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Articles 1 - 23 of 23
Full-Text Articles in Law
Perils Of The Reverse Silver Platter Under U.S. Border Patrol Operations, D. Anthony
Perils Of The Reverse Silver Platter Under U.S. Border Patrol Operations, D. Anthony
University of Massachusetts Law Review
In the face of expanding U.S. Border Patrol operations across the country, that agency often acquires evidence during its searches that is unrelated to immigration or other federal crimes but may involve state crimes. States are then faced with the question of whether to accept such evidence for state prosecutions when it was lawfully obtained by federal agents consistent with federal law but in violation of the state’s own search and seizure provisions. Sometimes referred to as “reverse silver platter” evidence, states have come to widely varying conclusions as to the admissibility of federally obtained evidence that would clearly have …
Biometric Data Regulation And The Right Of Publicity: A Path To Regaining Autonomy Over Our Commodified Identity, Lisa Raimondi
Biometric Data Regulation And The Right Of Publicity: A Path To Regaining Autonomy Over Our Commodified Identity, Lisa Raimondi
University of Massachusetts Law Review
This Note explores how a right of publicity action might be used to address present day concerns regarding biometric data ownership rights where an individual’s likeness can essentially be bought and sold. As social networking and use of the internet has grown, so has the opportunity for people to engage with others and share their lives. However, that opportunity also comes with risk. More and more, people are required to accept the terms of use and privacy policies detailing how their biometric data will be collected and stored if they want to download and use certain technological applications. Most of …
Ferpa Close-Up: When Video Captures Violence And Injury, Richard J. Peltz-Steele, Kitty L. Cone
Ferpa Close-Up: When Video Captures Violence And Injury, Richard J. Peltz-Steele, Kitty L. Cone
Faculty Publications
Federal privacy law is all to often misconstrued or perverted to preclude the disclosure of video recordings that capture students victimized by violent crime or tortious injury. This misuse of federal law impedes transparency and accountability and, in many cases, even jeopardizes the health, safety, and lives of children. When properly construed, however, federal law is no bar to disclosure and, at least in public schools, works in tandem with freedom of information laws to ensure disclosure. This Article posits that without unequivocal guidance from federal administrative authorities, uncertainty regarding the disclosure of such recordings will continue to linger, jeopardizing …
Protecting Homeowners' Privacy Rights In The Age Of Drones: The Role Of Community Associations, Hillary B. Farber, Marvin J. Nodiff
Protecting Homeowners' Privacy Rights In The Age Of Drones: The Role Of Community Associations, Hillary B. Farber, Marvin J. Nodiff
Faculty Publications
Homeowners' notions of privacy in their dwellings and surroundings are under attack from the threat of pervasive surveillance by small civilian drones equipped with highly sophisticated visual and data-gathering capabilities. Streamlined rules recently issued by the Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA') have unleashed technological innovation that promises great societal benefits. However, the new rules expose homeowners to unwanted snooping because they lack limits on the distance drones may operate from residential dwellings or time of operations. Indeed, our society should not expect a federal agency to deal effectively with the widely diverse issues of drone technology facing the states, given the …
Keep Out! The Efficacy Of Trespass, Nuisance And Privacy Torts As Applied To Drones, Hillary B. Farber
Keep Out! The Efficacy Of Trespass, Nuisance And Privacy Torts As Applied To Drones, Hillary B. Farber
Faculty Publications
The drone industry is burgeoning and there is boundless excitement over the potential civil and commercial applications of these aerial observers. Drones are also fun recreational toys that have more capabilities than their predecessor - the remote controlled helicopter. But along with the benefits comes the potential for misuse. More and more frequently concerned spectators are reporting drones flying around the windows of homes, backyards, and at beaches and sporting events. In some places people are even shooting them down.
We have entered a new frontier of aerial observation with the unmanned aircraft. As is often the case with new …
Carpenter Privacy Case Vexes Justices, While Tech Giant Microsoft Battles Government In Second U.S. Supreme Court Privacy Case With International Implications, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Carpenter Privacy Case Vexes Justices, While Tech Giant Microsoft Battles Government In Second U.S. Supreme Court Privacy Case With International Implications, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Faculty Publications
Fall 2017 saw a major privacy case with international implications reach the U.S. Supreme Court this term, Carpenter v. United States. Now a second such case pits the Government against Big Tech in United States v. Microsoft. Carpenter is a criminal case involving federal seizure of cell phone location data from service providers. Arising under the “reasonable grounds” provision of the Stored Communications Act (SCA), the case accentuates Americans’ lack of constitutional protection for personal data in third-party hands, in contrast with emerging global privacy norms. The second major privacy case headed for Supreme Court decision in 2018 also arises …
Good Cause Is Bad News: How The Good Cause Standard For Record Access Impacts Adult Adoptees Seeking Personal Information And A Proposal For Reform, Christopher G.A. Loriot
Good Cause Is Bad News: How The Good Cause Standard For Record Access Impacts Adult Adoptees Seeking Personal Information And A Proposal For Reform, Christopher G.A. Loriot
University of Massachusetts Law Review
There are many hurdles that adult adoptees face when seeking access to personal information contained in original birth records or adoption proceedings. One such hurdle is the widely-used good cause standard, which requires adoptees seeking information to show good cause to obtain access. This standard is problematic primarily for its vagueness. Very few jurisdictions that use this standard define “good cause” in any meaningful way, and case law interpreting good cause statutory language is inconsistent at best. Although it is meant to protect the privacy interests of all parties in an adoption proceeding, the good cause standard acts as a …
The Pond Betwixt: Differences In The U.S.-Eu Data Protection/Safe Harbor Negotiation, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
The Pond Betwixt: Differences In The U.S.-Eu Data Protection/Safe Harbor Negotiation, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Faculty Publications
This article analyzes the differing perspectives that animate US and EU conceptions of privacy in the context of data protection. It begins by briefly reviewing the two continental approaches to data protection and then explains how the two approaches arise in a context of disparate cultural traditions with respect to the role of law in society. In light of those disparities, Underpinning contemporary data protection regulation is the normative value that both US and EU societies place on personal privacy. Both cultures attribute modern privacy to the famous Warren-Brandeis article in 1890, outlining a "right to be let alone." But …
Back To Blood: The Sociopolitics And Law Of Compulsory Dna Testing Of Refugees, Edward S. Dove
Back To Blood: The Sociopolitics And Law Of Compulsory Dna Testing Of Refugees, Edward S. Dove
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Since October 2012, certain family members of refugees seeking reunification through the United States Refugee Admissions Priority Three program must undergo DNA testing to prove they are genetically related. The putative purposes of the policy include fraud prevention, enhanced national security, and greater efficiency in refugee claims processing. Upon close inspection, however, the new policy generates significant sociopolitical and legal concerns. The notion of what constitutes a family is significantly narrowed. Required DNA testing may violate domestic laws and international human rights instruments regarding voluntary informed consent, privacy, and anti-discrimination. Traditional legal solutions insufficiently remedy these concerns and cannot prevent …
Enhancing The Teaching Of Lawyering Skills And Perspectives Through Virtual World Engagement, Andrea M. Seielstad
Enhancing The Teaching Of Lawyering Skills And Perspectives Through Virtual World Engagement, Andrea M. Seielstad
University of Massachusetts Law Review
Educators from around the globe are rapidly utilizing and transforming virtual worlds, such as Second Life, with innovative teaching strategies. Mediation and dispute resolution, and associated communication and problem-solving skills, are particularly well suited for developing in virtual worlds, as are other lawyering skills such as, interviewing, counseling, and trial advocacy. The opportunities for students and faculty to engage in cross-cultural exchange and networking are another selling feature of virtual world engagement. Virtual worlds offer particular promise for those seeking innovative and cost-effective ways to integrate more professional training and skills development into the law school curriculum. Moreover, as more …
Keep Your Eyes On Eyes In The Sky, Hillary B. Farber
Keep Your Eyes On Eyes In The Sky, Hillary B. Farber
Faculty Publications
To date, eight states have passed bills regulating domestic drone use by government and private individuals. This leaves us with a question: If a city of more than 60,000 residents and a global company with a customer base in the hundreds of millions are racing to the sky, how are we as a commonwealth of 6.6 million to truly launch ourselves into the debate and protect what little privacy we have left?
On Business Torts And The First Amendment, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
On Business Torts And The First Amendment, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Faculty Publications
A gaping question in free speech law surrounds the application of the First Amendment defense in business torts. The pervasiveness of communication technologies, the flourishing of privacy law, and the mere passage of time have precipitated an escalation in tort cases in which communication, and what the defendant may allege is free speech, lies at the heart of the matter.
The New American Privacy, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
The New American Privacy, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Faculty Publications
The European Union sparked an intercontinental furor last year with proposed legislation to supersede the 1995 Data Protection Directive (DPD). The EU Parliament approved legislation in a 49-3 committee vote in October. The text, which is not yet published in its current draft at the time of this writing, may yet be amended before being accepted by the union’s 28 member states. The legislation is billed a money saver because it would harmonize EU member states’ data protection laws, which have diverged under the DPD umbrella. The business community is not convinced, fearful that costly new demands will strain balance …
Your View: ‘Do Not Track’ Should Apply To Drivers, Too, Hillary B. Farber
Your View: ‘Do Not Track’ Should Apply To Drivers, Too, Hillary B. Farber
Faculty Publications
Location tracking data can reveal quite a bit of information about a person when it is all pieced together. Just by knowing where and when a person frequents certain places we can know about his/her recreational habits, religious affiliations, professional affiliations, relationship status, personal health and hygiene, social preferences and contacts, and so much more. That is why it is so important to regulate the use of location tracking technology. There are a variety of efforts afoot to rein in government use of such technology – this op-ed is concerned with automated license plate readers.
The New American Privacy, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
The New American Privacy, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Faculty Publications
Conventional wisdom paints U.S. and European approaches to privacy at irreconcilable odds. But that portrayal overlooks a more nuanced reality of privacy in American law. The free speech imperative of U.S. constitutional law since the civil rights movement shows signs of tarnish. And in areas of law that have escaped constitutionalization, such as fair-use copyright and the freedom of information, developing personality norms resemble European-style balancing. Recent academic and political initiatives on privacy in the United States emphasize subject control and contextual analysis, reflecting popular thinking not so different after all from that which animates Europe’s 1995 directive and 2012 …
Guest View: In Defense Of Student Privacy, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Guest View: In Defense Of Student Privacy, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Faculty Publications
Privacy is another American value we rush to sacrifice on the altar of accountability. In Ohio, reporters swarm the yards of liberated kidnapping victims. And in Massachusetts, news trucks besiege the campus at UMass Dartmouth, where I work, and where marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a student. Media want to know everything about Tsarnaev and his college friends. The university, bound by federal privacy law, has refused access to student academic and financial aid records.
Teaching Access, Or Freedom Of Information Law, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Teaching Access, Or Freedom Of Information Law, Richard J. Peltz-Steele
Faculty Publications
Based on the author's experience developing and administering the course and materials, this article provides an introduction and resources to teach a graduate journalism or professional law school course on access to government, commonly called "freedom of information law", which may be constructed as a capstone course in law school. The appendices provide supporting material and references.
Eyes In The Sky: Constitutional And Regulatory Approaches To Domestic Drone Deployment, Hillary B. Farber
Eyes In The Sky: Constitutional And Regulatory Approaches To Domestic Drone Deployment, Hillary B. Farber
Faculty Publications
This article begins with a current look at the deployment of drones domestically, both in terms of their use and the procedure for attaining approval for flight. Part II examines the capabilities of drones. Part III considers the Supreme Court's current Fourth Amendment jurisprudence and its application to law enforcement's use of drones. Part IV reviews existing and proposed federal and state regulation of drones. Part V offers constitutional and legislative prescriptions for regulating drones.
Intimate Terrorism And Technology: There's An App For That, Justine A. Dunlap
Intimate Terrorism And Technology: There's An App For That, Justine A. Dunlap
Faculty Publications
Technology enhances the ability of the domestic violence perpetrator. It also holds the promise of assisting domestic violence survivors in their quest for safety. This is true in practical, daily ways and is becoming increasingly true in the legal treatment of these cases. Perpetrators can use technology to stalk and find their victims; survivors can use it to access necessary information to get away from their batterers. Laws are being amended to take into account cyber-enhanced domestic violence techniques. Domestic or intimate terrorists are among the class of criminals targeted for use of GPS monitoring. This article discusses the way …
A Parent's "Apparent" Authority: Why Intergenerational Coresidence Requires A Reassessment Of Parental Consent To Search Adult Children's Bedrooms, Hillary B. Farber
A Parent's "Apparent" Authority: Why Intergenerational Coresidence Requires A Reassessment Of Parental Consent To Search Adult Children's Bedrooms, Hillary B. Farber
Faculty Publications
The proliferation of multigenerational U.S. households provides a new perspective on the social customs and practices concerning coresidence in the United States. Rather than relying outdated presumptions of parental control, this Article argues that police should be compelled to conduct a more thorough inquiry before searching areas occupied exclusively by the adult child. Police should differentiate between "common" and private areas, and inquire into any agreements - formal or informal - that the parent and child may have regarding access and control over such areas. By fully recognizing the changing nature of the American household and rejecting a bare reliance …
Nevada Case Threatens To Expand Terry Stops, Shaun B. Spencer
Nevada Case Threatens To Expand Terry Stops, Shaun B. Spencer
Faculty Publications
This term, the U.S. Supreme Court will review a Nevada decision authorizing police to arrest people for refusing to identify themselves. If affirmed, the decision could reshape how privacy is viewed in the criminal context throughout the United States, and could prompt the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to depart from the Supreme Court’s approach to stop-and-frisk cases. The case is Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court, 59 P.3d 1201 (Nev. 2002), cert. granted, 124 S. Ct. 430 (2003).
Reasonable Expectations And The Erosion Of Privacy, Shaun Spencer
Reasonable Expectations And The Erosion Of Privacy, Shaun Spencer
Faculty Publications
This Article examines how the prevailing legal conception of privacy facilitates the erosion of privacy. The law generally measures privacy by reference to society’s reasonable expectation of privacy. If we think of the universe of legally private matters as a sphere, the sphere will contract (or least in theory) expand in accordance with changing social expectations. This expectations-driven conception of privacy in effect establishes a privacy marketplace, analogous in both a literal and metaphorical sense to a marketplace of ideas. In this marketplace, societal expectations of privacy fluctuate in response to changing social practices. For this reason, privacy is susceptible …
What's Competence Got To Do With It: The Right Not To Be Acquitted By Reason Of Insanity, Justine A. Dunlap
What's Competence Got To Do With It: The Right Not To Be Acquitted By Reason Of Insanity, Justine A. Dunlap
Faculty Publications
An acquittal by reason of insanity is sufficiently adverse and is in many ways more akin to a conviction than to an outright acquittal. Although not technically punishment, it involves substantial infringement of rights. The legal literature has devoted significant space to the issue of a criminal defendant’s competence to stand trial and to the issue of the insanity plea. The problem of a pretrial insanity acquittal of an incompetent defendant, on the other hand, has not been extensively examined. In undertaking that task, this article will, in Part II, review the law and practice of competency determinations. Part III …