Internet Law Commons^™

What's All The Hype About Hyperlinking?: Connections In Copyright, Dawn Leung

Intellectual Property Brief

No abstract provided.

Kill Me Through The Phone: The Legality Of Encouraging Suicide In An Increasingly Digital World, Sierra Taylor

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crash Goes Icann's Multistakeholder Model, Kathryn Kleiman

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

In 1995, the Internet was becoming a global phenomenon and users needed "domain names"--the street signs of Internet addresses--for an array of commercial and noncommercial speech. A small community of "multistakeholders"--business, civil society, governments, technologists, intellectual property and non-government organization representations--began to write rules for Internet addresses largely on behalf of a global population that had yet to be connected to the Internet. I had the privilege of being part of that group. Since then, Internet use has skyrocketed from 70 million users (1.7% of the world population) in 1995 to over 4.5 billion users (58.8% of the world population) …

Ministries Of Truth: Free Speech And The Tech Giants, Clayton Calvin

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

As the tech giants’ influence has grown, they have increasingly become arbiters of truth. This comment explores three methods for lessening their authority over digital speech. Antitrust, adjustment of the companies’ “neutral platform” status, and even creative use of First Amendment could each serve its role. At the same time, the First Amendment rights of the companies themselves pose a barrier, justifiably, to each method. To remain true to its founding ideals, America must lessen this private grip on civic discourse without expanding the government’s dominion over it.

Internet Extraterritoriality: Has Canada Reached Too Far Beyond Its Borders?, Sydney Wilson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Esports, Player Positions, And The Benefits Of Unionization, Roshan Patel

Duke Law & Technology Review

No abstract provided.

The (Possibly) Injured Consumer: Standing In Data Breach Litigation, Lauren M. Lozada

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

This Note will address the question of what factors a prospective plaintiff must display to “push [a] threatened injury of future identity theft beyond the speculative to the sufficiently imminent.” Part I will delve into relevant statistics to identify the characteristics of a data breach that most often lead to eventual identity theft. Part II will explore recent data breach standing cases and analyze the factual differences and legal perspectives that have led to disparate results among the federal circuits. Lastly, Part III will recommend a method for evaluating future data breach standing issues.

Bad Actors: Authenticity, Inauthenticity, Speech, And Capitalism, Sarah C. Haan

Scholarly Articles

“Authenticity” has evolved into an important value that guides social media companies’ regulation of online speech. It is enforced through rules and practices that include real-name policies, Terms of Service requiring users to present only accurate information about themselves, community guidelines that prohibit “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” verification practices, product features, and more.

This Article critically examines authenticity regulation by the social media industry, including companies’ claims that authenticity is a moral virtue, an expressive value, and a pragmatic necessity for online communication. It explains how authenticity regulation provides economic value to companies engaged in “information capitalism,” “data capitalism,” and “surveillance …

Competition, Privacy, And Big Data, Stanley M. Besen

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

This article analyzes the competition policy and privacy issues that are raised by large disparities in the amounts of consumer data that are held by different firms. First, it explains how competition authorities could take data acquisition into account in evaluating the effects of mergers and examines conditions under which those authorities might mandate data sharing among competitors. Next, it considers how privacy issues might be treated in analyzing whether data sharing should be permitted or mandated. Finally, it examines possible conflicts between policies that address competition and those that deal with privacy.

Privacy, Eavesdropping, And Wiretapping Across The United States: Reasonable Expectation Of Privacy And Judicial Discretion, Carol M. Bast

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

One-party consent and all-party consent eavesdropping and wiretapping statutes are two broad pathways for legislation to deal with the problem of secret taping and some states protect conversation under state constitutions. Whether a conversation is protected against being taped as a private conversation is often gauged by the reasonable expectation of privacy standard. Judges in both all-party consent and one-party consent jurisdictions have had to use their leeway under the reasonable expectation of privacy standard to arrive at what at the time seemed to be the most appropriate solution, perhaps in doing so creating a case law exception.

If The Law Can Allow Takebacks, Shouldn't It Also Allow Hackbacks?, Adam Rodrigues

Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review

None.

The International Intellectual Property Commercialization Council’S 3rd Annual U.S. Conference: The State Of Innovation In The Union, Jeffery P. Langer, Neel Sukhatme, Paul R. Zielinski, G. Nagesh Rao, Pj Bellomo, Matthew Byers, Meghan Gaffney Buck, Everardo Ruiz, Andrei Iancu, Patrick Kilbride, Carl J. Schramm, Colman Ragan, Ami Patel Shah, Randall R. Rader

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The International Intellectual Property Commercialization Council (“IIPCC”) presented its third annual policy conference at the United States Capitol on May 6, 2019. The conference’s theme explored the question of “what is the state of innovation in the United States?” Panelists included The Honorable Andrei Iancu – Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office; Dr. Carl J. Schramm – University Professor, Syracuse University and Former President of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; Mr. Patrick Kilbride – Senior Vice President of the Global Innovation Policy Center (“GIPC”) at the U.S. Chamber of …

Blockchain And Smart Contract For Peer-To-Peer Energy Trading Platform: Legal Obstacles And Regulatory Solutions, 19 Uic Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 285 (2020), Joseph Lee, Vere Marie Khan

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

This paper discusses the implications of smart contracts in energy trading for the protection of consumer and individual rights. It examines the legal risks and regulatory solutions for a peer-to-peer energy trading platform (P2P-ETP) in creating a sustainable energy ecosystem. Part I discusses the conceptual framework of P2PETP, which enables consumers to become energy ‘producers' and traders. Smart technologies—smart contracts, smart meters, and distributed ledger technology (DLT) platforms, are the main components of this platform. The study examines the legal basis for these components. Part II analyzes the legal uncertainty of the smart contract, such as its enforceability, and the …

Retrievable Images On Social Media Platforms: A Call For A New Privacy Tort, Zahra Takhshid

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

The recognition of a right of privacy in Warren and Brandeis’s famous article has long been celebrated and lamented. It is celebrated because privacy is a central feature of individual well-being that deserves legal protection. It is lamented because the protection they contemplated, and that is actually provided by the law, is quite modest. Modern technology, especially social media platforms, has only raised the stakes. Anytime one goes out in public, one risks having one’s image captured and shared worldwide, leaving us with little or no control over how we are perceived by others.

This Article argues for the recognition …

Can An Improved Disclosure Mechanism Moderate Algorithm-Based Software Patentability In The Public Interest?, Vinicius Sala

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

The Internet As A Speech Machine And Other Myths Confounding Section 230 Reform, Danielle K. Citron, Mary Anne Franks

Faculty Scholarship

A robust public debate is currently underway about the responsibility of online platforms. We have long called for this discussion, but only recently has it been seriously taken up by legislators and the public. The debate begins with a basic question: should platforms should be responsible for user-generated content? If so, under what circumstances? What exactly would such responsibility look like? Under consideration is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act—a provision originally designed to encourage tech companies to clean up “offensive” online content. The public discourse around Section 230, however, is riddled with misconceptions. As an initial matter, many …

Net Neutrality: An Explainer, Kincaid C. Brown

Law Librarian Scholarship

Net neutrality is the idea that internet services or broadband providers should treat all content streaming through their systems the same, and providers who use their discretion to create “fast lanes,” block particular content, or throttle (slow down) internet speeds are not in keeping with how the internet ought to work.

Revisiting The Enforceability Of Online Contracts: The Need For Unambiguous Assent To Inconspicuous Terms, Tom Mozingo

Seattle University Law Review

In determining the enforceability of online contracts, namely those formed from the use of smartphone applications, courts typically look to whether the contract terms were reasonably conspicuous or communicated to the consumer. With the rise of “browse-wrap” contracts, where terms are not directly communicated to the consumer or where the consumer is not required to click the equivalent of an “I agree” button clearly manifesting assent to the terms, courts have inconsistently applied the reasonable communicativeness standard to the detriment of consumers and application developers alike. This Comment will explore the development of browse-wrap contracting jurisprudence and the need to …

In Memory Of Professor James E. Bond, Janet Ainsworth

Seattle University Law Review

Janet Ainsworth, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law: In Memory of Professor James E. Bond.

The Internet Never Forgets: A Federal Solution To The Dissemination Of Nonconsensual Pornography, Alexis Santiago

Seattle University Law Review

As technology evolves, new outlets for interpersonal conflict and crime evolve with it. The law is notorious for its inability to keep pace with this evolution. This Comment focuses on one area that the law urgently needs to regulate—the dissemination of “revenge porn,” otherwise known as nonconsensual pornography. Currently, no federal law exists in the U.S. that criminalizes the dissemination of nonconsensual pornography. Most U.S. states have criminalized the offense, but with vastly different degrees of severity, resulting in legal inconsistencies and jurisdictional conflicts. This Comment proposes a federal solution to the dissemination of nonconsensual pornography that carefully balances the …

Platforms And The Fall Of The Fourth Estate: Looking Beyond The First Amendment To Protect Watchdog Journalism, Erin C. Carroll

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Transparency After Carpenter, Hannah Bloch-Wehba

Faculty Scholarship

This brief invited response to Professor Matthew Tokson’s Foulston-Siefkin lecture on the Supreme Court's decision in Carpenter v. United States makes two contributions. First, I highlight the social, political, and economic factors at play in the Carpenter decision. The Carpenter Court recognized, in particular, that digital surveillance implicates the rights of more than just criminal suspects: it poses unique and unappreciated threats to public governance of policing. The decision, I argue, reflects longstanding preoccupations in Fourth Amendment decisions with protecting the “public” — particularly innocent third parties — from intrusive and baseless investigations. In so doing, I situate Professor Tokson’s …

Targeting Factors And Conflict Of Laws On The Internet, Marketa Trimble

Scholarly Works

Courts have employed the concept of "targeting" to limit the reach of personal jurisdiction and applicable law on the Internet. To determine whether a defendant has targeted a particular country or state-and whether the defendant should be subject to the jurisdiction of and law in that country or state-courts consider various factors, such as the language, the top-level domain, and the currency used by the defendant on the Internet. However, developments in Internet technology and increasing Internet actor and user sophistication put the significance of the factors into question. In the absence of a defendant's express limitation on the territorial …

A Dangerous Inheritance: A Child’S Digital Identity, Kate Hamming

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment begins with one family’s story of its experience with social media that many others can relate to in today’s ever-growing world of technology and the Internet. Technology has made it possible for a person’s online presence to grow exponentially through continuous sharing by other Internet users. This ability to communicate and share information amongst family, friends, and strangers all over the world, while beneficial in some regard, comes with its privacy downfalls. The risks to privacy are elevated when children’s information is being revealed, which often stems from a child’s own parents conduct online. Parents all over the …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Closed Adoption: An Illusory Promise To Birth Parents And The Changing Landscape Of Sealed Adoption Records, Bryn Baffer

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Imagine spitting into a tube and mailing your DNA off only to discover that you had a sibling who had been adopted by another family or that a parent’s affair had resulted in a half-sibling. For many individuals, these family secrets have been exposed due to direct-to-consumer DNA testing companies, such as 23andMe.

By the 1950s, most states had enacted statutes that sealed adoption record files in order to preserve the privacy of the birth parents, adoptees, and adoptive families. While some states have moved toward granting adoptees access to their adoption records, most states still have some type of …

Cyber Insurance Today: Saving It Before It Needs Saving, Angela Nieves

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Cyber insurance, which covers a company’s losses and costs stemming from a cyberattack, represents a nearly $5 billion global market. But have stakeholders shaped a sustainable model? This article analyzes contrasting claims about the viability of cyber insurance. It proposes measures to ensure the survival of the cyber insurance market, which should be immediately addressed given the current state of the world and the fact that even pre-COVID-19, businesses worldwide stood to lose over $5.2 trillion over the next five years due to cybercrimes. Unless action is taken to mitigate the fallout from cyber events, the cyber insurance market will …

Protecting Online Privacy In The Digital Age: Carpenter V. United States And The Fourth Amendment’S Third-Party Doctrine, Cristina Del Rosso, Carol M. Bast

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The goal of this paper is to examine the future of the third-party doctrine with the proliferation of technology and the online data we are surrounded with daily, specifically after the Supreme Court’s decision in Carpenter v. United States. It is imperative that individuals do not forfeit their Constitutional guarantees for the benefit of living in a technologically advanced society. This requires an understanding of the modern-day functional equivalents of “papers” and “effects.”

Looking to the future, this paper contemplates solutions on how to move forward in this technology era by scrutinizing the relevancy of the third-party doctrine due …

Pre-Game Strategy For Long-Term Win: Using Trademark Registration And Right Of Publicity To Protect Esports Gamers, John Bat

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The soaring popularity of esports across the globe has turned ultra-talented gamers into a blend of athlete and entertainer. The youthful esports ecosystem is exploding in growth, and the world is taking notice. But are the gamers who are eyeing professional play taking basic legal steps to develop and shield their brands, as well as bolster their collective negotiating leverage with teams, leagues, and miscellaneous entities? This note explores what features of an up-and-coming esports gamer might be worth protecting through a trademark and/or personality-rights schema, which in turn, could assist competitive gamers who are interested in developing their careers …

A Coffee Break For Bitcoin, Margaret Ryznar

Indiana Law Journal

For many, the appeal of bitcoin is in its detachment from government regulation. However, the Coffee bonding theory, which initially arose in the context of foreign stocks, suggests certain benefits of regulation for bitcoin, including increased legitimacy. By invoking the Coffee bonding theory, this Article offers another perspective on the regulation of bitcoin.