Internet Law Commons^™

Building Legal Datasets, Jerrold Soh

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Data-centric AI calls for better, not just bigger, datasets. As data protection laws with extra-territorial reach proliferate worldwide, ensuring datasets are legal is an increasingly crucial yet overlooked component of “better”. To help dataset builders become more willing and able to navigate this complex legal space, this paper reviews key legal obligations surrounding ML datasets, examines the practical impact of data laws on ML pipelines, and offers a framework for building legal datasets.

The Dangers Of Doxing And Swatting: Why Texas Should Criminalize These Malicious Forms Of Cyberharassment, Hannah Mery

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

Absolute Publishing Power And Bulletproof Immunity: How Section 230 Shields Internet Service Providers From Liability And Makes It Impossible To Protect Your Reputation Online, Victoria Anderson

Seattle University Law Review Online

No abstract provided.

In Defense Of Pure Sovereignty In Cyberspace, Kevin Jon Heller

International Law Studies

States currently endorse three different positions concerning the international wrongfulness of cyber operations that penetrate computer systems located on the territory of another state but do not rise to the level of a use of force or prohibited intervention. The first position is that such low-intensity cyber operations are never wrongful, because sovereignty is a principle of international law, not a primary rule that can be independently violated. The second is that low-intensity cyber operations are always wrongful, because sovereignty is a primary rule of international law that is violated by any non-consensual penetration of a computer system located on …

Schrems's Slippery Slope: Strengthening Governance Mechanisms To Rehabilitate Eu-U.S. Cross-Border Data Transfers After Schrems Ii, Edward W. Mclaughlin

Fordham Law Review

In July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) invalidated the Privacy Shield Framework, the central data governance mechanism that once governed cross-border data transfers from the European Union (EU) to the United States. For the second time in five years, Europe’s top court invalidated the primary method of cross-border data transfers. Both times the CJEU found that the United States’s surveillance laws were, and remain, overbroad and fail to provide EU citizens with protections that are essentially equivalent to those guaranteed under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in light of the Charter of Fundamental …

Copyrighting Tiktok Dances: Choreography In The Internet Age, Ali Johnson

Washington Law Review

TikTok is a video-sharing social media application that launched in 2018 and has grown wildly since its inception. Many users are drawn to the platform by “dance challenges”—short dance routines of varying complexity set to popular songs that are recreated by other users, eventually going “viral” (i.e., recreated on a massive scale by other users) on the app. Going viral can provide young dancers and choreographers an opportunity to break into the highly competitive entertainment industry. However, there is a problem: due to TikTok’s interface and community practices, the original creators of a dance (who, significantly, are often young women …

Unilateral Cyber Sanctions: Between Questioned Legality And Normative Value, Iryna Bogdanova, Maria Vasquez Callo-Muller

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The current legal vacuum regarding binding international norms regulating malicious conduct in cyberspace has paved the way for the emergence of a unilateral tool: cyber sanctions. They have already been introduced by the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. Notwithstanding their obvious importance, their interrelations with international law- especially international economic law-have remained largely unexplored in academic research. This gap is perplexing given the fact that the existing unilateral cyber sanctions have been formulated in such a way as to be prone to misuse. In particular, they bear a significant potential to disrupt economic relations and undermine …

Big Tech In A Small Pond: How The Internet Economy Became So Concentrated And What Sector-Specific Regulation Can Do To Reel It In, Andy Wilson

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

While the early days of the internet were marked by a proliferation of new internet platforms offering different services, over time much of the sector became dominated by the handful of internet giants we know today. Discomfort with the outsized role that these enormous companies play in the daily lives of billions has driven a growing consensus that they need to be reined in, culminating in federal and state agencies launching a slew of antitrust suits against Google and Facebook in late 2020. These renewed antitrust efforts will likely be insufficient to address competitive harms in the internet economy, given …

The Paradox Of Free Speech In The Digital World: First Amendment Friendly Proposals For Promoting User Agency, Nadine Strossen

Articles & Chapters

The United States Supreme Court has continued a speech-protective trend dating back to the 1960s, safeguarding even the most controversial speech from government regulation, including speech that critics of this trend label with the stigmatizing terms "hate speech," "disinformation," "misinformation," "extremist speech," and "terrorist speech." In contrast, as dominant online platforms have become increasingly important forums for both individual self-expression and democratic discourse, the platforms have been issuing and enforcing increasing restrictions on their users' speech pursuant to each platform's content moderation policies. These restrictions often suppress speech that the U.S. Constitution bars government from suppressing. As private sector entities, …

A Comparative Study Of Dark Patterns Across Mobile And Web Modalities, Johanna Gunawan, Amogh Pradeep, David Choffnes, Woodrow Hartzog, Christo Wilson

Faculty Scholarship

Dark patterns are user interface elements that can influence a person's behavior against their intentions or best interests. Prior work identified these patterns in websites and mobile apps, but little is known about how the design of platforms might impact dark pattern manifestations and related human vulnerabilities. In this paper, we conduct a comparative study of mobile application, mobile browser, and web browser versions of 105 popular services to investigate variations in dark patterns across modalities. We perform manual tests, identify dark patterns in each service, and examine how they persist or differ by modality. Our findings show that while …

Joint Submission Of Ip Scholars, Re. Consultation On A Modern Copyright Framework For Artificial Intelligence And The Internet Of Things, Carys Craig

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

No abstract provided.

The Rise Of Ada Title Iii: How Congress And The Department Of Justice Can Solve Predatory Litigation, Sarah E. Zehentner

Brooklyn Law Review

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted in 1990 to afford equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities. Title III of the ADA, specifically, was enacted to afford disabled individuals equal access to places of public accommodation. When the ADA was enacted, the internet was still in its infancy and Congress did not contemplate the need for governing accessibility to websites of public accommodations. Today, the internet has become embedded in virtually every aspect of our lives, yet there are still millions of disabled individuals who are unable to equally access the websites of American businesses. With the ADA being …

Submission To Canadian Government Consultation On A Modern Copyright Framework For Ai And The Internet Of Things, Sean Flynn, Lucie Guibault, Christian Handke, Joan-Josep Vallbé, Michael Palmedo, Carys Craig, Michael Geist, João Pedro Quintais

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

No abstract provided.

Corporate Violations Of Human Rights: Addressing The Coordinated Surveillance And Persecution Of The Uyghur People By The Chinese State And Chinese Corporations, Ross Smith

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Ethical Dilemma: Police Access To Private Internet Data An Analysis Of The Ecpa Of 1986, Its Effects On The St. Louis Area, And The Proposed Solutions To Remedy This Outdated Document., Amber Essary

Undergraduate Research Symposium

My research was focused on the ethical dilemma of police access to private internet data and how it pertains to the outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) of 1986. This work contains a case study of serial killer Maury Travis, an overview of the history of the ECPA, an argument for why police should have access to private data, an ethical analysis of the two solutions to this dilemma, and an argument for what solution I believe to be the best one. My research concluded that the two possible solutions to this dilemma were to revise the ECPA or to …

The Role Of Expropriation Clauses In Protection And Promotion Of Foreign Investments In Renewable Energy: An Essential But Overlooked Legal Consideration, Moosa Akefi Ghaziani, Mohammad Akefi Ghaziani

Indonesia Law Review

Today the world is tackling climate change. The global threat of energy poverty along with the growing need for energy has escalated this crisis. The promotion of renewable energy sources is widely known as the main solution to this challenge. Many International and regional agreements address various aspects of renewable energy development such as trade, transit, security, and investment. Foreign investment is recognised as a crucial prerequisite for the global deployment of renewable energy, since not all States have the financial and technological potentials to develop this sector. Various investment agreements are signed to facilitate and promote investments. These instruments …

The Case For Banning (And Mandating) Ransomware Insurance, Kyle D. Logue, Adam B. Shniderman

Law & Economics Working Papers

Ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly pervasive and disruptive. Not only are they shutting down (or at least “holding up”) businesses and local governments all around the country, they are disrupting institutions in many sectors of the U.S. economy — from school systems, to medical facilities, to critical elements of the U.S. energy infrastructure as well as the food supply chain. Ransomware attacks are also growing more frequent and the ransom demands more exorbitant. Those ransom payments are increasingly being covered by insurance. That insurance offers coverage for a variety of cyber-related losses, including many of the costs arising out of …

Personal Data Privacy And Protective Federal Legislation: An Exploration Of Constituent Position On The Need For Legislation To Control Data Reliant Organizations Collecting And Monetizing Internet-Obtained Personal Data, Giovanni De Meo

Dissertations

In the past twenty years, the business of online personal data collection has grown at the same rapid pace as the internet itself, fostering a multibillion-dollar personal data collection and commercialization industry. Unlike many other large industries, there has been no major federal legislation enacted to monitor or control the activities of organizations dealing in this flourishing industry. The combination of these factors together with the lack of prior research encouraged this research designed to understand how much voters know about this topic and whether there is interest in seeing legislation enacted to protect individual personal data privacy.

To address …

Private Lives At Home And Public Lives In Court: Protecting The Privacy Of Federal Judges' Home Addresses, Hannah Elias Sbaity

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Targeted murders of federal judges and their families at their private homes date back to May 29, 1979. Most recently, in July 2020, Judge Esther Salas’s only son, Daniel, was murdered and her husband near-fatally shot at their home. Individuals wishing to inflict such harm or death at federal judges’ homes have been able to do so because of federal judges’ publicly available home addresses. Because personally identifying information (PII) is defined differently from statute to statute, home addresses largely remain public information in most states and can be found in real estate records, data broker websites, social media platforms, …

Boss Battle: Twitch Vs Proposed Amendments To The Knowledge Standard Under The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Zachary Messick

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), indirect theories of liability such as vicarious liability and contributory infringement have been inconsistently applied, leading the Copyright Office to recommend lowering the knowledge standard and increasing potential liability for Online Service Providers (OSPs). In this note, I will discuss the histories of vicarious liability and contributory infringement, which demonstrate that courts have correctly applied the standards under the DMCA. Further, through a case-study of Twitch, an up-and-coming streaming website, I will discuss how the proposed amendments drive against the policies underlying the indirect theories of liability and would destroy OSPs like Twitch. …

A Deep Dive Into Technical Encryption Concepts To Better Understand Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Legal & Policy Issues, Anthony Volini

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

Lawyers wishing to exercise a meaningful degree of leadership at the intersection of technology and the law could benefit greatly from a deep understanding of the use and application of encryption, considering it arises in so many legal scenarios. For example, in FTC v. Wyndham1 the defendant failed to implement nearly every conceivable cybersecurity control, including lack of encryption for stored data, resulting in multiple data breaches and a consequent FTC enforcement action for unfair and deceptive practices. Other examples of legal issues requiring use of encryption and other technology concepts include compliance with security requirements of GLBA & HIPAA, …

Widening The Lens On Content Moderation, Jenna Ruddock, Justin Sherman

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Privacy Vs. Transparency: Handling Protected Materials In Agency Rulemaking, Christopher S. Yoo, Kellen Mccoy

Indiana Law Journal

Agencies conducting informal rulemaking proceedings increasingly confront conflicting duties with respect to protected materials included in information submitted in public rulemaking dockets. They must reconcile the broad commitment to openness and transparency reflected in federal law with the duty to protect confidential business information (CBI) and personally identifiable information (PII) against improper disclosure.

This Article presents an analysis of how agencies can best balance these often countervailing considerations. Part I explores the statutory duties to disclose and withhold information submitted in public rulemaking dockets placed on agencies. It also examines judicial decisions and other legal interpretations regarding the proper way …

Article Iii Standing, The Sword And The Shield: Resolving A Circuit Split In Favor Of Data Breach Plaintiffs, R. Andrew Grindstaff

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The recent proliferation of data breaches is one such event requiring a rethreading of standing doctrine. The Courts of Appeal are currently split on whether to allow or deny standing for data breach plaintiffs—those persons seeking recourse from the entities that fell victim to the breach and therein lost plaintiffs’ data to an unknown third party. Standing requires plaintiffs to show some injury, and how courts approach the concept of injury in these data breach cases determines whether plaintiffs will survive the standing analysis. Despite the disparate treatment of litigants across the circuits, the Supreme Court has repeatedly punted when …

Throw The Book At Them: Why The Ftc Needs To Get Tough With Influencers, Christopher Terry, Eliezer Joseph Silberberg, Stephen Schmitz

Journal of Law and Policy

The Federal Trade Commission is an administrative agency that has traditionally been aggressive when deploying its delegated authority. At the core of these actions is the FTC’s interpretive definition of deception as based upon a reasonable consumer standard. Specifically, the commission has regularly used Section 5(a) of the FTC Act, in tandem with its interpretive definition of deception, as a sword in a variety of contexts, including enforcement actions for deceptive advertising, endorsements, and claim substantiation against a range of industries. These include successfully brought actions or consent decrees obtained in enforcement proceedings against powerful economic entities, including Google and …

Regulating The Digital Resonance, Hassan Salman

Upper Level Writing Requirement Research Papers

No abstract provided.

The Commodification Of Personal Data And The Road To Consumer Autonomy Through The Ccpa, Blaire Rose

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The internet has transformed into a museum of personal information collected through the digital footprint we leave behind after each act performed on the web. Businesses have monetized this collection of personal data in various ways. For instance, many companies analyze this information through predicting analytics and data profiling to identify consumer interests that they can exploit as a means to generate revenue. Though user data promotes many benefits for businesses and consumers alike, the recent data breaches of massive companies, coupled with hazy privacy disclosures that beget consent disputes, have left both users and businesses perturbed and exposed to …

Handle With Care: Domestic Violence Safety Planning In The Age Of Data Privacy Laws, Jenny Wu

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The United States has been patiently waiting for a comprehensive federal data privacy law to protect consumers. However, strong data privacy laws can also protect a less thought-about group: survivors of domestic violence and intimate partner violence. As new technology proliferates into our daily lives, technology-based abuse is quickly becoming a common form of intimate partner abuse. Domestic violence survivors and advocates have to stay extra vigilant about who has access to their internet data. Needing to understand technology-specific safety measures and learn technology-literacy skills adds more work to already overwhelmed domestic violence advocates and survivors. Could the law serve …

Freedom Of Expression V. Social Responsibility On The Internet: Vivi Down Association V. Google, Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Natalina Stamile

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The aim of the article is to reflect on Google’s social responsibility by analyzing a milestone court decision, Vivi Down Association v. Google, that took place in Italy, involving the posting of an offensive video clip on Google Video. It was a landmark decision because it refuted the assertion that the Internet knows no boundaries, that the Internet transcends national laws due to its international nature, and that Internet intermediaries, such as Google, are above the law. This case shows that when the legal authorities of a given country decide to assert their jurisdiction, Internet companies need to abide by …

The Impact Of Schrems Ii: Next Steps For U.S. Data Privacy Law, Andraya Flor

Notre Dame Law Review

Schrems II invalidated Privacy Shield because the court found that it did not provide an “essentially equivalent” level of protection compared to the guarantees of the GDPR. The National Security Agency (NSA) operated surveillance programs that had the potential to infringe on the rights of EU subjects, and there was a lack of oversight and effective judicial remedies to protect rights of EU data subjects, which undermined Privacy Shield as a mechanism for data transfers. This Note sets aside the surveillance and national security issue, which would require resolution through a shift in overall U.S. national security law, and instead …