Law Commons^™

Intelligent Agents: Authors, Makers, And Owners Of Computer-Generated Works In Canadian Copyright Law, Rex M. Shoyama

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The central objective of this article is to propose a clarification of copyright law as applied to works created by intelligent agents. In Part I, the concepts of artificial intelligence and intelligent agents are introduced. Part II identifies the challenges that are presented to the tests of originality and authorship in the application of copyright to works generated by intelligent agents. It is argued that works created by intelligent agents may meet the tests of originality and authorship. It is also argued that the con- cepts of ‘‘author’’, ‘‘owner’’, and ‘‘maker’’ are distinct from one another in Canadian copyright law. …

L'Affaire Huntsman C. Soderbergh Ou Le Droit D'Expurger Les Films, René Pépin

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Deux éléments nous motivent. D’abord, comme on le devine, la technologie évolue à un rythme rapide en ce domaine. On n’en est plus au temps où les films étaient produits unique- ment sur une véritable pellicule de plastique qu’un censeur pouvait insérer dans une machine qui lui permettait littéralement de couper des parties indésirables et de recoller les embouts. L’informatique a envahi ce domaine. Il y a maintenant des logiciels sophistiqués qui agissent comme interface entre un disque DVD et l’écran, permettant au consommateur de choisir lui-même les séquences qui seront enlevées dans un film. On comprend que ceci pose …

Biotechnology Unglued: Science, Society, And Social Cohesion By Michael D. Mehta, Ed. (Vancouver: Ubc Press, 2005), Chidi Oguamanam

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In Biotechnology Unglued, Mehta and his thirteen-member interdisciplinary team, comprising mainly of social scientists using a number of ‘‘case studies’’, explore in nine essays ‘‘how advances in agricultural, medical, and forensic biotechnology may threaten the social cohesiveness of different kinds of communities and at different scales’’. In a way, the project is a successful attempt to underscore the theme of (and imperative for) social accountability of science and bio/technological innovations. This 208-page collection of nine essays in a corresponding number of chapters is a remarkable effort. It is a departure from the traditional concerns regarding biotechnology innovations which, hitherto, emphasized …

Virtual Playgrounds And Buddybots: A Data-Minefield For Tweens, Valerie Steeves, Ian R. Kerr

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article examines the online places where tweens play, chat, and hang out. We argue that the vision behind these places is defined by commercial imperatives that seek to embed surveillance deeper and deeper into children’s playgrounds and social interactions. Online marketers do more than implant branded products into a child’s play; they collect the minute details of a child’s life so they can build a ‘‘relationship’’ of ‘‘trust’’ between the child and brand. Although marketing to children is not new, a networked environment magnifies the effect on a child’s identity because it opens up a child’s private online spaces …

The Continuing Saga Of Internet Censorship: The Child Online Protection Act, Martha Mccarthy

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Salvaging States' Rights To Protect Children From Internet Predation: State Power To Regulate Internet Activity Under The Dormant Commerce Clause, Julie Sorenson Stanger

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Internet Hate Speech: The European Framework And The Emerging American Haven, Christopher D. Van Blarcum

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Digital Signature Law Of The United Nations, European Union, United Kingdom And United States: Promotion Of Growth In E-Commerce With Enhanced Security, Stephen E. Blythe

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Digital signatures enhance the ability of contracting parties to authenticate electronic communication. Sophisticated encryption and decryption technology is used to verify the identity of the other party to the electronic transaction. Digital signature law, necessary for adjudication of disputes between parties in e-commerce, is still in its infancy. This article covers basic digital signature law of the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The United Nations’ Model Law of Electronic Commerce of 1996 (“MLEC”) had many implications. The MLEC approved the utilization of electronic signatures, stated that electronic signatures would have the same legal …

Virtually Free From Punishment Until Proven Guilty: The Internet, Web-Cameras And The Compelling Necessity Standard, Michael Clements

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Few legal maxims have had greater resonance than the tenet that one is innocent until proven guilty. It is a principle that has been traced back to Roman times, and it entered the American legal lexicon through the United States Supreme Court decision Coffin v. United States. It has even been incorporated in the United Nations’1948 Declaration of Human Rights under article eleven, section one.4

Fundamentals Of Information Technology By Sunny Handa (Markham: Lexisnexis Canada Inc., 2004), Barbara Darby

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In the early 1990s, I purchased my first stereo with a CD player. I found myself trapped in a conversation with someone who tried to convince me that it was utter folly not to buy a turntable, because CD technology simply couldn’t replicate the ‘‘warmth’’ of vinyl. Had I only Handa’s book to hand, I could have provided a straight- forward and understandable explanation for why my records were well enough left in my parents’ basement; although ‘‘digitization . . . fails to record all characteristics of analog data, even at the highest finite sampling rate . . . Complete …

No Place To Hide, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 35 (2005), Robert J. O'Harrow Jr.

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Robert O’Harrow, Jr., a reporter on the financial and investigative team of the Washington Post, recipient of the 2003 Carnegie Melon and Cyber Security Reporting Award, and Pulitzer Prize finalist, lectures on topics from his recent book, No Place to Hide. He discusses how data mining began as a way for marketing companies to gain information about consumers and, as technology evolved, developed into a way for the government to monitor its citizens. O’Harrow contends that since the government is using private companies to collect this data, it skirts regulation and accountability for privacy infringements. After discussing the problems concerning …

The Failure Of The Rule Of Law In Cyberspace?: Reorienting The Normative Debate On Borders And Territorial Sovereignty, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 1 (2005), H. Brian Holland

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

The purpose of this article is to suggest a different perspective on the issue of extraterritorial regulation in cyberspace. The article begins by outlining the Johnson-Post-Goldsmith debate which addressed the significance and legitimacy of physical, geographically-defined borders and territorial sovereignty in the regulation of cyberspace. The debate focused primarily on two areas of disagreement: First, whether and to what extent the architecture of the Internet is borderless or boundary-destroying, so as to be resistant to regulatory regimes grounded in territorial authority; and second, whether and to what extent a nation may legitimately exercise its regulatory power extraterritorially, particularly in the …

Do We Really Have No Place To Hide?, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 57 (2005), Matthew Hector

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

This article is a book review of No Place to Hide, by Robert O’Harrow. The author begins his analysis of No Place to Hide by addressing concerns raised by O’Harrow regarding the balance between the private data aggregators like ChoicePoint and Acxiom and government investigators in reference to the goal of informational privacy policies. The author then goes into a detailed discussion of O’Harrow’s examination of the reasons for drafting the U.S. Patriot Act. Finally, the author discusses the central issue raised in No Place to Hide, and that is the unlimited ability to access certain information on the Internet …

2005 John Marshall International Moot Court Competition In Information Technology And Privacy Law: Brief For Petitioner, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 97 (2005), Allyson Bennett, Christina Dallen, David Kestenbaum

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

2005 John Marshall International Moot Court Competition In Information Technology And Privacy Law: Bench Memorandum, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 69 (2005), Richard C. Balough, Pirya Krishnamoorthy Venkat, Douglas Maclean, Larisa V. Morgan, Michael Rogalski

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

2005 John Marshall International Moot Court Competition In Information Technology And Privacy Law: Brief For The Respondent, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 133 (2005), Cherish M. Keller, Elaine Wyder-Harshman

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Law And Order In Cyberspace: A Case Study Of Cyberspace Governance In Hong Kong, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 249 (2005), Kam C. Wong, Georgiana Wong

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Hong Kong, an international finance center, has been enjoying great benefits generated by computer-mediated communication ("CMC") in the new Information Age. On the other hand with the rapid and advanced development in technology, Hong Kong's economy is increasingly and irreversibly relying, and made dependent upon CMC and the Internet to operate, because the Internet has become a catalyst of reform and development in other arenas including social, cultural, and public policy. The Information Age raises new criminality concerns as it aggregates traditional criminal problems since great amounts of data are transmitted by and stored on computers is beyond imagination and …

Yours For Keeps: Mgm V. Grokster, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 209 (2005), Max Stul Oppenheimer

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Millions of people download billions of music files over the Internet, using peer-to-peer ("P2P") services such as Grokster, StreamCast, Morpheus, and Kazaa. This practice has been challenged as violative of copyright and, it has been argued, the magnitude of copyright violations facilitated by P2P services justifies banning the services entirely. This argument has been based on the assumption that most transfers over P2P services violate copyright. The starting point for this discussion is the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court to grant the certiorari petition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios et al. to review the Ninth Circuit decision in MGM …

The Convention On Cybercrime: A Harmonized Implementation Of International Penal Law: What Prospects For Procedural Due Process?, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 329 (2005), Miriam F. Miquelon-Weismann

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

The CoE Convention on cybercrime provides a treaty-based framework that imposes on the participating nations the obligation to enact legislation criminalizing certain conduct related to computer systems, create investigative procedures and ensure their availability to domestic law enforcement authorities to investigate cybercrime offenses, including procedures to obtain electronic evidence in all of its forms and create a regime of broad international cooperation, including assistance in extradition of fugitives sought for crimes identified under the CoE Convention. Since there is no internationally recognized legal definition of computer crime, this article briefly presents the generally recognized categories of cybercrime and then proceeds …

Foreword, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 485 (2005), Leslie Ann Reis

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Regulating Minors' Access To Pornography Via The Internet: What Options Do Congress Have Left?, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 453 (2005), Jacob A. Sosnay

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

As with most innovations that have world-altering capabilities, the Internet is not without its very own dark side. This Internet's ugly side represented by are the thousands of Web sites devoted to the procurement and dissemination of pornographic material. Although, undoubtedly, in a free society, people are entitled to have access to such material if they so desire it is also generally accepted there is not only a great need, but an uncompromisable duty to protect minors from, and prevent access to, this potentially harmful imagery. This Comment discusses the several recent attempts made by Congress to regulate the accessibility …

Pennsylvania And Pornography: Cdt V. Pappert Offers A New Approach To Criminal Liability, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 411 (2005), John Spence

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

The rapid expansion of information technology in the past few years has left states and the Federal government struggling desperately to keep up and many of the laws attempting to regulate the Internet and information technology show a lack of understanding how the affected technology actually works and could possibly the growth and distribution of new ideas and inventions even incapacitate the Internet. One area in particular that has been the subject of widespread concern and attention is online pornography, a business that few people only realize just how big it truly is. This article focuses on the recent District …

Age Verification In The 21st Century: Swiping Away Your Privacy, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 363 (2005), John T. Cross

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Today a lot of private businesses have adopted the practice of driver's license swiping where proof of age or security issues arise. This practice has beneficial uses for both private entities, in identifying underage persons and those with fake identification, and law enforcement. However, the problem arise when the private sector, businesses are not using the information to merely identify underage customers or those with fake identification but store the information encoded on the barcode in a computer database. No federal laws and very few state laws regulate the collection and use of this information while the private sector is …

European Spectrum Management Principles, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 277 (2005), Patrick S. Ryan

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Any discussion of European policies is a complicated one, in part because the word "Europe" means different things to different people. At the present time, the European Union has expanded to twenty-five countries and more countries may become provisional members within the next years. These countries represent a multitude of cultures, languages, and legal traditions so talking about a "European" approach to a given matter is to risk making inherently flawed generalizations about diverse peoples, cultures, and systems. However, one generalization is rather safe to assert: the traditional regulatory model in Europe has been based on a state-run monopoly structure …

The 2000 Presidential Election Shattered The Myth That Every Vote Is Counted, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 491 (2005), Richard C. Balough

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

A lot of things have changed since the early memories of going into the voting booth, which at that time was the old mechanical machines, and pulled those levers down. It was taught that you have to vote because each vote was going to make a difference, each vote was going to be recorded and tallied. The voting which was done on Election Day, the way one voted was going to affect our democracy. Of course during that time there were also a lot of other things happening that ran counter to this ideal, stories including police intimidation especially in …

"Electronic Voting Rights And The Dmca: Another Blast From The Digital Pirates Or A Final Wake Up Call For Reform?", 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 533 (2005), Doris E. Long

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Electronic voting machines are the new version of pirated music. Like digital music, electronic voting was designed to make voting rights easily available to the masses. However, technology has once again demonstrated how easy it is to circumvent a good idea through better “hacker” technology. In reality, any electronic voting software can be hacked no matter how good the encryption technology protecting it. The issue is not creating a fool-proof anti-circumvention system – an impossible task – but creating the necessary digital safeguards to make circumvention difficult, to make security breaches more readily detectable, and to provide back-up systems to …

Florida's Post 2000 Voting Systems Overhaul: The Road To Perdition, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 497 (2005), Lida Rodriguez-Taseff

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

In early 2001, after the disastrous election of 2000, Florida decided to revamp its voting systems, as well as its elections laws, because it did not want another disaster. The “Electronic Voting Systems Act” (the “Act”), ostensibly modernized Florida’s outdated voting machines by authorizing the use of “electronic and electromechanical voting systems in which votes are registered electronically or are tabulated on automatic tabulating equipment or data processing equipment” prohibiting any apparatus or device “for the piercing of ballots by the voter”. Central to the recount process overhaul was the introduction in Florida of a whole new type of voting …

The Machinery Of Democracy: Voting Technology In November 2004, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 553 (2005), Doug Chapin

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

In general Election Day of 2004 proceeded surprisingly smoothly and although some problems were reported, by and large they were best characterized as “no big and lots of littles.” In the end, the margins of victory in most races during the 2004 election exceeded the margin of litigation, meaning the trouble that arose in many states would most likely not have changed the outcome. In the immediate aftermath of Election Day, however, a closer look at experiences around the country revealed widespread problems that, while immaterial to the outcome of the election, nonetheless indicate that much remains to be done …

E-Voting: A Tale Of Lost Votes, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 509 (2005), Lillie Coney

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

In order for the United States to avoid another Constitutional crisis due to the failure of voting technology it must address the weaknesses of paperless direct recording electronic (“DRE”) voting machines. Many policymakers hold the belief that the Help America Vote Act (“HAVA”) would save the nation from the threat of another election-sponsored Constitutional crisis because it would, among other objectives, replace outdated voting machines with new electronic voting technology. This belief was disproved a number of times during the 2002 and 2004 primary and general election seasons. As it was revealed by the Carteret County, North Carolina November 2, …

Software Patents On Both Sides Of The Atlantic, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 815 (2005), Jack George Abid

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

This comment addresses and analyzes the state of software patentability in the United States (“U.S.”) and European Union (“E.U.”). This comment discusses policies that drive changes and developments in patent law, the technical background of software, and the non-patent intellectual property protection for software. The comment further addresses the judicial precedent and the situation surrounding software patents in the U.S. and the legal situation in the E.U., including proposed changes in the Software Patent Directive. Finally, the article discusses common criticisms of current U.S. policies on software patentability by exposing the problems created by these policies and suggests corrective policies …