Internet Law Commons^™

Open World Regulation: The Urgent Need For Federal Legislation On Video Game Loot Boxes, Alex Reyes

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Loot boxes are items in video games that contain randomized prizes that players can purchase with real-world money. In recent years, loot boxes have come under scrutiny because the relationship between behavior and the underlying mechanics of loot boxes are similar to that of addictive behaviors associated with real-world gambling. Many papers suggest solutions focused on industry changes without direct regulation. However, these papers neglect the enormous profit incentive to maintain a business practice which can have detrimental behavioral effects on children. The United States federal government must take example from a growing number of European countries and ban the …

Table Of Contents, Ashley Stoll

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

No abstract provided.

Digital Contract Tracing In The Workplace, Alexandra Kiosse

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the way businesses run and operate in the United States. With the dire need to keep employees safe, digital contact tracing has become the most efficient mechanism for controlling the spread of the virus within places of employment. However, information privacy laws come into tension with the use of employee health data by employers and third parties. This Article proposes a careful balance between contact tracing and maintaining employees’ privacy as they share health and proximity data with digital contact tracing applications in the workplace.

Eu Privacy Law And U.S. Surveillance: Solving The Problem Of Transatlantic Data Transfers, Peter Margulies

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Conflict Of Laws For The Age Of Cybertorts: A Game Theoretic Study Of Corporate Profiteering From Choice Of Law Loopholes And Interstate Torts, Yunsieg P. Kim

BYU Law Review

This Article identifies a choice of law loophole that corporations can exploit to commit interstate torts against individuals without paying damages by inducing victims to sue in a state where they are guaranteed to lose. The Second Restatement effectively requires plaintiffs bringing interstate tort claims to allege which state has the most significant relationship to their injury, because most federal courts rely on plaintiffs allegations to choose a state law for the purpose of resolving motions to dismiss. However, when torts are committed over state lines (for example, over the internet), plaintiffs can be misinformed or misled as to where …

Athens News Matters: Cyber Abuse And Intimate Partner Violence, Thomas E. Kadri

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Data Autonomy, Cesare Fracassi, William Magnuson

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, “data privacy” has vaulted to the forefront of public attention. Scholars, policymakers, and the media have, nearly in unison, decried the lack of data privacy in the modern world. In response, they have put forth various proposals to remedy the situation, from the imposition of fiduciary obligations on technology platforms to the creation of rights to be forgotten for individuals. All these proposals, however, share one essential assumption: we must raise greater protective barriers around data. As a scholar of corporate finance and a scholar of corporate law, respectively, we find this assumption problematic. Data, after all, …

Data Autonomy, Cesare Fracassi, William Magnuson

Vanderbilt Law Review

In recent years, “data privacy” has vaulted to the forefront of public attention. Scholars, policymakers, and the media have, nearly in unison, decried the lack of data privacy in the modern world. In response, they have put forth various proposals to remedy the situation, from the imposition of fiduciary obligations on technology platforms to the creation of rights to be forgotten for individuals. All these proposals, however, share one essential assumption: we must raise greater protective barriers around data. As a scholar of corporate finance and a scholar of corporate law, respectively, we find this assumption problematic. Data, after all, …

Toto, I'Ve A Feeling The Environment Isn't Safe From Cryptocurrency Anymore: The Degrading Ecological Effects Of Bitcoin And Digital Currencies, Samantha T. Edgell

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: Online Platforms And Consumer Equality, Anne-Marie Hakstian, Jerome D. Williams, Sam Taddeo

Pepperdine Law Review

Title II of the Civil Rights Act, along with its counterpart state laws, have protected the rights of racial minorities in the United States for decades. Section 1981 has guaranteed contract rights for all people, regardless of race, since 1868. But times are changing. Racial discrimination claims against 21st century technology companies face challenges when brought under existing laws. Even the relatively current Communications Decency Act (CDA) is unhelpful to consumers attempting to seek redress from online platforms. In this article, we analyze the only cases of consumer discrimination brought against providers of the sharing economy and highlight some of …

Chinese Technology Platforms Operating In The United States: Assessing The Threat (Originally Published As A Joint Report Of The National Security, Technology, And Law Working Group At The Hoover Institution At Stanford University And The Tech, Law & Security Program At American University Washington College Of Law), Gary Corn, Jennifer Daskal, Jack Goldsmith, Chris Inglis, Paul Rosenzweig, Samm Sacks, Bruce Schneier, Alex Stamos, Vincent Stewart

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Sales, Acquisitions, And Mergers Of Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing Companies: The Risks And A Solution, Alyssa K Mcleod

Texas A&M Law Review

Direct-to-consumer genetic tests have become increasingly popular in the United States within the last few years. However, these tests pose many risks to the consumer, most notably privacy risks. A subset of these privacy risks involves the issue of company mergers, acquisitions, and sales. Many companies in the direct-to-consumer genetic testing market have privacy policies that contain a variation of a “business transfer” clause. These clauses specify that in the event the company goes through a business transition such as a sale, merger, or acquisition, the consumer’s personal information—including the consumer’s DNA—will be among the assets transferred. This Article explores …

Fact Or Phallus? Considering The Constitutionality Of Texas's Cyber-Flashing Law Under The True Threat Doctrine, Brenna Cheyne Miller

Texas A&M Law Review

As societal reliance on digital and online communication continues to grow, courts are grappling with how best to provide legal recourse for novel, technology-related issues while still protecting American citizens’ First Amendment right to free speech. The State of Texas recently enacted Penal Code section 21.19, which criminalizes the transmission of unsolicited sexually explicit images to another person—or as it is commonly known, “cyber-flashing.” Cyber-flashing occurs through digital and online platforms, including text messages, apps, and social media. Section 21.19 is one of the first statutes of its kind in the United States. In the age of “dick pics,” this …

Protecting Children In The Frontier Of Surveillance Capitalism, Cole F. Watson

Student Scholarship

This article examines the ongoing technological revolution and its impact on today’s consumers. In particular, this article addresses the promulgation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the context of “surveillance capitalism”2 and analyzes the harms associated with social media and data collection. Finally, this paper will argue that COPPA should be revamped to better regulate the Internet of 2020. A just society ought to protect children from the lurking perils of social media.

A Unified Theory Of Data, William Magnuson

Faculty Scholarship

How does the proliferation of data in our modern economy affect our legal system? Scholars that have addressed the question have nearly universally agreed that the dramatic increases in the amount of data available to companies, as well as the new uses to which that data is being put, raise fundamental problems for our regulatory structures. But just what those problems might be remains an area of deep disagreement. Some argue that the problem with data is that current uses lead to discriminatory results that harm minority groups. Some argue that the problem with data is that it impinges on …

Three Deft Kicks To The Problem Of Cyberbullying, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Assumption Of Risk In Consumer Contracts And The Distraction Of Unconscionability, Zahra Takhshid

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

For years, courts have struggled to determine when to enforce exculpatory clauses that would prevent personal injury victims from availing themselves of tort remedies under the doctrine of express assumption of risk. In the past, when courts declined to enforce these clauses, they did so on the ground that enforcing such a waiver for the activities in question was “against public policy.” Recently, however, many courts have addressed the issue through the contract doctrine of “unconscionability.” This change in focus has subtly but importantly altered the enforceability inquiry by emphasizing the conditions under which the plaintiff agreed to the contract, …

Copyright Fair Use And The Digital Carnivalesque: Towards A New Lexicon Of Transformative Internet Memes, David Tan, Angus J. Wilson

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

The influence of social media in the 21st century has led to new social norms of behavior with individuals presenting themselves to others, whether physically or virtually, on various social media platforms. As a result, these new trends have led recent society to be characterized as a “presentational cultural regime” and a “specular economy.” In a Bakhtinian digital carnivalesque, internet memes present a feast of challenges to exceptions and limitations in copyright law. Memes encompass a wide range of expression about the human experience, while also existing as a playful mode of culturally permissible expression in online social communications rather …

Ocularcentrism And Deepfakes: Should Seeing Be Believing?, Katrina G. Geddes

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

The pernicious effects of misinformation were starkly exposed on January 6, 2021, when a violent mob of protestors stormed the nation’s capital, fueled by false claims of election fraud. As policymakers wrestle with various proposals to curb misinformation online, this Article highlights one of the root causes of our vulnerability to misinformation, specifically, the epistemological prioritization of sight above all other senses (“ocularcentrism”). The increasing ubiquity of so-called “deepfakes”—hyperrealistic, digitally altered videos of events that never occurred—has further exposed the vulnerabilities of an ocularcentric society, in which technology-mediated sight is synonymous with knowledge. This Article traces the evolution of visual …

Five Approaches To Insuring Cyber Risks, Christopher C. French

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cgi Social Media Influencers: Are They Above The Ftc’S Influence?, Kelly Callahan

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Privacy Losses As Wrongful Gains, Bernard Chao

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Perhaps nowhere has the pace of technology placed more pressure on the law than in the area of data privacy. Huge data breaches fill our headlines. Companies often violate their own privacy policies by selling customer data, or by using the information in ways that fall outside their policy. Yet, even when there is indisputable misconduct, the law generally does not hold these companies accountable. That is because traditional legal claims are poorly suited for handling privacy losses.

Contract claims fail when privacy policies are not considered contractual obligations. Misrepresentation claims cannot succeed when customers never read and rely on …

Self-Defense To Cyber Force: Combatting The Notion Of ‘Scale And Effect', Thomas Eaton

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Era Of Accelerating Digital Convergence: Security, Surveillance, Data, Privacy, Big Tech, And Politics, John Taschner

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Triping On Trade Secrets: How China’S Cybertheft Of U.S. Trade Secrets Violated Trips, Kassidy Schmitz

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

2021 Biennial Report

Tech Policy Lab

The Tech Policy Lab at the University of Washington has become a leading source for tech policy research and education and an indispensable resource to local, national, and international policymakers. In its seven-year history, the Lab has built a strong network and increased credibility that allows us to work directly with policymakers, publish research and guides on emerging technologies, and provide opportunities for the public to learn from experts. The last two years found not only our state, but our nation and the world in a time of great uncertainty. American society strives to reconcile centuries of racial and other …

“Hey Siri, I’M Being Pulled Over.”, Charlene Collazo Goldfield, Gabriela Chambi, Amanda Torres

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

Statistics show that policing disproportionately affects communities of color; police are more likely to use force against Black and brown people.¹ Data from non-violent encounters (e.g., reason for the stop, type of force used, and presence of witnesses) is rarely collected or disregarded altogether.² Video evidence can publicize police violence. Bystander video during George Floyd’s murder led to arrests and a global racial reckoning because it depicted the reality of police encounters for people of color. Although technological advancements have led to positive developments for civilian safety (e.g., body cameras and in-car videos), data collection consistency and accountability …

The Future Of Electronic Waste: Placing Electronic Waste Back In The Hands Of The Manufacturers, Emma Cross

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Data Protection Commissioner V. Facebook Ireland Limited And Maximillian Schrems: Where Do We Go From Here?, Dillon Swensen

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Algorithms In Business, Merchant-Consumer Interactions, & Regulation, Tabrez Y. Ebrahim

Faculty Scholarship

The shift towards the use of algorithms in business has transformed merchant–consumer interactions. Products and services are increasingly tailored for consumers through algorithms that collect and analyze vast amounts of data from interconnected devices, digital platforms, and social networks. While traditionally merchants and marketeers have utilized market segmentation, customer demographic profiles, and statistical approaches, the exponential increase in consumer data and computing power enables them to develop and implement algorithmic techniques that change consumer markets and society as a whole. Algorithms enable targeting of consumers more effectively, in real-time, and with high predictive accuracy in pricing and profiling strategies. In …