Law Commons^™

Employer Liability And Bring Your Own Device: Do Existing Regulations Support Employer Liability For A Compromised Personal Device?, Beth A. Hutchens

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

As employers increasingly permit employees to use their personal devices (known as Bring Your Own Device, or “BYOD”) for business purposes, and as the risk of data exposure continues to rise, the question of how, when, and against whom to attach liability remains in flux. This paper will endeavor to explore employer liability as viewed through the lens of hacked or compromised BYOD devices. The research begins by identifying BYOD as a concept along with the risks and benefits incident to the practice. It then discusses current state and federal data protection regulations. It then explores recurring themes in data …

Algorithmic Discrimination White Paper, Vicky Wei, Teresa Stephenson

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

Technological innovation has led to the prevalent use of algorithms in everyday decision making. So ubiquitous is the application of algorithms that many may not recognize its impact on their daily lives. From online shopping to applying for a home loan, algorithms are at play in categorizing and filtering individuals to serve the goal of providing more accurate and efficient results than human decisionmaking would. At the basic level, algorithms are nothing more than a series of step-by-step instructions compiled by a computer, which then analyzes swaths of data based on those instructions. However, when algorithms use incorrect variables to …

Regulating The Internet Of Things: Protecting The "Smart" Home, Beth Hutchens, Gavin Keene, David Stieber

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

The Internet of Things (IoT)—the internetworking of “smart” devices for the purpose of collecting and exchanging data—is developing rapidly. Estimates of the number of IoT devices currently in circulation range from 6.4 to 17.6 billion. By 2020, those numbers could reach upward of 30 billion. While the technology encourages innovation and promotes data-driven policymaking, it also compromises consumer privacy, security, and safety. Consumers are generally unaware that IoT devices transmit scores of personally-identifiable information with only rudimentary security protections in place. For some devices, inadequate security measures unnecessarily risk consumer safety by leaving the devices vulnerable to remote manipulation by …

Seattle Surveillance Ordinance Memo, Christopher Stevenson

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

No abstract provided.

Sexual Exploitation In The Digital Age: Non-Consensual Pornography And What Washington Can Do To Stop It, Farah Ali, Brian Conley, Heather Lewis, Charlotte Lunday

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

No abstract provided.

Gigabit Internet In Seattle, Sam Méndez

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

On December 13, 2012 then-Mayor Mike McGinn announced a partnership between the City of Seattle, the University of Washington, and a company called Gigabit Squared that was to bring ultra high speed Internet connections to twelve neighborhoods within Seattle.1 Called Gigabit Seattle, the plan promised a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network to 50,000 city households and businesses, serving over 100,000 residents.2 The letter of intent between the city and Gigabit Squared stated the company would seek $25 million in capital with the network built and operational within 24 months that would provide connection speeds to customers of up to 1000 megabits per …

Cryptocurrencies: An Introduction For Policy Makers, Brian Conley, Jeffrey Echert, Andrew Fuller, Heather Lewis, Charlotte Lunday

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

Cryptocurrencies are open-source, peer-to-peer digital currencies. Two of their most distinctive features include the use of public key cryptography to secure transactions and create additional currency units, as well as the decentralized nature of their digital payment systems. The underlying technical system which all cryptocurrencies are modelled after is that of the original cryptocurrency,

Bitcoin.

Bitcoin was created by “Satoshi Nakamoto” a person or group credited with writing the first paper on the digital currency in 2008. Certain key elements differentiate cryptocurrencies from traditional electronic currency systems such as electronic banking and PayPal, most notably their decentralized control mechanisms. That …

Autonomous Vehicle Law Report And Recommendations To The Ulc Based On Existing State Av Laws, The Ulc's Final Report, And Our Own Conclusions About What Constitutes A Complete Law, University Of Washington Technology Law And Public Policy Clinic

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

This report was created by the University of Washington’s Technology Law and Policy Clinic for the Uniform Law Commission (ULC). It was created at the request of Robert Lloyd, Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee and a member of the ULC’s subcommittee for autonomous vehicles. The report aims to do three things: (1) present the existing autonomous vehicle provisions on the books in California, Michigan, Florida, Nevada, and Washington, D.C.; (2) analyze these provisions, address related questions raised in the ULC’s Final Report, and make recommendations to the ULC; and (3) offer draft provision language to illustrate our …

3d Printers, James Barker, Nicholas Pleasants, Peter Montine, Shudan Zhu

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

A preliminary report, addressing potential market disruption, the state of the law, and recommendations on future legislative action regarding consumer-grade 3D printing.

Automated Vehicles, James Barker, Nicholas Pleasants, Shudan Zhu, Peter Montine, Rachel Wilka

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

No abstract provided.

Copyright And 3d Printing, James Barker

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

The implications of 3D printing are manifold, with some commentators anticipating permanent market disruption in the massive (and ill-defined) field of small physical things. I begin this paper by asserting that the opportunities afforded by 3D printing are so attractive that it is a mere matter of time before an explosion of use; but that the diffusion of manufacturing to the consumer level is poised to put individual end-users in uncomfortably close contact with intellectual property law.

By analogy to the physical CD-distribution model, and the ways in which it broke down in the Napster era, (and with sensitivity to …

Tor Exit Nodes: Legal And Policy Considerations, Sarah Campbell Eagle, Abigail St. Hilaire, Kelly Sherwood

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

Anonymity Networks

The Internet is a constant companion to people the world over and as technology improves it is becoming more accessible every day. With the amount of communication that occurs online, it was only a matter of time before anonymity became an important topic of discussion. Several so-called “anonymity networks” have been developed to facilitate anonymous communication by the citizens of the web. Because the use of these networks is already so widespread, the time is ripe for a discussion of their merits and potential government responses to this phenomenon. An anonymity network “enables users to access the Web …

Growing Washington's Clean Energy Economy: A Report To The Washington State Legislature, University Of Washington Technology Law And Public Policy Clinic

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

Clean energy technologies have begun to transform the national economy. Growth in this sector is expected to be as high as four-fold, generating more than $2 trillion per year by 2020. Washington State has historically been a leader in the field by pursuing low-carbon energy policies, such as renewable portfolio standards and green building codes. But as competition increases, Washington needs to continue to improve to stay on top.

Increasing investment in distributed generation, energy efficiency, and conservation has been identified as the future for Washington State by the Legislature, two Governors (both Gregoire and Inslee), the Washington Department of …

Growing Washington's Clean Energy Economy, University Of Washington Technology Law And Public Policy Clinic

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

Clean energy technologies have begun to transform the national economy. Growth in this sector is expected to be as high as four-­‐fold, generating more than $2 trillion per year by 2020. Washington State has historically been a leader in the field by pursuing low-­‐carbon energy policies, such as renewable portfolio standards and green building codes. But as competition increases, Washington needs to continue to improve to stay on top. This report presents a package of proposals that address policy and technical barriers to developing Washington State’s clean energy economy.

Broadband And Economic Development, University Of Washington Technology Law And Public Policy Clinic

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

Technology is essential for economic growth and job creation. Ensuring Washington has 21st century digital infrastructure, such as high-speed broadband Internet access, fourth-generation (4G) wireless networks, new healthcare information technology and a modernized electrical grid, is critical to the long-term prosperity and competitiveness of our state. The Internet is a global platform for communication, commerce and individual expression, and now promises to support breakthroughs in important national priorities such as healthcare, education and energy. Additionally, the Internet and information technology can be applied to make government more effective, transparent and accessible to all Americans.

For Washington, improvement of broadband access …

Domestic Drones: Technical And Policy Issues, University Of Washington Technology And Public Policy Clinic

Technology Law and Public Policy Clinic

No abstract provided.