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Full-Text Articles in Contracts

Online Disinhibited Contracts, Wayne R. Barnes Feb 2024

Online Disinhibited Contracts, Wayne R. Barnes

Faculty Scholarship

There have been at least two dominant forces at work in the realm of consumer contracting over the past several decades. One has been the rise and domination of the standard form contract (whereby merchants contract with consumers via the use of standardized, boilerplate terms and conditions that consumers do not read or understand). The second force has been the rise of e-commerce and the purchase of goods and services via websites and other online platforms, and the use of “wrap” formation methodology (whereby merchants obtain consumer assent to the online terms and conditions via the consumer’s informal click, scroll, …


The New Bailments, Danielle D'Onfro Jan 2022

The New Bailments, Danielle D'Onfro

Scholarship@WashULaw

The rise of cloud computing has dramatically changed how consumers and firms store their belongings. Property that owners once managed directly now exists primarily on infrastructure maintained by intermediaries. Consumers entrust their photos to Apple instead of scrapbooks; businesses put their documents on Amazon’s servers instead of in file cabinets; seemingly everything runs in the cloud. Were these belongings tangible, the relationship between owner and intermediary would be governed by the common-law doctrine of bailment. Bailments are mandatory relationships formed when one party entrusts their property to another. Within this relationship, the bailees owe the bailors a duty of care …


Contracting For Fourth Amendment Privacy Online, Wayne A. Logan, Jake Linford Nov 2019

Contracting For Fourth Amendment Privacy Online, Wayne A. Logan, Jake Linford

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.


The Internet Of Bodies, Andrea M. Matwyshyn Oct 2019

The Internet Of Bodies, Andrea M. Matwyshyn

William & Mary Law Review

This Article introduces the ongoing progression of the Internet of Things (IoT) into the Internet of Bodies (IoB)—a network of human bodies whose integrity and functionality rely at least in part on the Internet and related technologies, such as artificial intelligence. IoB devices will evidence the same categories of legacy security flaws that have plagued IoT devices. However, unlike most IoT, IoB technologies will directly, physically harm human bodies—a set of harms courts, legislators, and regulators will deem worthy of legal redress. As such, IoB will herald the arrival of (some forms of) corporate software liability and a new legal …


Rise Of The Digital Regulator, Rory Van Loo Mar 2017

Rise Of The Digital Regulator, Rory Van Loo

Faculty Scholarship

The administrative state is leveraging algorithms to influence individuals’ private decisions. Agencies have begun to write rules to shape for-profit websites such as Expedia and have launched their own online tools such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s mortgage calculator. These digital intermediaries aim to guide people toward better schools, healthier food, and more savings. But enthusiasm for this regulatory paradigm rests on two questionable assumptions. First, digital intermediaries effectively police consumer markets. Second, they require minimal government involvement. Instead, some for-profit online advisers such as travel websites have become what many mortgage brokers were before the 2008 financial crisis. …


The Need For An International Convention On Data Privacy: Taking A Cue From The Cisg, Morgan Corley Jan 2016

The Need For An International Convention On Data Privacy: Taking A Cue From The Cisg, Morgan Corley

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

In light of the invalidation of the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor, along with the increase in sales of personal data as a commodity, data privacy has become a major concern amongst different nations. The lack of harmonization of data-privacy laws around the world continues to pose obstacles to the free flow of data across national borders. The free flow of data is, nonetheless, essential the international economy. As a result, nations continue to work together to try to create mechanisms by which data can be transferred across borders in a secure manner. This Note examines the current state of data-privacy law …


Need For Informed Consent In The Age Of Ubiquitous Human Testing, Caitlyn Kuhs Jan 2016

Need For Informed Consent In The Age Of Ubiquitous Human Testing, Caitlyn Kuhs

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.


Rethinking Spyware: Questioning The Propriety Of Contractual Consent To Online Surveillance, Wayne R. Barnes Jul 2015

Rethinking Spyware: Questioning The Propriety Of Contractual Consent To Online Surveillance, Wayne R. Barnes

Wayne R. Barnes

The spyware epidemic has reached new heights on the Internet. Computer users are increasingly burdened with programs they did not knowingly or consciously install, which place strains on their computers' performance, and which also trigger annoying "pop-up" advertisements of products or services which have been determined to match the users' preferences. The users' purported preferences are determined, in turn, by the software continuously monitoring every move the consumer makes as she "surfs the Internet." The public overwhelmingly disapproves of spyware which is surreptitiously placed on computers in this manner, and also largely disapproves of the pop-up advertising paradigm. As a …


Rethinking Spyware: Questioning The Propriety Of Contractual Consent To Online Surveillance, Wayne R. Barnes Jul 2015

Rethinking Spyware: Questioning The Propriety Of Contractual Consent To Online Surveillance, Wayne R. Barnes

Wayne R. Barnes

The spyware epidemic has reached new heights on the Internet. Computer users are increasingly burdened with programs they did not knowingly or consciously install, which place strains on their computers' performance, and which also trigger annoying "pop-up" advertisements of products or services which have been determined to match the users' preferences. The users' purported preferences are determined, in turn, by the software continuously monitoring every move the consumer makes as she "surfs the Internet." The public overwhelmingly disapproves of spyware which is surreptitiously placed on computers in this manner, and also largely disapproves of the pop-up advertising paradigm. As a …


Internet Giants As Quasi-Governmental Actors And The Limits Of Contractual Consent, D. A. Jeremy Telman Jul 2015

Internet Giants As Quasi-Governmental Actors And The Limits Of Contractual Consent, D. A. Jeremy Telman

Law Faculty Publications

Although the government’s data-mining program relied heavily on information and technology that the government received from private companies, relatively little of the public outrage generated by Edward Snowden’s revelations was directed at those private companies. We argue that the mystique of the Internet giants and the myth of contractual consent combine to mute criticisms that otherwise might be directed at the real data-mining masterminds. As a result, consumers are deemed to have consented to the use of their private information in ways that they would not agree to had they known the purposes to which their information would be put …


Internet Giants As Quasi-Governmental Actors And The Limits Of Contractual Consent, Nancy Kim, D.A. Jeremy Telman Jan 2015

Internet Giants As Quasi-Governmental Actors And The Limits Of Contractual Consent, Nancy Kim, D.A. Jeremy Telman

Faculty Scholarship

Although the government’s data-mining program relied heavily on information and technology that the government received from private companies, relatively little of the public outrage generated by Edward Snowden’s revelations was directed at those private companies. We argue that the mystique of the Internet giants and the myth of contractual consent combine to mute criticisms that otherwise might be directed at the real data-mining masterminds. As a result, consumers are deemed to have consented to the use of their private information in ways that they would not agree to had they known the purposes to which their information would be put …


Misplaced Misrepresentations: Why Misrepresentation-Of-Age Statutes Must Be Reinterpreted As They Apply To Children’S Online Contracts, Michelle A. Sargent Nov 2013

Misplaced Misrepresentations: Why Misrepresentation-Of-Age Statutes Must Be Reinterpreted As They Apply To Children’S Online Contracts, Michelle A. Sargent

Michigan Law Review

The information age revolutionized the relationship between individuals and the internet. Today, children are the targets of online advertisements that lure them into accepting terms of service, thus entering into online agreements. While children may feel comfortable navigating websites, they are psychologically predisposed to be unsophisticated and impulsive actors online. Children lack the digital literacy to understand the implications of accepting website terms of service. Meanwhile, several states have misrepresentation-of-age statutes that prevent children from using the infancy doctrine to disaffirm online contracts because, in accepting the terms of service, children often represent that they are old enough to enter …


Migración A La Nube: ¿Está Segura Nuestra Información?, Rodolfo C. Rivas Rea Esq., Marco A. Vargas Iñiguez Esq. Jun 2013

Migración A La Nube: ¿Está Segura Nuestra Información?, Rodolfo C. Rivas Rea Esq., Marco A. Vargas Iñiguez Esq.

Rodolfo C. Rivas

The authors discuss the benefits and risks of moving your business data to the cloud through case studies and offer practical tips to protect business confidential information stored in the cloud. //////////////////////// Los autores estudian los beneficios y los riesgos de almacenar datos e información en la nube a través de casos de estudio y ofrecen consejos prácticos para proteger la información comercial confidencial almacenada en la nube.


From Lord Coke To Internet Privacy: The Past, Present, And Future Of The Law Of Electronic Contracting, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds Jan 2013

From Lord Coke To Internet Privacy: The Past, Present, And Future Of The Law Of Electronic Contracting, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.


From Lord Coke To Internet Privacy: The Past, Present, And Future Of The Law Of Internet Contracting, Juliet Moringiello, William Reynolds Dec 2012

From Lord Coke To Internet Privacy: The Past, Present, And Future Of The Law Of Internet Contracting, Juliet Moringiello, William Reynolds

Juliet M Moringiello

Contract law is applied countless times every day, in every manner of transaction large or small. Rarely are those transactions reflected in an agreement produced by a lawyer; quite the contrary, almost all contracts are concluded by persons with no legal training and often by persons who do not have a great deal of education. In recent years, moreover, technological advances have provided novel methods of creating contracts. Those facts present practitioners of contract law with an interesting conundrum: The law must be sensible and stable if parties are to have confidence in the security of their arrangements; but contract …


Chain-Link Confidentiality, Woodrow Hartzog Jan 2012

Chain-Link Confidentiality, Woodrow Hartzog

Faculty Scholarship

Disclosing personal information online often feels like losing control over one’s data forever; but this loss is not inevitable. This essay proposes a “chain-link confidentiality” approach to protecting online privacy. One of the most difficult challenges to guarding privacy in the digital age is the protection of information once it is exposed to other people. A chain-link confidentiality regime would contractually link the disclosure of personal information to obligations to protect that information as the information moves downstream. The system would focus on the relationships not only between the discloser of information and the initial recipient, but also between the …


Website Design As Contract, Woodrow Hartzog Jan 2011

Website Design As Contract, Woodrow Hartzog

Faculty Scholarship

Few website users actually read or rely upon terms of use or privacy policies. Yet users regularly take advantage of and rely upon website design features like privacy settings. To reconcile the disparity between boilerplate legalese and website design, this article develops a theory of website design as contract. The ability to choose privacy settings, un-tag photos, and delete information is part of the negotiation between websites and users regarding their privacy. Yet courts invariably recognize only the boilerplate terms when analyzing online agreements. In this article, I propose that if significant website features are incorporated into the terms of …


Defending Disclosure In Software Licensing, Robert A. Hillman, Maureen O'Rourke Jan 2011

Defending Disclosure In Software Licensing, Robert A. Hillman, Maureen O'Rourke

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This Article surveys prominent kinds of disclosures in contract law-of facts, contract terms, and performance intentions. We show why the disclosure tool, although subject to substantial criticism, promotes important social values and goals, including efficiency, autonomy, corrective justice, fairness, and the legitimacy of the contract process. Further, proposals to replace disclosure with other alternatives are unrealistic because they are too expensive or complex. Our working example is the American Law Institute's Principles of the Law of Software Contracts.


A Pig In The Parlor: An Examination Of Legislation Directed At Obscenity And Indecency On The Internet, Andrew Spett Sep 2010

A Pig In The Parlor: An Examination Of Legislation Directed At Obscenity And Indecency On The Internet, Andrew Spett

Golden Gate University Law Review

The Internet, or ARPAnet, was originally developed by the U.S. Defense Department to support military research. As academics were invited to use the system, word of the system's research utility quickly spread. As the popularity of the computer increased, public consumer demand for access to the Internet increased. Consequently, the Internet quickly became a household word, no longer confined to government or academic circles. Currently, the Internet accommodates million users, and the numbers increase daily. In light of the expanse and growing importance of the Internet, this Comment will discuss the history and application of obscenity laws. This Comment will …


Margae, Inc. V. Clear Link Technologies, Jonathan Goodman Jan 2010

Margae, Inc. V. Clear Link Technologies, Jonathan Goodman

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.


Electronic Contracting Cases 2009-2010, Juliet Moringiello, William Reynolds Dec 2009

Electronic Contracting Cases 2009-2010, Juliet Moringiello, William Reynolds

Juliet M Moringiello

This article, our sixth annual survey of electronic contracting cases, discusses the significant electronic contracting cases decided between June 15, 2009 and June 15, 2010. Over the past six years, the law of electronic contracts has matured, and the cases we discuss in this article show this maturation. The survey covers contract formation by the use of shrinkwrap, clickwrap and browsewrap terms, and contract formation by the exchange of e-mail messages.


Electronic Contracting Cases 2009-2010, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds Dec 2009

Electronic Contracting Cases 2009-2010, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds

William L. Reynolds

This article, our sixth annual survey of electronic contracting cases, discusses the significant electronic contracting cases decided between June 15, 2009 and June 15, 2010. Over the past six years, the law of electronic contracts has matured, and the cases we discuss in this article show this maturation. The survey covers contract formation by the use of shrinkwrap, clickwrap and browsewrap terms, and contract formation by the exchange of e-mail messages.


Survey Of The Law Of Cyberspace: Introduction, Juliet Moringiello Oct 2009

Survey Of The Law Of Cyberspace: Introduction, Juliet Moringiello

Juliet M Moringiello

No abstract provided.


Electronic Contracting Cases 2008-2009, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds Oct 2009

Electronic Contracting Cases 2008-2009, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds

William L. Reynolds

No abstract provided.


Electronic Contracting Cases 2008-2009, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds Oct 2009

Electronic Contracting Cases 2008-2009, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds

Juliet M. Moringiello

No abstract provided.


Electronic Contracting Cases 2008-2009, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds Oct 2009

Electronic Contracting Cases 2008-2009, Juliet M. Moringiello, William L. Reynolds

William L. Reynolds

No abstract provided.


Can We Dicker Online Or Is Traditional Contract Formation Really Dying - Rethinking Traditional Contract Formation For The World Wide Web, Tatiana Melnik Jan 2008

Can We Dicker Online Or Is Traditional Contract Formation Really Dying - Rethinking Traditional Contract Formation For The World Wide Web, Tatiana Melnik

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

When most people imagine the process of contract formation, they picture two people sitting down and negotiating, arguing about particular contract provisions and particular contract terminology, and maybe even involving attorneys to draft an "official" version of the contract. Regardless of the specific details people imagine, traditional contract formation generally involves some form of negotiation between two parties where they choose one set of terms over another. In modern society, however, such negotiation happens very rarely. People enter into many contracts on a daily basis, for example, when they purchase goods or services online. Online purchases are governed by computers, …


E-Contract Doctrine 2.0: Standard Form Contracting In The Age Of Online User Participation , Shmuel I. Becher, Tal Z. Zarsky Jan 2008

E-Contract Doctrine 2.0: Standard Form Contracting In The Age Of Online User Participation , Shmuel I. Becher, Tal Z. Zarsky

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The growing popularity of e-commerce transactions revives the perennial question of consumer contract law: should non-salient provisions of consumer standard form contracts be enforced? With the focus presently on an ex-ante analysis, scholars debate whether consumers can and should read standardized terms at the time of contracting. In today's information age, such a focus might be misguided. The online realm furnishes various tools, so-called "Web 2.0" applications, which encourage the flow of information from experienced to prospective consumers. This Article, therefore, reframes the analysis of online consumer contracts while taking into account this new flow of information. In doing so, …


A Winning Solution For Youtube And Utube? Corresponding Trademarks And Domain Name Sharing, Jacqueline D. Lipton Jan 2008

A Winning Solution For Youtube And Utube? Corresponding Trademarks And Domain Name Sharing, Jacqueline D. Lipton

Articles

In June of 2007, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio ruled on a motion to dismiss various claims against the Youtube video-sharing service. The claimant was Universal Tube and Rollform Equipment Corp ("Universal"), a manufacturer of pipes and tubing products. Since 1996, Universal has used the domain name utube.com - phonetically the same as Youtube's domain name, youtube.com. Youtube.com was registered in 2005 and gained almost-immediate popularity as a video-sharing website. As a result, Universal experienced excessive web traffic by Internet users looking for youtube.com and mistakenly typing utube.com into their web browsers. Universal's servers …


Just One Click: The Reality Of Internet Retail Contracting, Ronald J. Mann, Travis Siebeneicher Jan 2008

Just One Click: The Reality Of Internet Retail Contracting, Ronald J. Mann, Travis Siebeneicher

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay explores the enforceability and presence of pro-seller contract terms in internet retail contracts. Analyzing case law on internet contract enforceability and a survey of 500 firms'websites, it demonstrates that even the enforceability of many internet contracts is questionable. It then presents new data that suggest that the prevalence of pro-seller contract terms is far less than usually assumed. It suggests that the benefit of making these terms enforceable is outweighed by the loss of user friendliness required for the necessary interface changes. Finally, it uses fresh statistical analyses to determine what relationship, if any, exists between enforceability, pro-seller …