Computer Law Commons^™

Emerging Technologies And Dwindling Speech, Jorge R. Roig

Jorge R Roig

Inspired in part by the recent holding in Bland v. Roberts that the use of the “Like” feature in Facebook is not covered by the Free Speech Clause, this article makes a brief foray into the approach that courts have taken in the recent past towards questions of First Amendment coverage in the context of emerging technologies. Specifically, this article will take a closer look at how courts have dealt with the issue of functionality in the context of First Amendment coverage of computer source code. The analysis of this and other recent experiences, when put in a larger context ...

Stymieing Controversy Over Generic Top-Level Domains (Gtlds) And Other Internet Governance Decisions With Content Neutrality, Nafees Uddin

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Should The Default Be "Social"? Canada's Pushback Against Oversharing By Facebook, Karen Tanenbaum

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Uncharted Waters Of Cyberspace: Applying The Principles Of International Maritime Law To The Problem Of Cybersecurity, William M. Stahl

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A New Approach To Digital Reader Privacy; State Regulations And Their Protection Of Digital Book Data, Andrew A. Proia

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Flawed Transparency: Shared Data Collection And Disclosure Challenges For Google Glass And Similar Technologies, Jonathan I. Ezor

Jonathan I. Ezor

Current privacy law and best practices assume that the party collecting the data is able to describe and disclose its practices to those from and about whom the data are collected. With emerging technologies such as Google Glass, the information being collected by the wearer may be automatically shared to one or more third parties whose use may be substantially different from that of the wearer. Often, the wearer may not even know what information is being uploaded, and how it may be used.

This paper will analyze the current state of U.S. law and compliance regarding personal information ...

Big Data And Due Process: Toward A Framework To Redress Predictive Privacy Harms, Kate Crawford, Jason M. Schultz

New York University Law and Economics Working Papers

The rise of “big data” analytics in the private sector poses new challenges for privacy advocates. Unlike previous computational models that exploit personally identifiable information (PII) directly, such as behavioral targeting, big data has exploded the definition of PII to make many more sources of data personally identifiable. By analyzing primarily metadata, such as a set of predictive or aggregated findings without displaying or distributing the originating data, big data approaches often operate outside of current privacy protections (Rubinstein 2013; Tene and Polonetsky 2012), effectively marginalizing regulatory schema. Big data presents substantial privacy concerns – risks of bias or discrimination based ...

Big Data And Due Process: Toward A Framework To Redress Predictive Privacy Harms, Kate Crawford, Jason M. Schultz

New York University Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

The rise of “big data” analytics in the private sector poses new challenges for privacy advocates. Unlike previous computational models that exploit personally identifiable information (PII) directly, such as behavioral targeting, big data has exploded the definition of PII to make many more sources of data personally identifiable. By analyzing primarily metadata, such as a set of predictive or aggregated findings without displaying or distributing the originating data, big data approaches often operate outside of current privacy protections (Rubinstein 2013; Tene and Polonetsky 2012), effectively marginalizing regulatory schema. Big data presents substantial privacy concerns – risks of bias or discrimination based ...

What To Do About Google?, James Grimmelmann

James Grimmelmann

Observers have debated whether is a conduit for websites' speech or an editor that speaks for itself. The best answer is neither: search engines should be advisors helping their users find the websites they seek. Good search engine policy would put users first; I give examples including search bias and user privacy.

International Cryptography Regulation And The Global Information Economy, Nathan Saper

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

With the meteoric rise of the Internet and e-commerce in the 1990s came great attention to the problems and opportunities associated with cryptography. Throughout that decade, the United States and many foreign countries debated and experimented with various forms of cryptography regulation, and attempts were made at international harmonization. Since then, however, policy-making activity around cryptography has slowed, if not halted altogether, leaving individuals and companies to face a bewildering array of regulations—or, in many cases, to face regulations that are extraordinarily unclear and haphazardly applied.

This Note seeks to introduce the reader to the issue of international cryptography ...

The Collision Of Social Media And Social Unrest: Why Shutting Down Social Media Is The Wrong Response, Mirae Yang

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

With the growing availability of Internet access across the globe, social media has transformed the traditional relationship between government authority and its citizens by providing the people with an innovative and powerful means to harmonize their efforts in expressing their political and social concerns. The importance of safeguarding Internet availability is more critical than ever before as access to the Internet is now the means by which the world communicates, stays informed, and engages in daily tasks. In the face of potential social unrest fueled by social media, the United States must take a preventative approach, one that matches our ...

Finding Privacy In A Sea Of Social Media And Other E-Discovery, Allyson Haynes Stuart

Allyson W. Haynes

This article looks at the case law governing discovery of social media, and finds several problems. First, many courts are improperly requiring a threshold showing that relevant information exists in public portions of the user’s social media account before allowing such discovery. Second, they allow overbroad discovery, often requiring a litigant to turn over its username and password to the other party. At the same time, parties are seeking such information directly from social media sites, attempting an end-run around the relevancy requirement and increasing motion practice. The article argues that, instead, social media discovery should be treated like ...

The Taxation Of Cloud Computing And Digital Content, David Shakow

Faculty Scholarship

“Cloud computing” raises important and difficult questions in state tax law, and for Federal taxes, particularly in the foreign tax area. As cloud computing solutions are adopted by businesses, items we view as tangible are transformed into digital products. In this article, I will describe the problems cloud computing poses for tax systems. I will show how current law is applied to cloud computing and will identify the difficulties current approaches face as they are applied to this developing technology.

My primary interest is how Federal tax law applies to cloud computing, particularly as the new technology affects international transactions ...

Costing A Pretty Penny: Online Penny Auctions Revive The Pestilence Of Unregulated Lotteries, David R. Konkel

Seattle University Law Review

Penny auctions, an online phenomenon imported from Europe, operate by the hundreds in the United States without meaningful oversight from consumer protection agencies. In a penny auction, consumers compete for items one penny at a time. To date, no significant inquiry, either academic or practical, into the legitimacy of the penny auction has occurred. Although marketed as auctions, online penny auctions may actually qualify as lotteries. Unlike the multifarious and confusing definitions of gambling, the long-accepted definition of a lottery consists of three elements: prize, consideration, and chance. If a penny auction satisfies this definition then, under well-established case law ...

The Role Of Switching Costs In Antitrust Analysis: A Comparison Of Microsoft And Google, Aaron S. Edlin, Robert G. Harris

Yale Journal of Law and Technology

Recently there has been a chorus of competition complaints asserting that Google's conduct and position today is parallel to Microsoft's position in the “Microsoft case,” the antitrust case brought by the Department of Justice in 1998. Any monopolization case against Google Search would have to be very different from the Microsoft browser case, because the cost for a user switching from Google Search is much lower than was the cost in the 1990s (or today) of switching away from the Microsoft operating system. It would likewise need to be different because Google has not attempted to manipulate the ...

A Modest Defense Of Mind Reading, Kiel Brennan-Marquez

Yale Journal of Law and Technology

The last decade has witnessed a profusion of commentary on “mind-reading” devices. Instead of offering traditional legal arguments against such devices, most scholars have simply assumed their use to be unconstitutional. The consensus is clear: by essentially “speaking for” defendants, mind-reading devices offend the basic spirit of the Self-Incrimination Clause. In this Article, I defend the constitutionality of mind-reading on both doctrinal and normative grounds. First, I reconstruct the Court’s self-incrimination jurisprudence to demonstrate that evidence is only “testimonial” — and thus, privileged — if it involves a “communicative act” from the suspect. Whether or not particular types of mind-reading devices ...

Something Rotten In The State Of Legal Citation: The Life Span Of A United States Supreme Court Citation Containing An Internet Link (1996-2010), Raizel Liebler, June Liebert

Yale Journal of Law and Technology

Citations are the cornerstone upon which judicial opinions and law review articles stand. Within this context, citations provide for both authorial verification of the original source material at the moment they are used and the needed information for later readers to find the cited source. The ability to check citations and verify that citations to the original sources are accurate is integral to ensuring accurate characterizations of sources and determining where a researcher received information. However, accurate citations do not always mean that a future researcher will be able to find the exact same information as the original researcher. Citations ...

Innovation And Litigation: Tensions Between Universities And Patents And How To Fix Them, Jacob H. Rooksby

Yale Journal of Law and Technology

Universities that own patents have a problem. While nearly all are keen to enhance their revenue generated from patents, few are eager or prepared to enforce them in court, alone or with their exclusive licensees, should a third party deploy a product or process covered by a university-owned patent. Yet strict prudential standing requirements imposed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) effectively require university participation as plaintiffs in enforcement lawsuits over their exclusively licensed patents, regardless of a university’s effective ability or enthusiasm to participate in a given action. Supported by forty years ...

Liability And Disclosure Obligations Of Telegraphic And Electronic Service Providers, Elliott L. Braganza

Western Journal of Legal Studies

Electronic Service Providers (ESPs) are increasingly facing pressures in trial discovery to disclose their clients’ information. But in what situations should ESPs provide this information? To whom do ESPs owe obligations – their customers, litigants or the government? What kinds of information should be disclosed? What standard of proof is required in order to compel disclosure? What kinds of penalties do ESPs risk for failing to disclose information? Judges, litigants, ESPs, and their subscribers have been asking these questions about today’s online world. However, over a hundred years ago, similar questions were asked and answered about the telegraph. By investigating ...

Hack All The History! Hackers 1959 - 1991, Kevin Vilbig

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines what a hacker is and explores an idea that has received a lot of recent attention: Information should be free. It also asks the question: Should information be free? Within a university or other research institution, or when the information has little to no commercial, strategic, political, or popular value, the answer is why not?