Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 4 of 4
Full-Text Articles in Law
Mission Creep: Public Health Surveillance And Medical Privacy, Wendy K. Mariner
Mission Creep: Public Health Surveillance And Medical Privacy, Wendy K. Mariner
Faculty Scholarship
The National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program has parallels in the growth of disease surveillance for public health purposes. This article explores whether laws requiring health providers to report to government names and identifiable information about patients with infectious or chronic diseases may be vulnerable to challenge as an invasion of privacy. A shift in the use of disease surveillance data from investigating disease outbreaks to data mining and analysis for research, budgeting, and policy planning, as well as bioterrorism, tests the boundaries of liberty and privacy. The Supreme Court has not reviewed a disease reporting law. Its few related …
The Public's Right To Fair Use: Amending Section 107 To Avoid The 'Fared Use' Fallacy, Wendy J. Gordon, Daniel Bahls
The Public's Right To Fair Use: Amending Section 107 To Avoid The 'Fared Use' Fallacy, Wendy J. Gordon, Daniel Bahls
Faculty Scholarship
Under provocative titles like "Fared Use"1 and "The End of Friction,"2 commentators argue about whether or not the copyright doctrine of fair use3 should exist in a world of instantaneous transactions. As collecting societies such as the Copyright Clearance Center have become more powerful, and technologies like cellular phones and the internet have made it possible to purchase digital copies by dialing a number or clicking a mouse, the suggestion is sometimes made that fair use could or should disappear. The Second and Sixth Circuits have flirted with foreclosing fair use if a licensing market is present …
Reservoirs Of Danger: The Evolution Of Public And Private Law At The Dawn Of The Information Age, Danielle K. Citron
Reservoirs Of Danger: The Evolution Of Public And Private Law At The Dawn Of The Information Age, Danielle K. Citron
Faculty Scholarship
A defining problem at the dawn of the Information Age will be securing computer databases of ultra-sensitive personal information. These reservoirs of data fuel our Internet economy but endanger individuals when their information escapes into the hands of cyber-criminals. This juxtaposition of opportunities for rapid economic growth and novel dangers recalls similar challenges society and law faced at the outset of the Industrial Age. Then, reservoirs collected water to power textile mills: the water was harmless in repose but wrought havoc when it escaped. After initially resisting Rylands v. Fletcher's strict liability standard as undermining economic development, American courts and …
Medicine And Public Health: Crossing Legal Boundaries, Wendy K. Mariner
Medicine And Public Health: Crossing Legal Boundaries, Wendy K. Mariner
Faculty Scholarship
In 2006, New York City began a mandatory reporting system for laboratories to submit blood sugar (A1c) test results (primarily for diabetes) to the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene without the patient's consent. This article examines whether this new program is an innovative way to improve New Yorkers' health, an invasion of medical privacy, or usurpation of the physician's role. The registry is an example of public health initiatives in chronic diseases, which challenge the limits of laws governing medicine care and public health programs by blurring the historical boundaries between them.