Computer Law Commons^™

Gigabit Internet In Seattle, Sam Méndez

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

On December 13, 2012 then-Mayor Mike McGinn announced a partnership between the City of Seattle, the University of Washington, and a company called Gigabit Squared that was to bring ultra high speed Internet connections to twelve neighborhoods within Seattle.1 Called Gigabit Seattle, the plan promised a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to 50,000 city households and businesses, serving over 100,000 residents.2 The letter of intent between the city and Gigabit Squared stated the company would seek $25 million in capital with the network built and operational within 24 months that would provide connection speeds to customers of up to 1000 megabits per …

Can A One Star Review Get You Sued? The Right To Anonymous Speech On The Internet And The Future Of Internet “Unmasking” Statutes, Jesse D. Lively

Jesse D Lively

This Comment argues that the Supreme Court of Virginia should first reverse the Virginia Court of Appeal’s decision when it hears the Yelp case later this year. Secondly, the court hold that the Virginia statute for identifying persons communicating anonymously over the Internet violates the First Amendment's required showing of merit on both law and facts before a subpoena duces tecum to identify an anonymous speaker can be enforced. Lastly, it should adopt a new “unveiling standard” similar to the standards used in either Dendrite or Cahill. Part II examines the jurisprudential history of identifying anonymous Internet speakers in defamation …

Spying Inc., Danielle Keats Citron

Faculty Scholarship

The latest spying craze is the “stalking app.” Once installed on someone’s cell phone, the stalking app provides continuous access to the person’s calls, texts, snap chats, photos, calendar updates, and movements. Domestic abusers and stalkers frequently turn to stalking apps because they are undetectable even to sophisticated phone owners.

Business is booming for stalking app providers, even though their entire enterprise is arguably illegal. Federal and state wiretapping laws ban the manufacture, sale, or advertisement of devices knowing their design makes them primarily useful for the surreptitious interception of electronic communications. But those laws are rarely, if ever, …

Did Copyright Kill The Radio Star? Why The Recorded Music Industry And Copyright Act Should Welcome Webcasters Into The Fold, 14 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 292 (2015), Patrick Koncel

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The Copyright Act has not kept pace with the times, and the next revolution is going full stream ahead. Rather than adapt, entrenched interests at the Copyright table push for more protection, while new technologies are demonized and underrepresented. The resulting Copyright Act’s provisions relating to internet-based radio, ranging from passive over-the-air broadcasts to fully interactive music hosting sites, are a patchwork of accommodations and concessions to these interests. For all non-interactive services, licensing music typically occurs within the Copyright Act’s compulsory licensing system. For interactive webcasters, licensing negotiations take place with the copyright holders directly. These negotiations have proven …

The Great Decentralization: How Web 3.0 Will Weaken Copyrights, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 136 (2015), Nick Vogel

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Bitcoin’s popularity increased as its value increased and people became excited about the prospect of a trustless, decentralized currency that could be used on the Internet. Within the last two years, however, people and organizations began exploiting the potential of the block chain that powers the bitcoin network. These people realized that the block chain—a transparent public ledger that cannot be altered—can be used for more than digital currency. One such organization calls itself Ethereum and its developers plan to use block chains to allow decentralized autonomous applications to operate free of government censorship or corruption. While such a network …

Inventing A New Way Of Dealing With Circumvention: A Patent-Based Alternative To The Dmca, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 91 (2015), Priya Desai

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Over time, it has become easier for consumers to steal music. Some technologies, like ReDigi, have been specifically designed to allow copyright infringement by giving consumers the ability to sell digitally purchased music files. While copyright laws have been updated to deal with changing technologies, the laws have not been sufficient to keep up. This comment highlights the failings of modern copyright law and questions whether patent laws are a viable way to ensure that technologies that induce copyright infringement do not find marketplace success.

The Conflict Between An Athlete’S Right Of Publicity And The First Amendment, 15 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 117 (2015), Edward Kuester

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The recent rise of fantasy sports has created a conflict between an athlete’s right of publicity and the First Amendment of the Constitution. The legal question being discussed is whether athletes have a right of publicity in their identity, specifically their performance statistics and biographical information. If a right of publicity violation does exist, courts will have to determine whether a fantasy provider’s First Amendment privilege can prevail against an athlete’s publicity rights. This comment examines recent litigation surrounding athletes’ identities and the problems courts have in balancing the conflict between an athlete’s right of publicity and the First Amendment. …

Debatable Premises In Telecom Policy, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 453 (2015), Justin (Gus) Hurwitz, Roslyn Layton

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

The five premises that this paper considers are:

1. Everyone needs low-cost access to high speed broadband service

2. High-speed broadband is necessary for education, health, government, and other social services

3. Wireless can‟t compete with cable

4. An open Internet is necessary for innovation and necessarily benefits consumers

5. Telecommunications are better somewhere else.

The Law And 3d Printing, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 505 (2015), Jasper Tran

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Recent years have seen extraordinary growth in the amount of legal scholarship and practice at the intersection of law and 3D printing. To help navigate this emerging field of 3D printing law, I created the accompanying Law and 3D Printing Bibliography. The published bibliography presented herein contains over 100 entries. The brief introductory comments to the published piece discuss the creation and contents of the bibliography, and provide suggestions for where one should begin their research in the area. The comments focus on (1) 3D printing‘s background, (2) historical growth pattern of law and 3D printing scholarship, (3) identification of …

Legal Problems In Data Management: It & Privacy At The Forefront: Opening Remarks, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 521 (2015)

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Selected State Laws Governing The Safeguarding And Disposing Of Personal Information, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 487 (2015), Bruce Radke, Michael Waters

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Numerous states have adopted laws mandating the protection and disposal of personal information. Under those laws, businesses are required to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the information in order to protect the personal information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure. Although the definition of “personal information” varies from state to state, “personal information” is generally defined as an individual’s first name or initial and last name in combination with any one or more of the following data elements, when either the name or the data elements are not encrypted or …

Legal Problems In Data Management: It & Privacy At The Forefront: Dual-Use Devices In The Workplace, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 527 (2015)

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Legal Problems In Data Management: It & Privacy At The Forefront: “Big Data”: Ownership, Copyright, And Protection, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 565 (2015)

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Legal Problems In Data Management: It & Privacy At The Forefront: Drafting And Implementing Effective Social Media Policies In The Workplace, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 549 (2015)

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Legal Problems In Data Management: Ethics Of Big Data Analytics And The Importance Of Disclosure, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 641 (2015)

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Japanese And American Privacy Laws, Comparative Analysis, 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 1 (2015), Jane Kim

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

To understand the laws of a foreign nation, one must first under-stand that nation’s culture. Its people and their customs will provide in-sight into the proper interpretation and application of such laws. For those reasons, this commentary commences with cursory background on Japanese people, followed by a brief comparative analysis of Health In-surance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) (enacted in 1996) and its Japanese counterpart, the Act on the Protection of Personal In-formation (“APPI”) (enacted in 2003). The Japanese have borrowed a lot of American concepts of privacy laws. This paper will explore how these imported privacy concepts may not …

Legal Problems In Data Management: The Impact Of International Data Restriction Laws On U.S. Companies, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 609 (2015)

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Industry Self-Regulation Of Consumer Data Privacy And Security, 32 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 15 (2015), Siona Listokin

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Industry self-regulation of consumer data privacy and security has been proposed as a flexible alternative and compliment to traditional government regulation. This study analyzes whether different types of existing industry-led standards improve online privacy and security. This paper examines which types of firms join voluntary standards and whether there is a difference in outcomes between trade association memberships (like the Digital Advertising Alliance) and certification programs (like TRUSTe). Results suggest that more trafficked websites are more likely to adopt standards, and that trade association member-ship does not have an effect on privacy and security performance. This article highlights the need …

Legal Problems In Data Management: It & Privacy At The Forefront: Developments In Cybersecurity Law And Best Practices, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 587 (2015)

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Legal Problems In Data Management: Global Approach To Data Privacy: Safe Harbor, 31 J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy L. 633 (2015)

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.