Privacy Law Commons^™

Hiding Evidence From The Boss: Attorney-Client Privilege And Company Computers, Kelcey Nichols

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Recent court decisions in In re Asia Global Crossing, Ltd., People v. Jiang, and Curto v. Medical World Communications have held that attorney-client privilege can protect certain information located on an employer-issued computer from disclosure if the employee had a reasonable expectation of privacy. This Article provides a brief background on attorney-client privilege and explores the factors courts consider when determining whether an employee has this reasonable expectation. These factors include the scope of employer monitoring, the employer-employee agreement pertaining to the computer, the presence of password-protection, the location of the computer, and the relevancy of the evidence …

To Serve And Protect: Do Businesses Have A Legal Duty To Protect Collections Of Personal Information?, Derek A. Bishop

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Commercial, governmental, and nonprofit organizations are more frequently reporting instances of data security breaches. This has, in turn, raised fears of identity theft. In some limited instances, companies that maintain large amounts of personal information—such as credit reporting agencies—have been subject to statutory duties to protect that personal information. In some instances, such legislation has also permitted a private cause of action for breach of these duties. Legislatures have expanded these statutes to encompass, at least to a limited degree, all business entities that collect personal information. Recent precedent indicates that courts may follow this trend by declaring security breaches …

Password Theft: Rethinking An Old Crime In A New Era, Daniel S. Shamah

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

By putting themselves out in front as the victims, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) helped reshape the governing norms of the times, and as a result, people viewed the act of file-sharing differently. By forcing people to see music downloading as a form of theft, the RIAA was quite successful in deterring it. In the process, they also proposed a radical view of theft that changes our basic economic understandings of the action[...] This paper argues that the RIAA's model for deterring music theft could be successfully used to deter many other forms of computer theft, and, specifically, …

Right Of Publicity: The Right Of Publicity Fair Use Doctrine - Adopting A Better Standard, Andrew Koo

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Protecting Your Personal Privacy: A Self-Help Guide For Judges And Their Families (2006), Chicago Bar Association’S Privacy Task Force, John Marshall Law School Center For Information Technology & Privacy Law, Leslie Ann Reis

UIC Law White Papers

“I believe that the Internet is a brave new world in the matter of judicial security.” – Testimony of Joan H. Lefkow, United States District Judge, before the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate (May 18, 2005).

Your personal information may be no farther away than a mouse-click... Your name, locations of your home and workplace, your phone number and email address, details of your family members, your political leanings and many more pieces of information are available through a wide array of public and private sources. But, this is nothing new. Some personal information about you has always …

The Crtc's Enforcement Of Canada's Broadcast Legislation: 'Concern', 'Serious Concern' And 'Grave Concern', Monica Auer

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper describes results from a quantitative study of the enforcement by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC or Commission) over the last several decades of Canada’s broadcasting legislation and its own regulations. Established by Parliament in 1968, the CRTC is a quasi-judicial regulatory agency that administers Canada’s Broad- casting Act, 1991 as well as the nation’s telecommunications legislation. Parliament has accorded the CRTC a broad range of discretionary powers over broadcast licensees, from granting, denying or revoking licences, to issuing mandatory orders. It is one of many federal regulatory agencies that administer and enforce Parliament’s legislation.

Step In The Wrong Direction: The Impact Of The Legislative Protection Of Technological Protection Measures On Fair Dealing And Freedom Of Expression, Graham Reynolds

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper will investigate whether legislation granting protection to TPMs infringes the freedom of expression (s. 2(b)) guarantee as contained in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This paper will proceed in five parts. Part I will discuss Bill C-60 and the legislative protection of TPMs in Canada. Part II will discuss the effect of TPMs on fair dealing. Part III will analyze whether the freedom of expression guarantee can be used to challenge provisions in the Copyright Act. Part IV will evaluate whether amendments to the Copyright Act granting protection to TPMs are consistent with the freedom of …

Licenced To Thrive? Podcasting And Copyright Law In Canada, Keith Sutherland

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article examines podcasting and its specific characteristics to see, first, where it fits within Canada’s copyright law, and second, how the licensing regime for musical works in Canada applies to podcasting. The discussion next turns to whether or not the current licensing regime for podcasting is desirable in light of the purpose of copyright in Canada, and with a view to the various interests at stake: those of artists, in being paid, and those of society, in enabling podcasters to access material in order to produce their work. An examination of the current and proposed licensing regime and its …

Electronic Trespass In Canada: The Protection Of Private Property On The Internet, James Macdonald

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper argues that Canadian courts can, and should, adopt electronic trespass as a viable cause of action for the protection of property rights on the Internet. Of course, this conclusion presupposes that property rights in fact exist on the Internet. While American courts have accepted the existence of property rights on the Internet without any real controversy, a significant body of criticism has developed around American jurisprudence. Part III examines the critiques levelled against the assumption of property rights inherent in electronic trespass, and argues that there are property rights that need to be protected on the Internet. Part …

What We Talk About When We Talk About Workplace Privacy, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

No Direction Home: Will The Law Keep Pace With Human Tracking Technology To Protect Individual Privacy And Stop Geoslavery, William A. Herbert

Publications and Research

Increasingly, public and private employers are utilizing human tracking devices to monitor employee movement and conduct. Due to the propensity of American labor law to give greater weight toemployer property interests over most employee privacy expectations, there are currently few limitations on the use of human tracking in employment. The scope and nature of current legal principles regarding individual privacy are not sufficient to respond to the rapid development and use of human tracking technology. The academic use of the phrase “geoslavery” to describe the abusive use of such technology underscores its power. This article examines the use of such …

Fixing Fisa For Long War: Regulating Warrantless Surveillance In The Age Of Terrorism, Adam Burton

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “The English poet W.H. Auden once claimed that “Peeping Toms are never praised, like novelists or bird watchers, for the keenness of their observations.” Perhaps Auden would have modified his maxim had he lived in the age of terrorism. A certain degree of government surveillance of even intimate communications is expected, encouraged, and indeed praised when the government’s efforts lead to the prevention of catastrophe. However, it is also expected that the government will minimize these intrusions, will conduct surveillance only on legitimate targets, and will follow the procedural safeguards that the representatives of the people have enacted in …

Compliance With California Privacy Laws: Federal Law Also Provides Guidance To Businesses Nationwide, Anthony D. Milewski Jr.

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Over the past several years, personal information has been lost or stolen as a result of a series of high profile security breaches. In January 2006, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced that ChoicePoint will be required to pay $15 million in fines and penalties for a high profile security breach that occurred in 2005. The ChoicePoint breach and similar events have spurred an explosion of state and federal privacy legislation. In particular, the State of California has taken the lead by enacting the strictest disclosure and security procedure requirements in the country. The implications of California’s new laws can …

Shooting For The Stars: A Call For Federal Legislation To Protect Celebrities' Privacy Rights, Jennifer R. Scharf

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Ests Under Canadian Patent Law: Useful Or Not?, Natalie C. Bellefeuille

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The following discussion will examine the utility requirement for patentability in the context of EST patents. Part I will provide background information regarding the utility requirement under patent law and will explain why it has been difficult to apply to ESTs. Part II will briefly examine how other jurisdictions, in particular the United States, have addressed the difficul- ties associated with applying the current utility require- ment to biological materials, in particular ESTs. Part III will look at how Canadian courts have interpreted and applied the utility requirement for patentability, and will suggest that ESTs have sufficient value to the …

E-Commerce Legislation And Materials In Canada: Lois Sur Le Commerce Électronique Au Canada Et Documents Connexes By Sunny Handa, Claude Marseille & Martin Sheehan (Markham, Ont.: Lexisnexis Butterworths, 2005), John D. Gregory

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This hefty volume is a useful compendium of the basic source materials for the law of electronic commerce in Canada. It offers the text of all the general-purpose legislation that removes legal barriers to the use of electronic communications, for all jurisdictions in the country. It then takes a dozen related areas of law, from domain names to taxation, from competition law to consumer protection, from security to standards, and offers a quick overview and the key documents applicable to each. In each case the commentary is in English then in French, and where the texts are available in both …

It Waste Management In Canada: From Cost Recovery To Resource Conservation?, Meinhard Doelle

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The volume, composition and management of solid waste generated by households, governments, the commercial sector, and industry have all changed dramatically over the past century. Household waste contained mainly organic material a hundred years ago. Today, both residential and commercial waste is a complex mix of organics, plastics, paper products, metals and a variety of toxic material. Historically, individual households looked after their own waste, through efforts such as composting and burning. Over the past century, with significant increases in volume of waste generated, municipalities have taken over primary responsibility for solid waste management, initially mainly for aesthetic and sanitary …

Personal Medical Information: Privacy Or Personal Data Protection?, Wilhelm Peekhaus

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Some of the existing literature concerning the privacy of health information seems to suggest that medical information has a particularly special nature; either through its oft-cited association with dignity or the need for its ‘‘unobstructed’’ use by health care practitioners for a variety of reasons. It is against such a backdrop that this paper will review and compare a number of legislative mechanisms that have been designed to meet the challenge of safeguarding the privacy of personal information without completely hindering the continued flow of information required by economic and health care systems. An attempt will be made to situate …

Producers And Consumers In Eu E-Commerce Law, Banu Sit

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Rapid growth of technology in the last decades has given rise to electronic commerce (e-commerce) as a new mode of commerce. This new commerce environment has many characteristics that affect commercial relationships and parties. Of these characteristics, global and borderless commercial activity and the intangible nature of communication can be singled out.

From a legal perspective, e-commerce has developed new modes, of contract formation, performance of contracts for intangible goods, as well as payment. In this new borderless and transient sphere, certain interests of parties involved in commercial activities as buyers or sellers are in need of protection. In particular, …

Milky Way And Andromeda: Privacy, Confidentiality And Freedom Of Expression, George S. S. Wei

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article examines the extent to which the law of confidence protects private personal information. In the UK, much of the impetus for greater protection comes from the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. How privacy and freedom of expression are to be balanced either within the law of confidence or through the development of a new tort of privacy is a question that has given rise to much discussion in the courts and elsewhere. Developments in this area are the focus of this article together with the issue as to whether similar developments might …

A Privacy Right To Public Recognition Of Family Relationships - The Cases Of Marriage And Adoption, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

What Nsa Is Doing . . . And Why It's Illegal, John Cary Sims

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Keeping The Boss Out Of The Bedroom: California's Constitutional Right Of Privacy As A Limitation On Private Employers' Regulation Of Employees' Off-Duty Intimate Association, Erich Shiners

McGeorge Law Review

No abstract provided.

Internet Cookies: When Is Permission Consent?, Max Oppenheimer

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Can Your Privacy Be Protected In An Internet Age?, Suzanne Blaz

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Beyond Content: The Emergence Of Video Games And Their Diverse Effects On Legal Normativity As Seen Through The Lens Of Jean Baudrillard, Stephen Orr

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Current legal discourse about video games focuses primarily on freedom of speech issues relating to the content of games. Using the work of Jean Baudrillard (and to a small extent Marshall McLuhan) this article reconsiders how we should conceptualize the regulation of video games. Baudrillard's theories are particularly interesting to explore as his pessimistic reflections about technology challenge us to contemplate how profoundly the form of new communicative technologies, such as video games, shape human interactions. Appealing to both theorists' belief that "the medium is the message", this article argues that we should be wary of focusing legal energy exclusively …

Domestic Surveillance And The Constitution, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 177 (2006), Lawrence Friedman, René M. Landers

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

This article argues that President Bush’s domestic electronic surveillance program is unconstitutional. The program allows the President to order the NSA to conduct surveillance of electronic communications, including communications involving United States citizens, without court order. The authors conclude that the President lacked the statutory or constitutional power to authorize such a program and that the program runs afoul to the letter and the spirit of the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures embraced by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Congress and the President share overlapping constitutional authority in matters of foreign affairs and national security. …

The Protection Of Maps And Spatial Databases In Europe And The United States By Copyright And The Sui Generis Right, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 195 (2006), Katleen Janssen, Jos Dumortier

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Spatial data and applications play an ever-increasing part in our economy and in our society in general, but the protection of spatial databases by intellectual property rights seems to be a challenge because the Internet and information technology have caused a considerable increase in the copying of data, maps, route descriptions, hiking trails, etc. The illegal copying of spatial data, however, has caused the data producers to turn to several means of protection, such as intellectual property legislation, unfair competition, confidentiality and privacy. This paper begins by determining what is meant by spatial data. Thereafter, the paper reflects on the …

Voip Goes The Bad Guy: Understanding The Legal Impact Of The Use Of Voice Over Ip Communications In Cases Of Nsa Warrantless Eavesdropping, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 227 (2006), Eric Koester

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

For purposes of national security, the Bush administration delegated authority to the National Security Administration (“NSA”) to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans; and such surveillance defies tradition. At the same time, emerging communications technology, like Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”), complicates the already controversial issue by generating uncertainty about how courts will analyze warrantless surveillance of such forums. The problem lies in outdated communications and surveillance regulations, which effectively address older communications forums, like the telephone, but encounter stifling ambiguity vis-à-vis VoIP and other new forums. VoIP is a relatively new technology, but it encompasses the large and ever-growing use …

The Federal Election Commission & Political Blogging: A Perfect Balance Or Just Not Enough?, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 611 (2006), Niki Vlachos

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.