Law Commons^™

Identifying And Responding To Privacy Dark Patterns, Dominique Kelly, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

Privacy dark patterns are user interface design strategies intended to “nudge” users to reveal personal data, either directly or by enabling (or failing to disable) privacy-invasive platform/profile settings. Examples of privacy dark patterns on social media include defaults that enable the public display of posted content, warnings that follow attempts to reject personalized ads, and hidden “skip” buttons that make it more challenging to decline privacy-undermining requests such as to sync contacts.

Our project aims to minimize the impact of privacy dark patterns on Canadian youth. Building on our prior research documenting the use of these strategies on five social …

Approaches To Regulating Privacy Dark Patterns, Matthew Gaulton, Dominique Kelly, Jacquelyn Burkell

FIMS Publications

In this paper, we will evaluate new bills slated to replace the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and offer stronger privacy dark pattern protections to Canadians.

Existing scholarship in the realm of privacy law, such as “Deceptive Design and Ongoing Consent in Privacy Law” by Jeremy Wiener and “Privacy Dark Patterns: A Case for Regulatory Reform in Canada” by Ademola Adeyoju, primarily focuses on creating frameworks for understanding privacy dark patterns in the law and explaining the pitfalls and legal inadequacies surrounding dark pattern legislation in Canada.

However, the aim of this paper diverges significantly. While acknowledging …

All The News That’S Fit To Be Identified: Facilitating Access To High-Quality News Through Internet Platforms, Sonja R. West, Jonathan Peters, Lefteris Jason Anastasopolous

Scholarly Works

Roughly half of Americans get some of their news from social media, and nearly two-thirds get some of their news from search engines. As our modern information gatekeepers, these internet companies bear a special responsibility to consider the impact of their platform and site policies on users’ access to high-quality news sources. They should adopt policies that clear the digital pathway between the public and press by facilitating such access. To that end, the companies must first, address the threshold issue of how best to identify high-quality news sources. This article examines factors that would be useful, drawing from legal …

Which Police Departments Make Black Lives Matter, Which Don’T, And Why Don’T Most Social Scientists Care?, Robert Anthony Maranto, Wilfred Reilly, Patrick Wolf, Mattie Harris

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

In part via skillful use of social media, Black Lives Matter (BLM) has become among the most influential social movements of the past half century, with support across racial lines, and considerable financial backing (Fisher, 2019). Will this translate into public policy reforms which save Black lives? After all, higher education is a key institutional backer of BLM, and a considerable literature dating back decades (e.g., Lindblom & Cohen, 1979) casts doubt on the effectiveness of social science in solving social problems, for numerous reasons. Often, the best social science is simple counting. This paper makes two unique contributions. First, …

Free Speech On Social Media: Unrestricted Or Regulated?, Alessandra Garcia Guevara

Student Writing

Social media has evolved into an essential mode of communication in recent years, allowing people to express their thoughts with the audience of their choice by sending private messages, posting their thoughts, or sharing their opinions. Such audiences can come from all over the world because this online technology breaks down geographic, linguistic, and cultural barriers. As a result, social media has evolved into a powerful tool for self-expression, allowing anyone with an Internet connection to participate in global debates. However, its misuse has had disastrous consequences in the real world, such as the attack on the Capitol that occurred …

J Mich Dent Assoc April 2022

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Monthly, The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association brings news, information, and feature articles to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. No publication reaches more Michigan dentists!

In this April 2022 issue, the reader will find the following original content:

• A cover feature “Protect Your Patients and Yourself: The Complete and Honest Medical History”
• A feature article “The Foundation for Dental Care: The Patient Interview and Dental/Medical Health History”
• A 10-Minute EBD “The Preferred Analgesia for Orthodontic Tooth Movement: Acetaminophen or NSAIDs?”
• News you need: an Editorial, a "Reminder about Antitrust Law", and regular department articles, …

The Political Dynamics Of Legislative Reform: Potential Drivers Of The Next Communications Statute, Christopher S. Yoo, Tiffany Keung

All Faculty Scholarship

Although most studies of major communications reform legislation focus on the merits of their substantive provisions, analyzing the political dynamics that led to the enactment of such legislation can yield important insights. An examination of the tradeoffs that led the major industry segments to support the Telecommunications Act of 1996 provides a useful illustration of the political bargain that it embodies. Application of a similar analysis to the current context identifies seven components that could form the basis for the next communications statute: universal service, pole attachments, privacy, intermediary immunity, net neutrality, spectrum policy, and antitrust reform. Determining how these …

Negative Commentary—Negative Consequences: Legal Ethics, Social Media, And The Impact Of Explosive Commentary, Jan L. Jacobowitz Ms.

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

Connecting and sharing on social media has opened communication channels and provided instantaneous information to billions of people worldwide. Commentary on current events, cases, and negative online reviews may be posted in an instant, often without pause or thought about the potential repercussions. This global phenomenon may not only provide news of the day updates, humor, and support for those in need but also is replete with ethical landmines for the unwary lawyer. Lawyers commenting on current events, their cases, or responding to a client’s negative online review, have suffered damage to their careers. In some instances, they have even …

The New Editors: Refining First Amendment Protections For Internet Platforms, Mailyn Fidler

Notre Dame Journal on Emerging Technologies

This Article envisions what it would look like to tailor the First Amendment editorial privilege to the multifaceted nature of the internet, just as courts have done with media in the offline world. It reviews the law of editorial judgment offline, where protections for editorial judgment are strong but not absolute, and its nascent application online. It then analyzes whether the diversity of internet platforms and their functions alter how the Constitution should be applied in this new setting. First Amendment editorial privilege, as applied to internet platforms, is often treated by courts and platforms themselves as monolithic and equally …

How Should We Regulate The Internet? A Proposal, Natalie Petruzelli

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

With the invention of the internet providing newfangled methods of spreading information around the world, misinformation has also found home in these pathways, disrupting the general public’s ability to discern fact from fiction and creating divides in society. Regulation must be enacted to stop the effects of misinformation, but the efforts of technology companies and the general public have been insufficient thus far. Regulatory control of the internet and its content should be the responsibility of the government, based on their constitutional right to intervene under certain circumstances and the fact that previous efforts by other parties to mitigate misinformation …

Lawyers Response To Covid-19 Infodemic On Social Media, Jibran Jamshed

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Objectives: The primary objective of this study is to examine and analyze the skills and practices of lawyers in response to the misinformation/Infodemic of COVID-19 on Social Media platforms.

Research Methodology: In this quantitative study an online survey was conducted among lawyers in Pakistan. The population of the study was made up of practicing lawyers from different District Bar Associations in Pakistan. A questionnaire was distributed to collect data regarding demographic information, use of social media, response to misinformation about COVID-19 on social media and to identify the methods employed by lawyers to check the authenticity of such …

Social Media User Relationship Framework (Smurf), Anne David, Sarah Morris, Gareth Appleby-Thomas

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The use of social media has spread through many aspects of society, allowing millions of individuals, corporate as well as government entities to leverage the opportunities it affords. These opportunities often end up being exploited by a small percentage of the user community who use it for objectionable or unlawful activities; for example, trolling, cyber bullying, grooming, luring. In some cases, these unlawful activities result in investigations where swift retrieval of critical evidence required in order to save a life.

This paper presents a proof of concept (PoC) framework for social media user attribution. The framework aims to provide digital …

Social Media Self-Regulation And The Rise Of Vaccine Misinformation, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay examines the main characteristics and shortcomings of mainstream social media responses to vaccine misinformation and disinformation. Parts I and II contextualize the recent expansion of vaccine information and disinformation in the online environment. Part III provides a survey and taxonomy of ongoing responses to vaccine misinformation adopted by mainstream social media. It further notes the limitations of current self-regulatory modes and illustrates these limitations by presenting a short case study on Facebook—the largest social media vehicle for vaccine-specific misinformation, currently estimated to harbor approximately half of the social media accounts linked to vaccine misinformation. Part IV examines potential …

The Dangers Of Free Speech In The Modern World, Katie Yoak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In our modern day individuals often feel safe being able to say whatever they want from behind a computer. The ability to say whatever we want online has both positive and negative effects. This digital form of communication can bring out both the best and worst in us. Many people in our modern age take this technology and use it to engage in aggressive behavior that may not normally occur or be seen by as many people. In this modern day of internet aggression I wish to explore how the ability to speak freely online and through social media services …

FacebookʼS Latest Attempt To Address Vaccine Misinformation — And Why ItʼS Not Enough, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

On October 13, 2020 Facebook announced the adoption of a series of measures to promote vaccine trust “while prohibiting ads with misinformation that could harm public health efforts.” In the post written by Kang-Xing Jin (head of health) and Rob Leathern (director of product management), the company explained that the new measures were designed with an emphasis on encouraging widespread use of this yearʼs flu vaccine, as well as in anticipation of potential COVID-19 vaccines becoming available in the near future.

The changes focus mainly on the establishment of a multiprong informational campaign about the seasonal flu vaccine, which includes …

Preventing Parkland: A Workable Fourth Amendment Standard For Searching Juveniles' Smartphones Amid School Threats In A Post-Parkland World, Andrew Mueller

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

On February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz, age nineteen, went to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School campus in Parkland, Florida, armed with an AR-15 rifle. He opened fire, killing seventeen students. His unspeakable actions culminated in an attack, which eclipsed the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre to become the deadliest school shooting at a high school in American history. In the immediate months following this still-recent tragedy, schools across the United States were flooded with “copycat” threats of violence. Terroristic threat charges levied against juveniles have likewise skyrocketed.

These recent events have resulted in new and burdensome pressures for schools …

Extrajudicial Statements And Prejudice In The Digital Age: Creating Factors To Preserve The Balance Between Attorney And State Interests In Trial Litigation, Emily R. O'Hara

William & Mary Law Review

As social media’s prevalence and usage grows within the United States, people and organizations capitalize on new media to send news to users. In 2017, 67 percent of people consumed their news from social media websites, and the rate continues to grow. Local and national news sources bring newsworthy stories to active users on social media sites such as Twitter, where users can communicate and interact with one another to promote ideas and spread information. These online accounts cover not only mundane, day-to-day news, but also salacious stories relating to civil and criminal lawsuits.

In April 2018, attorney Neal Katyal …

Mapping Misinformation In The Coronavirus Outbreak, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

The coronavirus outbreak has sent ripples of fear and confusion across the world. These sentiments—and our collective responses to the outbreak—are made worse by rampant misinformation surrounding the new strain of the virus, COVID-2019. In this post, I survey some of the most pervasive areas of tentacular coronavirus-related misinformation that has proliferated online -- as well as the responses of social media companies like YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok that may ultimately prove inadequate given the magnitude of the problem.

Utilization Of Social Media In Giving Information Related To Activities And Performance Of Legislative Members (-A Case Study Of Women Legislative Members In The Aceh People's Representative Council (Dpra), Ainol Mardhiah, Dadang Rahmat Hidayat, Agus Rahmat, Nuryah Asri Sjafirah

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The existence of communication media cannot be separated from everyday human life today. Social media provides extraordinary benefits for members of Aceh House of Representatives (DPRA) to get closer to its people. The use of social media to socialize the performance of board members, absorb aspirations and information from the public. The qualitative research method and the case study approach used in this study, this study intends to describe the use of social media in providing information related to the activities and performance of women legislative members in the DPRA in carrying out political communication in Aceh's local parliament. The …

Cyberspace Is Becoming Unsafe For Women In Pakistan, Sara Tanveer

MSJ Capstone Projects

This study explores the challenges faced by students in Pakistan who become victim of cyber harassment. Due to the lack of awareness, people do not know about cyber-crime and do not know that it is the violation of human rights. The Human Rights Ministry has no sense of urgency to work on the issue. According to the Human Rights report 2018, since 2004, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has recorded more than 6,000 cases of sexual violence and 2,200 cases of domestic violence against the women. The violence is mostly connected with the online harassment in the form of …

Reclaiming The Intellectual, Emily M.S. Houh

Ohio Northern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Social Media And Censorship: Rethinking State Action Once Again, Michael Patty

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

The Global Disinformation Order: 2019 Global Inventory Of Organised Social Media Manipulation, Samantha Bradshaw, Philip N. Howard

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Executive Summary

Over the past three years, we have monitored the global organization of social media manipulation by governments and political parties. Our 2019 report analyses the trends of computational propaganda and the evolving tools, capacities, strategies, and resources.

1. Evidence of organized social media manipulation campaigns which have taken place in 70 countries, up from 48 countries in 2018 and 28 countries in 2017. In each country, there is at least one political party or government agency using social media to shape public attitudes domestically.

2.Social media has become co-opted by many authoritarian regimes. In 26 countries, computational propaganda …

Feed: State Transparency Amidst Informational Surplus, Mark Fenster

Mark Fenster

Inside The Virtual Ambazonia: Separatism, Hate Speech , Disinformation And Diaspora In The Cameroonian Anglophone Crisis, Sombaye Eyango Jules Roger

Master's Theses

This study examines the dynamics of the anglophone separatist claims in Cameroon, the so-called “Anglophone Crisis”. I focus on explaining why the separatist claims reemerged in 2016 after being shut down for about 20 years. It explains how the Anglophone separatist revendications have sustained over time despite the extremely centralized power of the Paul Biya government.This paper first argues that the Anglophone Crisis is more than an identity struggle between Anglophone/Francophone Cameroonians, but rather a conflict about historical and institutional grievances, political competition, and regional politics involving the neighboring state of Nigeria.

Second, it verifies the hypothesis that the sustainability …

Sensors Everywhere: Using Satellites And Mobile Phones To Reduce Information Uncertainty In Human Rights Crisis Research, Christoph Koettl

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article critically reviews the use of ICTs for human rights crisis research. While focusing on two specific technologies—satellite imagery and mobile phone technology—it proposes a general framework for analyzing the added value of ICTs. The author suggests that their added value in mass atrocities research arises from their ability to reduce information uncertainty, a challenge that is exacerbated in the digital age. This is different from delivering “truth”, an inaccurate description that only leads to unfulfilled expectations and hopes. The article is written from a practitioner’s perspective, drawing from the work of a global human rights watchdog, thus avoiding …

How Many Likes Did It Get? Using Social Media Metrics To Establish Trademark Rights, Caroline Mrohs

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

This comment asserts that there is a need for an update to the multifactor test considered by courts in determining the strength of a trademark. Traditional factors include the expenses an entity can afford to pay in advertising, but do not give any weight to the presence of the entity on social media to reach its target consumer group.

Celebrities’ Expansive “Right Of Publicity” Infringes Upon Advertisers’ First Amendment Rights, Jon Siderits

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Why K-Pop Will Continue To Dominate Social Media: Jenkins' Convergence Culture In Action, Keidra Chaney, Raizel Liebler

Raizel Liebler

The Right To A Fair Trial In The Age Of Facebook, Lori Andrews

Lori B. Andrews

No abstract provided.