Law Commons^™

Safety In Numbers?: Deciding When Dna Alone Is Enough To Convict, Andrea L. Roth

Andrea L Roth

Fueled by police reliance on offender databases and advances in crime scene recovery, a new type of prosecution has emerged in which the government's case turns on a match statistic explaining the significance of a “cold hit” between the defendant’s DNA profile and the crime-scene evidence. Such cases are unique in that the strength of the match depends on evidence that is nearly entirely quantifiable. Despite the growing number of these cases, the critical jurisprudential questions they raise about the proper role of probabilistic evidence, and courts’ routine misapprehension of match statistics, no framework currently exists – including a workable …

Science, Public Bioethics, And The Problem Of Integration, Orlando Carter Snead

O. Carter Snead

Public bioethics — the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods — is an emerging area of American law. The field uniquely combines scientific knowledge, moral reasoning, and prudential judgments about democratic decisionmaking. It has captured the attention of officials in every branch of government, as well as the American public. Public questions (such as those relating to the law of abortion, the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and the regulation of end-of-life decisionmaking) continue to roil the public square.

This article examines the question of how scientific methods and principles can and …

Resolving Legal Disputes In The Metaverse: A Meditation On Teaching Mediation Skills And Perspectives In Virtual Worlds, Andrea M. Seielstad

Andrea M. Seielstad

Posted on bepress Legal Repository.

Hidden Engines Of Destruction, Andrea Matwyshyn

Andrea Matwyshyn

This article explores whether a duty to warn should exist in the context of digital products. It argues in favor of creating a “reasonable expectation of code safety.” Section I explains the dominant ways that digital products can harm consumers through their code and not their content, focusing on functionality and information security harms. Section II reviews existing regulation of digital products and highlighted their focus on improving information parity and consumer control over digital product relationships. Section II then sets forth the scope of the duty to warn and protect from harms in real space owed by possessors of …

Preserving Identities: Protecting Personal Identifying Information Through Enhanced Privacy Policies And Laws, Robert Sprague, Corey Ciocchetti

Robert Sprague

This article explores the developing phenomenon of the ongoing collection and dissemination of personal identifying information (PII): first, explaining the nature and form of PII, including the consequences of its collection; second, exploring one of the greatest threats associated with data collection - unauthorized disclosure due to data breaches, including an overview of state and federal legislative reactions to the threats of data breaches and identity theft; third, discussing common law and constitutional privacy protections regarding the collection of personal information, revealing that United States privacy laws provide very little protection to individuals; and fourth, examining current practices by online …

Electronic Surveillance In The Global Workplace: Laws, Ethics, Research And Practice, Roland Kidwell, Robert Sprague

Robert Sprague

This paper considers the legal, ethical and cultural factors that must be addressed in evaluating the appropriateness of employing electronic surveillance (ES) in varying international contexts. It critically evaluates the rationale that underlies the use of ES in a variety of settings and types of organisations. It suggests guidelines for the adoption and use of ES and potential directions for future research.

Plain Language Patents, Robin C. Feldman

Robin C Feldman

Law is a process of Bounded Adaptation. The law that exists at any given moment is constantly driven to adapt to changing circumstances within the framework of what has gone before. The boundaries of that framework are policed by the necessity of articulating an interpretation in a way that gains general acceptance. It is the need to effectively articulate a common logic that mitigates the distortion of personal perspective.

This process of Bounded Adaptation cannot proceed effectively without an adequately structured dialogue that will promote the flow of information and analysis. Nowhere is this dialogue more challenging than at the …

Dealing With The Realities Of Race And Ethnicity: A Bioethics-Centered Argument In Favor Of Race-Based Genetics Research, Michael J. Malinowski

Michael J. Malinowski

No abstract provided.

Biomedical Research And The Law:--Embryonic Stem Cells, Clones And Genes: Science, Law, Politics, And Values, Michael J. Malinowski

Michael J. Malinowski

This article directly addresses the stem cell controversy, but also the broader history and norms regarding the roles of federal and state government in U.S. science research funding.

Regulating Data Stored Online In The United States, Harold Krent

Harold J. Krent

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Information Privacy In An Age Of Online Transparency, Robert Sprague

Robert Sprague

No abstract provided.

Real Taxation Of Virtual Commerce, Steven Chung

Steven Chung

In virtual worlds, people participate in fantasy adventures or socialize in a visually immersive online environment. Popular examples include World of Warcraft, Second Life, Entropia Universe and Ultima Online. As more people are reportedly earning real money through their virtual world activities, governments are looking into whether virtual world transactions are subject to real taxes, even if the participant does not convert his virtual income into cash. However, the application of U.S. tax law has led to unclear and sometimes conflicting interpretations.

This paper instead looks into the virtual world's economic environment to determine whether in-world transactions should be taxable …

The Supremacy Of Techno-Governance: Privatization Of Digital Content And Consumer Protection In The Globalized Information Society, Nicola Lucchi

Nicola Lucchi

The article aims to describe the role of technology and contract in regulating access to digital content deregulating intellectual property law monopoly. In particular it argues that the anti-circumvention provisions for technological protection measures and digital rights management systems enacted in the United States and in Europe compromise the consumer’s capacity to exercise legitimate rights, such as the private use exemption, by giving content owners extralegal protection for their works. It also analyses how these acts have caused an inappropriate delegation of governmental decision making to a non-governmental entity with a consequent privatization of the government’s role in protecting intellectual …

Dealing With The Reality Of Race And Ethnicity: A Bioethics-Centered Argument In Favor Of Race-Based Genetics Research , Michael J. Malinowski

Michael J. Malinowski

This article challenges proposals to apply law to greatly constrain if not wholly prohibit race-based genetics research with arguments based in bioethics, research pragmatism, and genetic science. The article concludes that proposals to stretch U.S. antidiscrimination jurisprudence to regulate away race and ethnicity in genetics research are misguided at best.

Neuroimaging And The "Complexity" Of Capital Punishment, Orlando Carter Snead

O. Carter Snead

The growing use of brain imaging technology to explore the causes of morally, socially, and legally relevant behavior is the subject of much discussion and controversy in both scholarly and popular circles. From the efforts of cognitive neuroscientists in the courtroom and in the public square, the contours of a project to transform capital sentencing both in principle and practice have emerged. In the short term, such scientists seek to intervene in the process of capital sentencing by serving as mitigation experts for defendants, where they invoke neuroimaging research on the roots of criminal violence to support their arguments. Over …

Fired For Blogging: Are There Legal Protections For Employees Who Blog?, Robert Sprague

Robert Sprague

No abstract provided.

Googling Job Applicants: Incorporating Personal Information Into Hiring Decisions, Robert Sprague

Robert Sprague

No abstract provided.

Business Blogs And Commercial Speech: A New Analytical Framework For The 21st Century, Robert Sprague

Robert Sprague

No abstract provided.

From Taylorism To The Omnipticon: Expanding Employee Surveillance Beyond The Workplace, Robert Sprague

Robert Sprague

No abstract provided.

The End Of The Beginning: The Computerization Of The Practice Of Law In Large Firms (With R. Shiels), Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

Aba Techshow Program Book, Chicago-Kent Track (Co-Editor), Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

Annual Survey: Attorneys Make More Use Of Pcs, Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

Chicago-Kent Large Firm Automation Survey (With R. Shiels), Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

Litigation Support Systems 2d, An Attorney's Guide (With J. Keane), Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

Supplement To Litigation Support Systems: An Attorney's Guide, Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

A Skeptic's Reservations About The Electronic Marketplace, Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

Annual Study, Surveyed Firms Report More Than Half Their Lawyers Use Computers (With V. Mayer), Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

The Electronic Guild Hall, Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

Legal Video Arcade, Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.

Firm Computer Use Is Increasing Steadily (With W. Hwang), Ronald Staudt

Ronald W Staudt

No abstract provided.