Internet Law Commons^™

Against The Whistle: How Congress Can Stop Sports Piracy, Julianna Kapovic

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Evidence Machine: Rethinking Admissibility And Privacy In India's Ai Surveillance State, Samyukta Ramaswamy

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (‘AI’) surveillance technologies that utilise machine learning (‘ML’) capabilities to gather and process information to derive insights about individuals has transformed the surveillance landscape by enabling governments and private entities to engage in increasingly pervasive monitoring and data-driven profiling. In India, this transformation is compounded by the presence of executive-controlled surveillance mechanisms under the legal framework of the Telecommunications Act 2023, the Telecommunications (Procedures and Safeguards for Lawful Interception of Messages) Rules 2024, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, amongst others, which authorises wide-ranging data interception and dragnet surveillance while exempting government agencies …

Dignity And Deepfakes, Michael Goodyear

Articles & Chapters

Today, we face a dangerous technosocial combination: AI-generated deepfakes and the Internet. Believable and accessible, these deepfakes have already spread sex, lies, and false advertisements across the Internet and targeted everyone from Taylor Swift to middle school students. Dissemination of deepfakes inflicts multifarious dignitary harms against their victims—especially women and LGBTQ+ persons—stripping them of control over their own identities, harming their reputations, and ostracizing them from society through shame.

Yet this is not the first time a new technology for capturing one’s likeness and a method for disseminating images threatened individuals’ dignity. In the late nineteenth century, the right of …

Are You The Sum Of Your Data? Appropriation Of Digital Persona As Appropriation Of Likeness, Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

A review of Zahra Takhshid's article, Data as Likeness, 112 Geo. L. J. 1161 (2024).

Keynote Address: The Movement To Protect Kids From Addictive Technologies, Gaia Bernstein

Seattle University Law Review

In this keynote address, I describe my personal journey starting with a school outreach program I created in 2017 to address technology overuse among kids. While I initially advocated for self-help methods, I grew to recognize that the tech industry bore responsibility. This realization led me to write Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies, which focused on collective action to pressure the tech industry to redesign its addictive products.

I then describe the movement to control addictive technologies and protect kids, which has gained momentum since the end of the pandemic. This movement combines grassroots parent activism with legal-political action. …

Responding To Digital Addiction, Ned Snow

Seattle University Law Review

In Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies, Professor Gaia Bernstein calls our attention to the growing problem of digital addiction. Digital addiction may sound like something out of a science-fiction novel or something that does not raise the same sort of real-life practical concerns as are present in a physical health crisis or an economic decline. But as Bernstein presents the evidence, we learn that the consequences of digital addiction can be just as harmful as a serious disease or a financial depression. Cognitive development disorders, anxiety, emotional depression, social isolation, and other mental health ills can be debilitating—as much …

Target(Ed) Advertising, Derek E. Bambauer

UF Law Faculty Publications

Targeted advertising—using data about consumers to customize the ads they receive—is deeply controversial. It also creates a regulatory quandary. Targeted ads generate more money than untargeted ones for apps and online platforms. Apps and platforms depend on this revenue stream to offer free services to users, if not for their financial viability altogether. However, targeted advertising also generates significant privacy risks and consumer resentment. Despite sustained attention to this issue, neither legal scholars nor policymakers have crafted interventions that address both concerns, and existing regulatory regimes for targeted advertising have critical gaps.

This Article makes three key contributions to the …

Crafting A New Maryland Two-Party Consent Law With A Nice Ring To It, Ryan Brooks

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

Picture this: Late on a dark autumn night, a teenage boy is staying at his godfather’s house.[1] Suddenly, the boy falls victim to unspeakable sexual abuse committed by his godfather.[2] Shortly thereafter, the boy escapes the house without his godfather’s knowledge.[3] To get help, the boy tries to get the attention of a neighbor.[4] He approaches neighboring house number one—no answer.[5] He approaches neighboring house number two—no answer.[6] He approaches neighboring house number three—and the homeowner answers the door by using his “doorbell camera.”[7] The boy states that there is an emergency and …

Social Data's Role In Law And Political Economy, Salome Viljoen

Book Chapters

Over the past several years, the digital economy has been a notable uptick in interest from scholars across areas of law. This should come as no surprise. The digital economy encompasses some of the largest companies in the world, whose business models pioneer and spread new strategies to concentrate private power across the political economy more broadly. Digital companies have transformed commercial and social life, and they raise problems of concentrated private power. They are also charged with a slew of downstream disruptions resulting from collective pursuit of that power: global, social, and interpersonal forms of dislocation, oppression, impoverishment, alienation, …

Fair-Enough Ai, Jane R. Bambauer, Tal Z. Zarsky

UF Law Faculty Publications

AI is unfair. It can be inaccurate (in several ways), biased (in several ways, and to several groups), disproportionate, exploitable, and opaque. The policy world is awash in AI-governance frameworks, ethical guidelines, and other policy documents, but these lack concrete standards and provide little guidance on how to select between competing versions of (un)fairness. In other words, they abdicate the responsibility of setting priorities among values. At the same time, many of the policy documents harshly criticize AI and algorithmic tools for deficiencies in some particular aspect of fairness without considering whether alternative designs that fix the problem would make …

The Great Scrape: The Clash Between Scraping And Privacy, Daniel J. Solove, Woodrow Hartzog

Faculty Scholarship

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems depend on massive quantities of data, often gathered by “scraping”—the automated extraction of large amounts of data from the internet. A great deal of scraped data contains people’s personal information. This personal data provides the grist for AI tools such as facial recognition, deep fakes, and generative AI. Although scraping enables web searching, archiving of records, and meaningful scientific research, scraping for AI can also be objectionable and even harmful to individuals and society.

Organizations are scraping at an escalating pace and scale, even though many privacy laws are seemingly incongruous with the practice. In this …

Internet Search Engines’ Privacy Violations And The Lack Of Federal Regulation To Protect Consumers Rights, Elsa M. G. Rodriguez Ogando

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The United States’ current legal framework regarding internet search engines is disadvantageous to consumers. Federal privacy laws (although not encompassing search engines) grant businesses a strong legal basis in privacy claims and alibies for arbitrary behavior; these laws favor businesses over consumers. Moreover, state privacy laws empower nonspecific agencies to oversee privacy matters and enforce consumers’ rights. Thus, the U.S. privacy legal framework is in need of a new federal law that establishes consumers’ rights, as well as a federal agency dedicated solely to privacy matters. This Article proposes a federal law recommendation based on the standards of the California …

Ai Ethics, Law, And Policy, Pauline Kim, Ryan Durrie

Scholarship@WashULaw

AI technologies promise many benefits, but they can also have significant negative impacts on human health, safety, well-being, and fundamental rights. This chapter explores the different governance tools that have been considered for guiding developments in AI in socially beneficial ways, examining the relevance of ethics, law, and policy. Each of these approaches offer tools to address these concerns; however, each has limitations, and none provides a complete solution in itself. Statements of ethical principles can articulate high-level values and goals to guide behavior but are usually quite vague and difficult to operationalize. They also lack any enforcement mechanism. In …

Gig Work At What Cost? Exploring Privacy Risks Of Gig Work Platform Participation In The U.S., Amogh Pradeep, Johanna Gunawan, Álvaro Feal, Woodrow Hartzog, David Choffnes

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, "gig work" platforms have gained popularity as a way for individuals to earn money; as of 2021, 16% of Americans have at some point earned money from such platforms. Despite their popularity and their history of unfair data collection practices and worker safety, little is known about the data collected from workers (and users) by gig platforms and about the privacy dark pattern designs present in their apps.

This paper presents an empirical measurement of 16 gig work platforms' data practices in the U.S. We analyze what data is collected by these platforms, and how it is …

Normalizing Facial Recognition Technology And The End Of Obscurity, Woodrow Hartzog, Evan Selinger, Judy Hyojoo Rhee

Faculty Scholarship

This article argues that facial recognition technology is the most dangerous surveillance tool ever invented. Given the unique threats this morally suspect tool poses to privacy, civil liberties, human flourishing, and democracy, the only appropriate response is a ban. To justify our position, we explain why facial recognition is distinctive among biometrics, clarify how even seemingly benign and positive uses of the technology can trigger dangerous normalization dynamics, and pinpoint why current United States laws (with reverberations in the EU’s AI Act) are designed to accelerate a slippery slope that makes mass surveillance nearly inevitable. Our most fundamental contribution lies …

The Outer Limits Of Digital Privacy Protections: A Review Of The Privacy Fallacy, Michael Conklin

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

Aligned With The Blueprint For An Ai Bill Of Rights? An Ai Transparency Evaluation Of Company Privacy Notices And Explanations, Jonathan A. Obar, Giuseppina D'Agostino, Motunrayo Akinyemi

Conference Papers

In its Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, the White House lists “notice and explanation” as one of five principles fundamental to protecting the American public as artificial intelligence (AI) is deployed. The Blueprint states “[y]ou should know that an automated system is being used and understand how and why it contributes to outcomes that impact you.” In its description of the notice/explanation principle, The White House emphasizes the importance of plain language explanations about AI use. Furthermore, a company should describe how it plans to use AI systems, how the systems work, and explain any risks to consumers. …

Facing Up To The Risks Of Automated Facial-Recognition Technologies In Indian Law Enforcement, Ameen Jauhar

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

Within the larger discourse of risk mitigation of emerging technologies, the ever-expanding deployment of automated facial recognition technology (‘AFRT’) has garnered much skepticism. In India too, there has been a reported rise of states and law enforcement officials enthusiastically resorting to the use of AFRT.

The author will first delve into some of the controversial risks associated with AFRT, analysing them through the lens of Article 21 and the principle of due process under the Indian Constitution. The paper will then identify some of the regulatory solutions that are currently part of the discourse on minimising risks of AFRT and …

Taxation Of Information And The Data Revolution, Yariv Brauner

UF Law Faculty Publications

Existing and universal income tax rules are inherently incompatible with an economy in which information-based transactions play a significant role. This Article contends that income taxation is incapable of taxing information effectively. It goes on to argue that this incapability currently necessitates reform, and it offers three viable paths to such reform: consumption taxation, data taxes, and formulary taxation. The Article concludes that formulary taxation is currently the most desirable and plausible path to effective reform, owing to its promise to best stabilize and maintain the legitimacy of the international tax regime.

Legal Uncertainty In Virtual Worlds And Digital Goods: Do The Same Laws Apply?, Alanna Sadler

University of Miami Business Law Review

The growth of virtual worlds and digital goods will force US courts to examine whether traditional laws are sufficient to protect consumers. To do so requires judges and legislative officials to possess a deep understanding of concepts that are everchanging. Many aspects of virtual worlds, such as the metaverse(s), are driven by web3 technology, the technology responsible for the NFT and cryptocurrency craze of recent years. It is impossible to ascertain the impact of virtual worlds on daily life, however, companies must nevertheless prepare for the shift toward virtual spaces and digital goods. There is greater skepticism regarding the utility …

Machine Speech: Towards A Unified Doctrine Of Attribution And Control, Brian Sites

University of Miami Law Review

Like many courts across the country in 2023, courts in the Eleventh Circuit were met with novel claims challenging ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools. These cases raise common questions: How should courts treat the speech of machines? When a machine generates allegedly defamatory material, who is the speaker—mortal or machine? When a machine generates expressive creations, who is the artist, and does that shape copyright eligibility? When a machine makes assertions about reality through lab analyses and other forensic reports, who is the accuser, and how does the answer impact a defendant’s rights at trial? Should those answers stem …

“Can I Have It Non-Personalised?” An Empirical Investigation Of Consumer Willingness To Share Data For Personalized Services And Ads, Monika Leszczynska, Daria Baltag

Faculty Scholarship

European regulators, courts, and scholars are currently debating the legality of data processing for personalization purposes. Should businesses require separate consent for processing user data for personalized advertising, especially when offering free services reliant on such ads for revenue? Or is general consent for the contract enough, given personalized advertising’s role in fulfilling contractual obligations? This study investigates whether these legal distinctions reflect differences in people’s willingness to share data with businesses for personalization. Are consumers less willing to share their data for personalized advertising than for personalized services that they clearly contracted for? Does that change if the service …

Filtered Dragnets And The Anti-Authoritarian Fourth Amendment, Jane R. Bambauer

UF Law Faculty Publications

Filtered dragnets are digital searches that identify a suspect based on the details of a crime. They can be designed to withhold information from law enforcement unless and until there is a very high probability that the individual has committed the offense. Examples today include DNA matching, facial recognition from photographs or video of a crime, automated child sexual abuse material detection, and reverse geolocation (geofence) searches. More are sure to come, and their wide-scale use will be irresistible to improve the low rates of criminal detection that currently afflict many communities.

However, filtered dragnets imperil society precisely because they …

A How-To Guide For When Your Favorite Meme Account Is Defamed: Involuntary Public Figures In Defamation, Privacy, And Intentional Infliction Of Emotional Distress Law, Elizabeth Mcmullen

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

The world we live in today has changed infinitely since the inception of our Constitution and early legal doctrine. Our Founding Fathers could never have predicted that we would one day live in a world where anyone living in any corner of the globe could garner millions of followers. Whether someone finds him or herself to be particularly proficient in writing Harry Potter fan fiction or to be the best creator of memes with an American Girl Doll focus, ordinary citizens could find themselves suddenly jolted out of quiet anonymity by one unexpectedly viral post. Despite years of Instagram micro-fame, …

How To Get The Property Out Of Privacy Law, Jane R. Bambauer

UF Law Faculty Publications

For the last ten years, American rhetoric and state lawmaking has attempted to provide consumers with greater and stickier property interest in their personal information. But the impracticalities of the sticky property model are becoming evident, and will be impossible to ignore as AI becomes more prevalent and useful. This Article critiques the property framework in privacy law, and explains how a risk-based approach can be modernized and implemented instead. An enduring system of privacy laws will manage risks rather than bestowing rights to control and delete information. To do this, data practices should be categorized into safe harbor practices …

Comparing Gdpr Against The United States’ Approach To Data Breach Notification By Examining Texas And California And The Feasibility Of A Universal Standard, Amrit Nagi

Cybaris®

No abstract provided.

Research Access To Social Media Data: Lessons From Clinical Trial Data Sharing, Christopher J. Morten, Gabriel Nicholas, Salomé Vilgoen

Articles

For years, social media companies have sparred with lawmakers over how much independent access to platform data they should provide researchers. Sharing data with researchers allows the public to better understand the risks and harms associated with social media, including areas such as misinformation, child safety, and political polarization. Yet researcher access is controversial. Privacy advocates and companies raise the potential privacy threats of researchers using such data irresponsibly. In addition, social media companies raise concerns over trade secrecy: the data these companies hold and the algorithms powered by that data are secretive sources of competitive advantage. This Article shows …

Measuring Compliance With The California Consumer Privacy Act Over Space And Time, Jens Frankenreiter, Van Tran, Aarushi Mehrotra, Marshini Chetty, Nick Feamster, Lior Strahilevitz

Scholarship@WashULaw

The widespread sharing of consumers personal information with third parties raises significant privacy concerns. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) mandates that online businesses offer consumers the option to opt out of the sale and sharing of personal information. Our study automatically tracks the presence of the opt-out link longitudinally across multiple states after the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) went into effect. We categorize websites based on whether they are subject to CCPA and investigate cases of potential non-compliance. We find a number of websites that implement the opt-out link early and across all examined states but also find …

Two Visions Of Digital Sovereignty, Sujit Raman

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

A Trusted Framework For Cross-Border Data Flows, Alex Joel

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), in cooperation with the Tech, Law and Security Program (TLS) of the American University Washington College of Law, and with support from Microsoft, convened a Global Taskforce to Promote Trusted Sharing of Data comprising experts from civil society, academia, and industry to submit proposals for harmonizing approaches to global data use and sharing. Former US Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and GMF Distinguished Fellow Karen Kornbluh and Microsoft Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Vice President Julie Brill co-chaired the taskforce; TLS Senior Project Director Alex Joel …