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Full-Text Articles in Law
Toward A Rfra That Works, Nicholas Nugent
Toward A Rfra That Works, Nicholas Nugent
Vanderbilt Law Review
The history of the Supreme Court's First Amendment jurisprudence regarding the proper standard of protection for the free exercise of religion is complicated. In determining how the First Amendment speaks to situations in which generally applicable health, welfare, and safety laws incidentally or accidentally burden certain individuals' religious practices, the Court has vacillated between different standards and different extremes, overruling itself several times. Early on, the Court held that, provided the government did not interfere deliberately with religion for religious reasons, an inadvertent interference with religious practice raised no Free xercise Clause problem,' "no matter how trivial the state's nonreligious …
Increasing Global Demand For An Uncensored Internet, Andrew W. Lloyd
Increasing Global Demand For An Uncensored Internet, Andrew W. Lloyd
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
This Note discusses efforts to defeat government censorship of the Internet. In the narrow meaning of that idea, this Note initially discusses technological efforts to circumvent government-imposed Internet firewalls; in the broader sense, it addresses the larger goal of inducing censoring governments to bring their firewalls down. Proposed U.S. legislation would provide U.S. government funding of censorship circumvention technology. This Note discusses why such funding is not a good approach. Absent larger international efforts, private action--within both the U.S. and censoring countries--has the best chance of bringing down government-run firewalls. This Note discusses how the U.S. government can best facilitate …
Applying Genericide To The Right Of Publicity, Zoe Argento
Applying Genericide To The Right Of Publicity, Zoe Argento
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
This article proposes applying genericide to the right of publicity as a way to cabin the over-expansion of publicity rights. The article offers a different approach than previous proposals, which seek to either narrow the definition of publicity rights or bolster defenses, such as the First Amendment. Like trademark genericide, the celebrity's image comes to refer to an idea, not to the identity of the source of the product or to the identity of the celebrity. This article proposes a test: whether the aspect of the celebrity's persona at issue has been used in the public dialogue with a clearly …
Opinionated Software, Meiring De Villiers
Opinionated Software, Meiring De Villiers
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Information security is an important and urgent priority in the computer systems of corporations, governments, and private users. Malevolent software, such as computer viruses and worms, constantly threatens the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of digital information. Virus detection software announces the presence of a virus in a program by issuing a virus alert. A virus alert presents two conflicting legal issues. A virus alert, as a statement on an issue of great public concern, merits protection under the First Amendment. The reputational interest of a plaintiff disparaged by a virus alert, on the other hand, merits protection under the law …
A Libel Law Analysis Of Media Abuses In Reporting On The Duke Lacrosse Fabricated Rape Charges, David A. Elder
A Libel Law Analysis Of Media Abuses In Reporting On The Duke Lacrosse Fabricated Rape Charges, David A. Elder
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
The broad outlines of the monumental injustices involved in the Duke lacrosse rape-that-never-happened case are well known. An unethical local prosecutor, Michael B. Nifong, for partisan political reasons, pursued the Duke lacrosse team and ultimately indicted three of its members based almost solely on the accusations of a wholly unreliable, self-proclaimed victim. Nifong received generous support and sustenance from many left-leaning, politically active Duke faculty, an extraordinarily inept (or worse) Duke administration, and almost the entirety of the mainstream media. Ultimately, following a detailed analysis by his office, North Carolina Attorney General Roy A. Cooper publicly excoriated Nifong in concluding …
Changing The Rules Of Establishment Clause Litigation: An Alternative To The Public Expression Of Religion Act, Christopher D. Tomlinson
Changing The Rules Of Establishment Clause Litigation: An Alternative To The Public Expression Of Religion Act, Christopher D. Tomlinson
Vanderbilt Law Review
In 2004, the American Civil Liberties Union ("ACLU") threatened to sue the city of Redlands, California, if it did not remove a small cross from its city seal.' The cross represented the city's religious heritage and its history as a city of churches. Instead of facing the possibility of litigation and the more daunting risk of losing in court and being forced to pay the ACLU's attorneys' fees in addition to its own, the Redlands City Council agreed to change the seal. The City of Redlands not only could ill afford the risk of paying the ACLU's attorneys' fees; it …