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"I Call Alexa To The Stand": The Privacy Implications Of Anthropomorphizing Virtual Assistants Accompanying Smart-Home Technology, Christopher B. Burkett
"I Call Alexa To The Stand": The Privacy Implications Of Anthropomorphizing Virtual Assistants Accompanying Smart-Home Technology, Christopher B. Burkett
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
This Note offers a solution to the unique privacy issues posed by the increasingly humanlike interactions users have with virtual assistants, such as Amazon's Alexa, which accompany smart-home technology. These interactions almost certainly result in the users engaging in the cognitive phenomenon of anthropomorphism--more specifically, an assignment of agency. This is a phenomenon that has heretofore been ignored in the legal context, but both the rapidity of technological advancement and inadequacy of current applicable legal doctrine necessitate its consideration now. Since users view these anthropomorphized virtual assistants as persons rather than machines, the law should treat them as such. To …
A Free Ride: Data Brokers'rent-Seeking Behavior And The Future Of Data Inequality, Krishnamurty Muralidhar, Laura Palk
A Free Ride: Data Brokers'rent-Seeking Behavior And The Future Of Data Inequality, Krishnamurty Muralidhar, Laura Palk
Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law
Historically, researchers obtained data from independent studies and government data. However, as public outcry for privacy regarding the government's maintenance of data has increased, the discretionary release of government data has decreased or become so anonymized that its relevance is limited. Research necessarily requires access to complete and accurate data. As such, researchers are turning to data brokers for the same, and often more, data than they can obtain from the government. Data brokers base their products and services on data gathered from a variety of free public sources and via the government-created Internet. Data brokers then recategorize the existing …