Internet Law Commons^™

Case Comment: British Columbia (Attorney General) V. Brecknell, David T. Fraser

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In a day and age where a large portion of both innocent and criminal communications travel across the border and then reside on servers outside of the country, many Canadian police and prosecutors were understandably excited by the British Columbia Court of Appeal’s decision in Brecknell. This case concludes that a Canadian court can order an entity that is only ‘‘virtually present” to produce records pursuant to a Criminal Code production order.

While it is a case that deals with a compelling issue faced by Canadian law enforcement in an environment where hundreds of such orders are issued naming US …

A Better Act, More Bad Behaviour Online: Nova Scotia’S New Intimate Images And Cyber-Protection Act Goes To Court, Jennifer Taylor

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

There is now a reported decision under Nova Scotia’s new Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act,1 which came into force in July 2018 after the previous legislation, the Cyber-safety Act,2 was struck down as unconstitutional.3

The case, Candelora v. Feser,4 was set against the backdrop of a bitter family law dispute. Dawna Candelora (the Applicant), alleged that her former spouse Trevor Feser and his new partner Sonia Dadas (the Respondents) were cyber- bullying her through an unrelenting stream of negative Facebook posts.

Justice Joshua Arnold of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia found that the Respondents had engaged in cyber-bullying and …

Book Review: The Long Journey To Software Valuation: Risks And Rewards Ahead By Dwight Olson, Duncan C. Card

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

One of the most difficult challenges for any technology start-up, and for its investors, is how to assess the commercial value of their innovative product or service solution. Much-needed guidance on that challenge has finally arrived. Dwight Olson’s The Long Journey To Software Valuation, released on March 1st of this year, provides tremendous assistance for both owners of those assets and all potential investors. In fact, the arrival of Mr. Olson’s book is a relief. As my law practice has been, and remains, devoted to aggressively commercializing technology (including software) for over 25 years, I personally know how welcome …

Masthead

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

No abstract provided.

U.S.-U.K. Executive Agreement: Case Study Of Incidental Collection Of Data Under The Cloud Act, Eddie B. Kim

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In March 2018, Congress passed the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, also known as the CLOUD Act, in order to expedite the process of cross-border data transfers for the purposes of criminal investigations. The U.S. government entered into its first Executive Agreement, the main tool to achieve the goals of the statute, with the United Kingdom in October 2019. While the CLOUD Act requires the U.S. Attorney General to consider whether the foreign government counterpart has a certain level of robust data privacy laws, the relevant laws of the United Kingdom have generally been questioned numerous times for …

A Keystroke Causes A Tornado: Applying Chaos Theory To International Cyber Warfare Law, Daniel Garrie, Masha Simonova

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Cyber warfare today finds itself on the front page of the news daily. It is increasingly apparent that the cyber domain demands more guidance, with leaders opting for the deployment of cyber capabilities to bypass kinetic warfare norms. Proposed solutions abound, but none adequately address the specific features of cyber warfare that set it apart from traditional kinetic warfare. This Article argues that a new legal framework is necessary to properly address this problem, and such a doctrine should incorporate principles of chaos theory. Chaos theory is a branch of mathematics dealing with complex systems, with the most well-known example …

The Indiscretion Of Friends: Fourth Amendment Concerns About The Ability To Predict A Person’S Online Social Activity By Monitoring Her Contacts, George M. Dery Iii

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Review Law: New York Defamation Applied To Online Consumer Reviews, Ian Lewis-Slammon

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

In early July 2017, Michelle Levine booked her first and only appointment with gynecologist Dr. Joon Song for an annual exam. Ms. Levine had a dissatisfying experience with the office. She claims that Dr. Song’s office did not follow up with her for almost a month, and that when she called to ask about the results of a blood test, Dr. Song’s staff falsely informed her that she tested positive for herpes. To top it off, Ms. Levine alleges that the office overcharged her. Following this experience, Ms. Levine did what many others do when dissatisfied with a product …

Search Engines And Global Takedown Orders: Google V Equustek And The Future Of Free Speech Online, Robert Diab

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The Supreme Court’s decision in Google v Equustek (2017) to uphold a global content takedown order remains controversial and consequential to wider debates about governing the internet. This commentary examines the Court’s underlying assumption – a common view in takedown jurisprudence – that where a portal directs a critical mass of users to a harmful site, it facilitates harm and no longer engages in valuable speech. This ran contrary to the Court’s more considered view of links in Crookes v Newton (2011) as a form of mere reference and valuable per se for enabling the internet as a public forum. …

Any Safe Harbor In A Storm: Sesta-Fosta And The Future Of § 230 Of The Communications Decency Act, Charles Matula

Duke Law & Technology Review

No abstract provided.

Eu Crypto Currency Regulation: Creating A Haven For Businesses Or For Criminals?, Blake Hamil

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Who Sells? Testing Amazon.Com For Product Defect Liability In Pennsylvania And Beyond, Aaron Doyer

Journal of Law and Policy

Pennsylvania, like other states, has struggled over the past few decades to apply the policy principles of product defect law—a tort characterized by strict liability. Because strict liability bypasses the traditional requirement in tort that a plaintiff prove the defendant’s negligence, and instead requires only a showing that the plaintiff was injured by a product sold in a defective condition, these inquiries raise a deceptively simple question: who sells? Recently, in a landmark case in Pennsylvania, the Third Circuit made waves by declaring Amazon.com, an enormous online marketplace, the legal “seller” of a product shipped and sold by a vendor …

Youtube Is Unsafe For Children: Youtube's Safeguards And The Current Legal Framework Are Inadequate To Protect Children From Disturbing Content, Heather Wilson

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

For America’s children, the amount of screen time they consume has not changed much over the years. Children under eight have steadily spent about two hours a day in front of a screen, with those under age two averaging 42 minutes a day. Children from low-income families spend roughly an hour and forty minutes longer in front of a screen. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, screen time should be limited to two hours a day for children ages two to five; whereas, for those youngest children—under two years—they recommend zero screen time.

While the average amount of screen …

Regulatory Approaches To Consumer Protection In The Financial Sector And Beyond: Toward A Smart Disclosure Regime?, Nydia Remolina, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Yvonne Ai-Chi Loh, David R. Hardoon

Centre for AI & Data Governance (2019-2025)

Traditionally, consumer and data protection policies evolved from issues of consent and information disclosure. The purpose of these regulatory approaches is the protection of consumers by reducing some contracting failures, such as asymmetries of information and a lower bargaining power, especially in transactions involving complex issues such as financial products and sensitive personal data. In the past, regulators have responded to privacy and consumer protection by adopting what this paper refers to as an “imperfectly informed regime”, in which consumers do not receive full information about the risks associated with their decisions, even if they are still protected through a …

Regulating Personal Data Usage In Covid-19 Control Conditions, Mark Findlay, Nydia Remolina

Centre for AI & Data Governance (2019-2025)

As the COVID-19 health pandemic ebbs and flows world-wide, governments and private companies across the globe are utilising AI-assisted surveillance, reporting, mapping and tracing technologies with the intention of slowing the spread of the virus. These technologies have capacity to amass and share personal data for community control and citizen safety motivations that empower state agencies and inveigle citizen co-operation which could only be imagined outside times of real and present personal danger. While not cavilling with the short-term necessity for these technologies and the data they control, process and share in the health regulation mission (provided that the technology …

Of Monopolies And Monocultures: The Intersection Of Patents And National Security, Charles Duan

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

It was certainly an odd thing for the Department of Justice attorney arguing for the United States to appear before the Ninth Circuit to tell the appellate judges that a federal agency was wrong. This was what happened in a Federal Trade Commission enforcement action against Qualcomm Inc., a semiconductor technology company. As a substantial holder of patents on mobile communications technologies and also a leading manufacturer of chips used in that same industry, the FTC charged Qualcomm with anticompetitive conduct; the district court agreed and enjoined Qualcomm from certain patent licensing practices. It was that award of injunctive relief …

From Inactivity To Full Enforcement: The Implementation Of The "Do No Harm" Approach In Initial Coin Offerings, Marco Dell'erba

Michigan Technology Law Review

This Article analyzes the way the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has enforced securities laws with regard to Initial Coin Offerings (“ICOs”). In a speech held in 2016, the U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) Chairman Christopher Giancarlo emphasized the similarities between the advent of the blockchain technology and the Internet era. He offered the “do no harm” approach as the best way to regulate blockchain technology. The Clinton administration implemented the “do no harm” approach at the beginning of the Internet Era in the 1990s when regulators sought to support technological innovations without stifling them with burdensome rules.

This …

The Limits And Possibilities Of Data-Driven Antitrafficking Efforts, Jennifer Musto Ph.D.

Georgia State University Law Review

An examination of technology in the countertrafficking space reveals recurring tensions between law enforcement and rights-based approaches. It also illuminates assumptions, such as the one that posits more law enforcement-focused, nonstate-actor-supported data-driven efforts are necessary to securing justice for people in trafficking situations. However, a closer look at how technology is used and by whom also invites us to ask different questions and to leverage the power of our all-too-human creative potential in thinking about how to value and prioritize data ethics, transparency, and accountability in future countertrafficking work.

Cyber Mobs, Disinformation, And Death Videos: The Internet As It Is (And As It Should Be), Danielle Keats Citron

Michigan Law Review

Review of Nick Drnaso's Sabrina.

Untangling The Privacy Law Web: Why The California Consumer Privacy Act Furthers The Need For Federal Preemptive Legislation, Jordan Yallen

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.

Border Problems: Mapping The Third Border, J. G. Allen, Rosa M. Lastra

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Internet has become the site of economically relevant objects, events and actions, as well as the source of potential risks to the financial systems. This article builds on a metaphor of ‘border problems’ in financial regulation, exploring a ‘third border’ between the ‘real world’ and ‘cyberspace’—a virtual domain of human interaction facilitated and conditioned by digital communications systems. Reviewing the ‘cyber-sovereignty’ debate and surveying the divergent approaches now emerging along geo-political faultlines, we argue that sovereign states still have a unique and irreplaceable role in guarding financial stability which must be reflected in the law of Internet jurisdiction: an …

Ethics, Ai, Mass Data And Pandemic Challenges: Responsible Data Use And Infrastructure Application For Surveillance And Pre-Emptive Tracing Post-Crisis, Mark Findlay, Jia Yuan Loke, Nydia Remolina Leon, Yum Yin, Benjamin (Tan Renyan) Tham

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

As the COVID-19 health pandemic rages governments and private companies across the globe are utilising AI-assisted surveillance, reporting, mapping and tracing technologies with the intention of slowing the spread of the virus. These technologies have the capacity to amass personal data and share for community control and citizen safety motivations that empower state agencies and inveigle citizen co-operation which could only be imagined outside such times of real and present danger. While not cavilling with the short-term necessity for these technologies and the data they control, process and share in the health regulation mission, this paper argues that this infrastructure …

The Common Law Of Cyber Trespass, Michael J. O'Connor

Brooklyn Law Review

Right now, if executives in California and Virginia each bribe a competitor’s disloyal employee to steal a trade secret from the competitor’s servers, under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the Government can charge one executive but not the other. Courts decide these cases differently due to the widening circuit split over the CFAA term “without authorization.” Neither the Supreme Court nor Congress has shown interest in resolving the split over authorization. Even more concerning is the suggestion that they can’t resolve it; the statute addresses too many potential scenarios for a single definition to end all debate. …

Family Secrets And Relational Privacy: Protecting Not-So-Personal, Sensitive Information From Public Disclosure, J. Lyn Entrikin

University of Miami Law Review

This Article seeks to map contemporary relational privacy issues in the context of the evolving “right of privacy” in the United States. Generally, the Article explains why the so-called “personal” right of informational privacy, whatever its legal foundations, cannot be realistically confined to an individual right given the dramatic scientific and technological developments in the twenty-first century. In particular, the Article proposes that both state and federal law must grapple with the inherently relational nature of privacy interests with respect to DNA profiles, which inherently implicate the privacy interests of one’s biological relatives, whether known or unknown.

Part I summarizes …

To Protect Freedom Of Expression, Why Not Steal Victory From The Jaws Of Defeat?, Evelyn Mary Aswad

Washington and Lee Law Review

Global social media platforms are grappling with whether to align their corporate speech codes with international human rights law. Facebook’s June 2019 report that summarized worldwide feedback about its proposed independent oversight board for content moderation noted a split in stakeholder opinions on this topic. The UN’s top expert on freedom of expression as well as many civil society members recommended that Facebook anchor its content moderation in the international human rights law regime. Others expressed concern that this legal regime would not be sufficiently protective of speech and contained inconsistencies that create problems for content moderation.

Those concerns were …

Taxation Of Electronic Gaming, Bryan T. Camp

Washington and Lee Law Review

At a doctrinal level, the subject of this Article is timely. During this time of the coronavirus pandemic, casinos have been closed and large populations have been subject to stay-home orders from local and state authorities. One can reasonably expect a large increase in electronic gaming and thus an increased need for proper consideration of its taxation. This Article argues for a cash-out rule of taxation.

At a deeper level, the subject of this Article is timeless. Tax law is wickedly complex for a reason. This Article explores that complexity using the example of electronic gaming. It grapples with the …

Morrison And Cryptocurrencies: Is It Time To Revisit The Extraterritorial Application Of Rule 10b-5?, Eleanor B. Eastham

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Stay-At-Home, Videoconferencing, And A Baptism Of Fire For The California Consumer Privacy Act, Michael Goodyear

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

The Data Market: A Proposal To Control Data About You, David Shaw, Daniel W. Engels

SMU Data Science Review

The current legal and economic infrastructure facilitating data collection practices and data analysis has led to extreme over-collection of data and the overall loss of personal privacy. Data over-collection has led to a secondary market for consumer data that is invisible to the consumer and results in a person's data being distributed far beyond their knowledge or control. In this paper, we propose a Data Market framework and design for personal data management and privacy protection in which the individual controls and profits from the dissemination of their data. Our proposed Data Market uses a market-based approach utilizing blockchain distributed …

Internet Architecture And Disability, Blake Reid

Indiana Law Journal

The Internet is essential for education, employment, information, and cultural and democratic participation. For tens of millions of people with disabilities in the United States, barriers to accessing the Internet—including the visual presentation of information to people who are blind or visually impaired, the aural presentation of information to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and the persistence of Internet technology, interfaces, and content without regard to prohibitive cognitive load for people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities—collectively pose one of the most significant civil rights issues of the information age. Yet disability law lacks a comprehensive theoretical approach …