decide in Snyder v. Phelps whether Albert Snyder can sue the Reverend Fred Phelps and other members of the Westboro Baptist Church for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress for protesting near his son’s funeral. Those arguing in favor of tort liability claim that the Phelps’ speech during a time of mourning and vulnerability is especially outrageous and injurious and that the First Amendment allows such regulation. Their arguments, however, effectively rely on the offensiveness of the Phelps’ message rather than on any external indicia of harm, such as noisy …


Privacy And Funeral Protests, Christina E. Wells Jan 2008

Privacy And Funeral Protests, Christina E. Wells

Faculty Publications

This article examines the free speech implications of funeral protest statutes. Enacted in response to the Westboro Baptist Church, whose members protest at funerals to spread their antigay message, such statutes restrict a broad array of peaceful expressive activity. This Article focuses on the states’ interest underlying these statutes - protecting mourners’ right to be free from unwanted intrusions while at funeral services. Few would argue against protecting funeral services from intrusive protests. These statutes, however, go far beyond that notion and protect mourners from offensive, rather than intrusive, protests. As such, they do not conceive of privacy as protection …


Workplace Blogs And Workers' Privacy, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman Jul 2006

Workplace Blogs And Workers' Privacy, Rafael Gely, Leonard Bierman

Faculty Publications

In this article we focus on a related issue. We discuss the development of blogs, and the virtual “space” where blogs and bloggers interact the “blogosphere” and their impact on the issue of workers' privacy. To some extent it would seem a bit of a contradiction to talk about privacy and blogging in the same article. Blogging, as we will discuss below, does not appear to be the most private of enterprises. There are, we argue, a number of interesting privacy issues raised by the development of blogs as an employee communication tool and by the way employers have reacted …


Confidentiality In Arbitration: Beyond The Myth, Richard C. Reuben Jan 2006

Confidentiality In Arbitration: Beyond The Myth, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

Many people assume that arbitration is private and confidential. But is that assumption accurate? This article is the first to explore that question in the important context of whether arbitration communications can be discovered and admitted into evidence in other legal proceedings - a question that is just beginning to show up in the cases. It first surveys the federal and state statutory and case law, finding that arbitration communications in fact are generally discoverable and admissible. It then considers the normative desirability of discovering and admitting arbitration communications evidence, concluding that the free discovery and admissibility of arbitration communications …


Untangling The Privacy Paradox In Arbitration, Amy J. Schmitz Jan 2006

Untangling The Privacy Paradox In Arbitration, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Arbitration is private but not secret. This truism regarding arbitration seems contradictory and nonsensical. However, common understandings of privacy in arbitration often lull individuals into assuming personal information revealed in arbitration may not become public. They assume privacy and confidentiality are synonymous. The reality is that arbitration is private but not necessarily confidential, or secret. This is the privacy paradox: it defies common conceptions of arbitration's secrecy, but is nonetheless true. This paradox is problematic because it leads to shortsighted contracting and simplistic assumptions about arbitral justice. Moreover, it may foster injustice when repeat players unduly benefit from unpublished awards …


An Overview Of Canadian Privacy Law For Pharmaceutical And Device Manufacturers Operating In Canada, Erika Lietzan, John K. Fuson Jan 2002

An Overview Of Canadian Privacy Law For Pharmaceutical And Device Manufacturers Operating In Canada, Erika Lietzan, John K. Fuson

Faculty Publications

On April 13, 2000, the Canadian Parliament enacted by Royal Assent the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The Act requires private organizations to comply with a code of “fair information practice,” which mandates individual consent for the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information. PIPEDA complements the Federal Privacy Act, which places similar obligations on government institutions. On January 1, 2002, the Act began to apply to personal information (including personal health information) collected, used, or disclosed by a federal work, undertaking, or business, and personal information (including personal health information) disclosed by any organization for consideration …


Prying, Spying And Lying: Intrusive Newsgather And What The Law Should Do About Them, Lyrissa Lidsky Jan 1998

Prying, Spying And Lying: Intrusive Newsgather And What The Law Should Do About Them, Lyrissa Lidsky

Faculty Publications

The media's use of intrusive newsgathering techniques poses an increasing threat to individual privacy. Courts currently resolve the overwhelming majority of conflicts in favor of the media. This is not because the First Amendment bars the imposition of tort liability on the media for its newsgathering practices. It does not. Rather, tort law has failed to seize the opportunity to create meaninful privacy protection. After surveying the economic, philosophical, and practical obstacles to reform, this Article proposes to rejuvenate the tort of intrusion to tip the balance between privacy and the press back in privacy's direction. Working within the framework …


Intrusion And The Investigative Reporter, Lyrissa Lidsky Jan 1992

Intrusion And The Investigative Reporter, Lyrissa Lidsky

Faculty Publications

Although sometimes reviled as muckrakers, investigative reporters play a valuable role in exposing societal ills and advancing reform. The success of investigative journalism is due, at least in part, to its use of novel newsgathering techniques. Yet some of these same techniques pose a threat to individual privacy. Current tort doctrine strikes an unsatisfactory balance between these competing interests. The qualified common-law privilege advocated by this Note, in contrast, would protect those newsgathering activities that promote the public welfare. Equally significantly, by sending a clear message to editors, media lawyers, and reporters about the scope of protected newsgathering activity, it …