Privacy Law Commons^™

Alexa, Who Owns My Pillow Talk? Contracting, Collaterizing, And Monetizing Consumer Privacy Through Voice-Captured Personal Data, Anne Logsdon Smith

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

With over one-fourth of households in the U.S. alone now using voice-activated digital assistant devices such as Amazon’s Echo (better known as “Alexa”) and Google’s Home, companies are recording and transmitting record volumes of voice data from the privacy of people’s homes to servers across the globe. These devices capture conversations about everything from online shopping to food preferences to entertainment recommendations to bedtime stories, and even phone and appliance use. With “Big Data” and business analytics expected to be a $203 billion-plus industry by 2020, companies are racing to acquire and leverage consumer data by selling it, licensing it, …

Privacy Commitments, Rachel Wilka

Washington Law Review Online

What responsibilities do corporations have with regard to their consumers’ information? Many articles have looked at ways to make personal information the “property” of the consumer. Property approaches attempt to overlay personal information on the legal frameworks of trade secret, trademark, and copyright law. While each approach has its merits, and contributes to the field, none of the proposals generate a concrete way for a consumer to enforce his or her rights against a company. The proposals all suffer from the same fatal flaw, a new system must not just create a consumer right but also balance the inequities in …

Privacy's Double Standards: Public Disclosure Tort Case Chart (2006-2016), Scott Skinner-Thompson

Washington Law Review Online

This is a chart of public disclosure tort cases analyzed in Scott Skinner-Thompson, Privacy’s Double Standards, 93 Wash. L. Rev. 2051 (2018).

Fourth Amendment Anxiety, Kiel Brennan-Marquez, Stephen E. Henderson

Faculty Articles

In Birchfield v. North Dakota (2016), the Supreme Court broke new Fourth Amendment ground by establishing that law enforcement’s collection of information can be cause for “anxiety,” meriting constitutional protection, even if subsequent uses of the information are tightly restricted. This change is significant. While the Court has long recognized the reality that police cannot always be trusted to follow constitutional rules, Birchfield changes how that concern is implemented in Fourth Amendment law, and importantly, in a manner that acknowledges the new realities of data-driven policing. Beyond offering a careful reading of Birchfield, this Article has two goals. First, …

Gaming The Law: Adolescents And The Harmful Digital Communication Act—Employing An Educational Approach, Nachshon Goltz, Giulia Dondoli

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

In 2015, the Parliament of New Zealand enacted the Harmful Digital Communication Act (HDCA) with the aim of eliminating harm caused by digital communications. After a year of HDCA’s partial enforcement, a relatively large number of cases under Section 22, which concerns harm caused by posting digital communication, have been filed. Under this section, anyone over the age of fourteen can potentially face sanctions, and the first person to be convicted under the Act was an eighteen-year-old. This article highlights the legal rights and obligations that adolescents need be aware of. It also presents an online game, “Privacy Games” at …

Scraping The Bottom Of The Barrel: Why It Is No Surprise That Data Scrapers Can Have Access To Public Profiles On Linkedin, Marissa Boulanger

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Alexa, Give My Personal Information To The Government: The Application Of The Third-Party Doctrine To Smart Devices, Brandon Pieratt

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Research Handbook On Fiduciary Law, Julian Velasco, Paul B. Miller

Books

Book Chapters

Julian Velasco, Delimiting Fiduciary Status, in Research Handbook on Fiduciary Law 76 (D. Gordon Smith & Andrew Gold eds., 2018).

Paul B. Miller, Dimensions of Fiduciary Loyalty, in Research Handbook on Fiduciary Law 180 (D. Gordon Smith & Andrew Gold eds., 2018).

A familiar problem to scholars of fiduciary law is that of definition. Fiduciary law has been called “messy,” “elusive,” and “unusually vexing.” In part, this is because fiduciary law principles appear in many areas of law, but are applied differently in each. This has made the development of a unified theory difficult. Some scholars have doubted …

Determinants Of Personal Information Protection Activities In South Korea, Pilku Kang

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how people’s awareness and ways to obtain relevant materials of personal information have influenced individual’s information privacy protection activities. This study uses the data of a 2016 survey on information security published by Korea Information and Security Agency.

The dependent variables of this study are preventive measures for the security of a Personal Computer (PC) and preventive measures against personal information breach. I classify independent variables into four types. They are internet users’ perception about information privacy, such as awareness of the importance of protecting one’s personal information, and awareness of information …

Robotic Speakers And Human Listeners, Helen Norton

Publications

In their new book, Robotica, Ron Collins and David Skover assert that we protect speech not so much because of its value to speakers but instead because of its affirmative value to listeners. If we assume that the First Amendment is largely, if not entirely, about serving listeners’ interests—in other words, that it’s listeners all the way down—what would a listener-centered approach to robotic speech require? This short symposium essay briefly discusses the complicated and sometimes even dark side of robotic speech from a listener-centered perspective.

Get Off My Porch: United States V. Carloss And The Escalating Dangers Of “Knock And Talks”, Skyler K. Sikes

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

United States V. Carloss: Should The Police Act Like Good Neighbors?, Cole Mclanahan

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ferpa Close-Up: When Video Captures Violence And Injury, Kitty L. Cone, Richard J. Peltz-Steele

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

United States V. Lambis: A Good Call For Cellphones, Cell-Site Simulators, And The Fourth Amendment, Kathryn E. Gardner

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Katz V. United States: Back To The Future?, Michael Vitiello

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Remarks On Patient Privacy: Problems, Perspectives, And Opportunities, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

The Missing Hyperlink — An Empirical Study: Can Canadian Laws Effectively Protect Consumers Purchasing Online?, Mariella Montplaisir

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Canadian consumer protection legislation applicable to online transactions generally works by a two-pronged method: first, private international law rules ensure that in most cases, consumers can sue in their home province under that province’s law; and, second, a wide range of substantive obligations are imposed on merchants, and failure to comply with these obligations provides consumers with a right of cancellation. This study considers the private international law rules applicable to online consumer contracts, and discusses the unique jurisdictional challenges presented by online transactions. This study also provides an overview of Canadian legislation applicable to online consumer transactions, and examines …

Social Media Threats: Examining The Canadian Criminal Law Response, Benjamin Perrin

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article begins by discussing the legislative history, essential elements, and purpose of the threats offence in s. 264.1(1) of the Criminal Code. It then analyzes major reported Canadian judicial decisions dealing with social media threats, based on the five themes identified above. Finally, this article concludes by highlighting the implications and limitations of this study, as well as areas for future research.

Back To The Future: Reviving The Use Of Video Link Evidence In Canadian Criminal Courts, Helena Gluzman

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Section 714.1 of the Criminal Code of Canada allows for witnesses and victims to testify remotely via video link, within Canada. The legal test embedded within this provision — “appropriate in all the circumstances” — has led to inconsistent application across the country. Some jurists have embraced the flexibility provided by the video link process. Others have expressed reluctance, articulating the position that in-court testimony is to be preferred and permitting the use of video link evidence only in exceptional circumstances. R. v. S.D.L. is the first treatment of s. 714.1 by an appellate court. The Nova Scotia Court of …

The Political Economy Of Celebrity Rights, Mark Bartholomew

Journal Articles

This essay discusses how the right of publicity became such a robust property right — much more far-reaching than analogous rights in copyright or trademark. One cannot explain the accretion of celebrity publicity rights as a matter of legal logic or simple reaction to the growing economic value of celebrity endorsements. Instead, the essay explains the right's expansion from the perspective of political economy. Critical innovations to the right of publicity occurred in the particular political environment of the 1980s and 1990s. Despite some groups' resistance to new, specialized entitlements for celebrities, the conditions were right for a particular coalition …

Commodifying Consumer Data In The Era Of The Internet Of Things, Stacy-Ann Elvy

Articles & Chapters

Internet of Things (“IOT”) products generate a wealth of data about consumers that was never before widely and easily accessible to companies. Examples include biometric and health-related data, such as fingerprint patterns, heart rates and calories burned. This Article explores the connection between the types of data generated by the IOT and the financial frameworks of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code and the Bankruptcy Code. It critiques these regimes, which enable the commodification of consumer data, as well as laws aimed at protecting consumer data, such as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, various state biometric …

What Authorizes The Image? The Visual Economy Of Post-Secular Jurisprudence, Richard Sherwin

Articles & Chapters

In law’s visual economy our commitment to justice grows out of a renewed encounter with an interior libidinal source whose ongoing collective investment binds us to the nomos in which we live. We experience this corporeal bond in paintings, films, and video images on screens large and small. In the ethically inflected aesthetic of post-secular jurisprudence, justice is to law as beauty is to art. As distant as an abstract expressionist canvas, as close as any neighbor, or indeed any screen on which the neighbor becomes real to us. That is where we behold the source and instantiation of law’s …

Four Principles For Digital Expression (You Won't Believe #3!), Neil M. Richards, Danielle Keats Citron

Scholarship@WashULaw

At the dawn of the Internet’s emergence, the Supreme Court rhapsodized about its potential as a tool for free expression and political liberation. In ACLU v. Reno (1997), the Supreme Court adopted a bold vision of Internet expression to strike down a federal law–the Communications Decency Act–that restricted digital expression to forms that were merely “decent.” Far more than the printing press, the Court explained, the mid-90s Internet enabled anyone to become a town crier. Communication no longer required the permission of powerful entities. With a network connection, the powerless had as much luck reaching a mass audience as the …

Pharming Out Data: A Proposal For Promoting Innovation And Public Health Through A Hybrid Clinical Data Protection Scheme, Lea M. Gulotta

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The pharmaceutical industry, one of the largest industries in the world, is rapidly becoming globalized. Clinical trials, which are required for drugs to be approved for human use, are increasingly performed outside of the pharmaceutical company's home country in an attempt to save money. This is mainly due to drug development's steep costs, and the high risks involved in an industry where only 12 percent of products that begin development ever make it to market. In order to help offset these risks and encourage innovation, many countries offer clinical trial data certain protections through patents, market exclusivity, or trade secret …

Privacy, Notice, And Design, Ari Ezra Waldman

Articles & Chapters

Design configures our relationship with a space, whether offline or online. In particular, the design of built online environments can constrain our ability to understand and respond to websites’ data use practices or it can enhance agency by giving us control over information. Design, therefore, poses dangers and offers opportunity to protect privacy online. This Article is a comprehensive theoretical and empirical approach to the design of privacy policies.

Privacy notices today do not convey information in a way understandable to most internet users. This is because they are designed without the needs of real people in mind. They are …

Are Anti-Bullying Laws Effective?, Ari Ezra Waldman

Articles & Chapters

Since 2010, when several high profile bullying-related suicides brought bullying and cyberharassment into the national consciousness, all 50 states have passed laws that address bullying among the nation’s youth. This essay is the first in a series of three projects on federal, state, municipal, and individual school approaches to bullying. There are only 4 published studies on the relationships between law and bullying rates. This Essay adds several features to the discourse. It offers a comprehensive analysis of the contents of state anti-bullying laws, using a 16-item list of guidelines from the United States Department of Education as a frame. …

Is It Time For A Universal Genetic Forensic Database?, J. W. Hazel, Ellen Wright Clayton, B. A. Malin, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The ethical objections to mandating forensic profiling of newborns and/or compelling every citizen or visitor to submit to a buccal swab or to spit in a cup when they have done nothing wrong are not trivial. But newborns are already subject to compulsory medical screening, and people coming from foreign countries to the United States already submit to fingerprinting. It is also worth noting that concerns about coercion or invasions of privacy did not give pause to legislatures (or, for that matter, even the European Court) when authorizing compelled DNA sampling from arrestees, who should not forfeit genetic privacy interests …

Data Collection, Ehrs, And Poverty Determinations, Craig Konnoth

Publications

Collecting and deploying poverty-related data is an important starting point for leveraging data regarding social determinants of health in precision medicine. However, we must rethink how we collect and deploy such data. Current modes of collection yield imprecise data that is unsuited for research. Better data can be collected by cross-referencing other sources such as employers and public benefit programs, and by incentivizing and encouraging patients and providers to provide more accurate information. Data thus collected can be used to provide appropriate individual-level clinical and non-clinical care, and to systematically determine what share of social resources healthcare should consume.

Privacy's Double Standards, Scott Skinner-Thompson

Publications

Where the right to privacy exists, it should be available to all people. If not universally available, then privacy rights should be particularly accessible to marginalized individuals who are subject to greater surveillance and are less able to absorb the social costs of privacy violations. But in practice, there is evidence that people of privilege tend to fare better when they bring privacy tort claims than do non-privileged individuals. This disparity occurs despite doctrine suggesting that those who occupy prominent and public social positions are entitled to diminished privacy tort protections.

This Article unearths disparate outcomes in public disclosure tort …

Criminal Employment Law, Benjamin Levin

Publications

This Article diagnoses a phenomenon, “criminal employment law,” which exists at the nexus of employment law and the criminal justice system. Courts and legislatures discourage employers from hiring workers with criminal records and encourage employers to discipline workers for non-work-related criminal misconduct. In analyzing this phenomenon, my goals are threefold: (1) to examine how criminal employment law works; (2) to hypothesize why criminal employment law has proliferated; and (3) to assess what is wrong with criminal employment law. This Article examines the ways in which the laws that govern the workplace create incentives for employers not to hire individuals with …