Science and Technology Law Commons^™

Kidfluencer Protection: Illinois’ Attempt At Expanding Its Version Of The Coogan Law., Genevieve Sloan

American University Business Law Review

On July 1, 2024, Illinois enacted pioneering legislation, which expanded its child labor laws to “[m]inors featured in vlogs.” This legislation marks the first successful attempt at protecting the finances of children in the business of social media influencing. Over the past several years, society has started recognizing the dangers of the otherwise lucrative child influencer industry, notably children’s lack of legal entitlement to their earnings.

Accordingly, the Illinois legislation began inspiring similar child labor laws in other states. This Comment analyzes whether Section 95 and Section 100 of Illinois’ Child Labor Law of 2024 maintain parental autonomy and adequately …

Reporting Materiality Under The Sec Cybersecurity Disclosure Rules: How Corporate Boards Balance Duty And Risk For Cyber Threats And Incidents, Deborah Slattery-Pereira

American University Business Law Review

The Security Exchange Commission’s (SEC) cybersecurity rules require that public companies disclose a material cyber threat or incident and the impact of the incident on the company’s business Corporate boards must disclose any cyber-related information that would affect a reasonable shareholder’s investment decisions. These rules delegate to the corporate board and management the decision of which cybersecurity events qualify as material to investors. Directors and officers must also decide when and how to disclose to the SEC, and what information to report.

The SEC Cybersecurity Rules increase compliance and litigation costs for public companies, as shareholders can use this information …

Serendipity And Self-Regulation: The Evolution Of Cryptocurrency-Based Exchange-Traded Products, Onnig H. Dombalagian

American University Business Law Review

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts rejoiced last year when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the listing of bitcoin-based and ether-based exchange-traded products (ETPs). For over a decade, cryptocurrency entrepreneurs have sought to trade cryptocurrency products on traditional securities exchanges.  Listing bitcoin and ether ETPs gave retail investors an easily accessible, transparent, and perhaps, more cost-efficient means of investing in cryptocurrencies while reducing the credit and custodial risks of dealing with unregistered digital asset exchanges or digital asset intermediaries. The listing of cryptocurrency ETPs may also represent a substantial step toward completing the marketplace for financial transactions in bitcoin and ether.

 There …

Re-Examining U.S. Bailouts In The Digital Era: Moral Hazard And Adverse Consequences, Joel Slawotsky

American University Business Law Review

Financial institutional bailouts have become the new normal in recent decades. From the savings and loan crisis, to the sub-prime, to SVB and Signature, the U.S. government and regulators have decided that the failure to protect depositors and investors could lead to bank runs, a destabilized banking sector, and ultimately economic turmoil inflicting tremendous monetary and social costs on citizens. However, the mainstreaming of bailouts has led to moral hazard, i.e., the expectation among all stakeholders including financial institutions, investors, creditors, and regulators, that a government rescue is inevitable. The problem of moral hazard is the creation of incentives to …

Corporate Cybersecurity Governance: Director Liability Under Europe’S Nis2 Directive And The Emerging Fiduciary Duty Of Proactive Cybersecurity Oversight, Stacey B. Barrack

American University Business Law Review

This Comment examines the implications of the European Union’s Network and Information Security 2 Directive (“NIS2”) on corporate cybersecurity governance, with a particular focus on the fiduciary duties of directors in multinational corporations operating in the United States. The NIS2 Directive, adopted in 2023 and currently being transposed into national law by EU member states, mandates that boards of directors must directly approve and oversee—and can be liable for—the cybersecurity risk management measures taken by their companies. 

This Comment delves into the intersection of NIS2 with Delaware corporate law and examines how NIS2 influences the fiduciary duty of oversight for …

Blame It On The Algorithm (But Sue Them Both): Joint Enterprise And Agency In Ai-Driven Hiring Discrimination, Khushi Palan

American University Business Law Review

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) in hiring processes has created a significant accountability gap in employment discrimination law. While federal statutes like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act focus on finding liability for traditional employers, they fail to adequately address the unique role of third-party AI vendors whose algorithms often drive discriminatory outcomes. This Comment examines the emerging legal landscape through the lens of Mobley v. Workday, where the District Court for the Northern District of California recognized that AI vendors can function as “agents” of …

The Lawyer Of The Future: Ethics And Identity In The Age Of Ai, David Yosifon, Michael Santoro, Isaac Nikssarian

American University Law Review

The dawn of artificial intelligence (AI) poses a fundamental challenge to the legal profession’s practical function and social identity. We argue that this challenge should be met as an opportunity to reclaim the profession’s core ethical intentions. We approach the emergence of AI as an occasion to define and safeguard what is irreducibly human in legal work. We ground our approach in the ethical imperatives set out in the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, while extending them into an invigorated framework for the AI era.

We survey the uses and ethical challenges associated with cutting-edge deployment of …

By Design, Roger Allan Ford

American University Law Review

In recent years, scholars and policymakers have increasingly embraced regulation “by design” to address new problems, especially those caused by new technologies. These approaches go by various names, like privacy by design, security by design, even the rule of law by design. Despite the popularity of these approaches, though, describing what goes into regulation “by design” is surprisingly challenging. Different speakers use the term in strikingly different ways, with little consensus about why design is important, how design and new technologies interact, or how design can be harnessed to deliver policy results.

Design exists along multiple dimensions: process versus result, …

Inside Ai, Charles Duan

Contributions to Books

It is beautiful, the Mandelbrot set. In full, it resembles a horseshoe crab or a sideways Rorschach test, flecked with patterns of spikes and lobes. Zooming in at any point near its edge reveals infinite depths of swirls, reminiscent of Van Gogh’s Starry Night or an intricate paisley textile. The shape could easily hang on a wall, an example of fine abstract art. Yet the entirety of that shape can be computed by repeated application of a simple mathematical function:2 f(x) = x2 + c. Is all the beauty and complexity of the Mandelbrot set “inside” the symbols …

Minority Day Hearing On American Innovation And The Future Of Digital Assets: From Blueprint To A Functional Framework, Hilary J. Allen

Legislative Testimony & Comments

When we hear from the crypto industry that existing regulation is incompatible with their technology, that is a misdirection. It is entirely possible for a blockchain-based technology business to comply with existing investor protection and financial stability regulation. However, for many crypto businesses, it may be true that existing regulation is incompatible with the economics of their business model, especially if their business model depends on doing things that we have learned, over the years, tend to harm people. But we have little to lose as a society from limiting the profitability of this kind of business model; unfortunately, the …

Cox Communications, Inc. V. Sony Music Entertainment, No. 24-171 (U.S. June 30, 2025), Charles Duan

Amicus Briefs & Court Filings

Under the Copyright Act, “[a]nyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner . . . is an infringer of the copyright." 17 U.S.C. §501(a). This Court has also recognized two categories of secondary liability, which means liability for the copyright infringement of another. Those two categories are “contributory” liability and “vicarious” liability. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., 545 U. S. 913, 930. This case concerns contributory liability, which requires that a provider intended its service to be used for infringement. A copyright owner can show the requisite intent in two ways. First, it can show …

"Esa Persona No Soy Yo": La Inteligencia Artificial Como Un Nuevo Instrumento De Violencia, Samantha Rodriguez Santillan

American University International Law Review

En 1943, cuando se inventó la primera computadora, se especularon muchísimas teorías, positivas y negativas, sobre cómo esta tecnología afectaría las relaciones humanas. Décadas después, el desarrollo de toda una nueva gama de productos y servicios creó un nuevo espacio que trajo consigo un infinito número de escenarios que lentamente se han regularizado.

Inteligencia Artificial Y Desinformación En Internet: Regulaciones (In)Compatibles Con Los Estándares De Protección Del Derecho A La Libertad De Expresión En El Derecho Internacional De Los Derechos Humanos, Trilce Gabriela Valdivia Aguilar

American University International Law Review

Durante los casi dos años de confinamiento debido a la pandemia por COVID-19, muchas de nuestras interacciones “en vivo” se trasladaron al mundo virtual. Asimismo, las redes sociales se convirtieron en una de nuestras principales fuentes de información y también en los medios más usados para comunicarnos y debatir con nuestros pares. Lamentablemente las mismas no estuvieron siempre sustentadas en información certera, sino más bien en información falsa, que circulaba en medio de viciosas burbujas donde nos era imposible conocer opiniones o pareceres contrarios a los nuestros.

El Derecho A La Privacidad Del Pensamiento: Neurotechnología En El Sistema Interamericano De Derechos Humanos, Javier Alejandro Diaz Briceno

American University International Law Review

La historia de la tecnofobia y el ludismo nos enseña que superar el miedo a lo nuevo implica reflexionar sobre cómo enfrentamos las innovaciones pasadas. Mirando hacia atrás, podemos identificar que invenciones o descubrimientos—ahora esenciales—enfrentaron resistencia inicial antes de ser aceptadas de forma general. Por mencionar algunas: los teléfonos, la electricidad, las vacunas, los elevadores, aviones, automóviles, las computadoras y más.

Artificial Intelligence And Intellectual Property, Part Iii: Ip Protection For Ai-Assisted Inventions And Creative Works, Joshua Landau

American University Business Law Review

Chairman Darrell Issa, Ranking Member Hank Johnson, distinguished members of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet ("Subcommittee") of the Committee on the Judiciary ("Judiciary Committee"), on behalf of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) and its members, thank you for this opportunity to share our views on intellectual property (IP) protection for artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted works and inventions.

The Best Disinfectant: The Value Of Transparency In Information Operations, Major Ian W. Stamme

American University National Security Law Brief

America is in a state of persistent competition with nation-state adversaries, including Russia and China, which seek to subvert the post-WWII rules-based international order and undermine American legitimacy abroad. Some of this competition takes place through traditional statecraft and across each of the instruments of national power: diplomatic, informational, military, and economic. However, much of this competition also takes place in the gray zone, defined as a spectrum between the higher threshold of armed conflict and the lower threshold of ordinary statecraft. In other words, while all relations between nations involve degrees of leverage and relative advantage, gray zone conflict …

Adding A Data Disclosure Requirement To The Faa: An Overdue Reform, Richard Frankel

American University Business Law Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics are transforming almost every sector of society. The field of dispute resolution is no exception to this trend. Lawyers in emerging disputes are hungry for data about arbitrators and judges, prior decisions, similar disputes, and anything else they can get their hands on.

Certainly Uncertain: An Analysis Of The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act Of 2023, Charles Duan

American University Business Law Review

Patentable subject matter eligibility has been a topic of major policy debate over many years, culminating in the recent introduction of a bill that would entirely overhaul current law. This article reviews the proposed legislation in view of its historical context, the purported need to reduce uncertainty, and the likely effects of the bill. Based on this analysis, the article concludes that the legislation is unnecessary, ill conceived, and likely to be harmful to scientific research, a variety of industries, and the public good.

Harmful Connections: How Tort Law Can Address Algorithmic Account Recommendation Harms And Protect Youth Social Media Users, Francesca Kennedy

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In 2023, the United States Surgeon General published an advisory to bring an urgent public health issue affecting America’s youth to the nation’s attention. The urgent public health issue was the ongoing negative impact of social media on children and adolescents. The report revealed that ninety-five percent of youths aged thirteen to seventeen use social media. Exposure to harmful content poses a risk to their mental health, including body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, depression, and, in extreme cases, death. Their mental health is also harmed by predatory behaviors and interactions with malicious adults that target and exploit minors on internet platforms. …

Cyberbullying As A Contemporary Human Rights Violation Of Youth In Digital Media: A Study Of India, Brazil, And South Africa, Laura Ferla Tuma

American University International Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic facilitated a technological migration not only among adults but also among children and adolescents. Digital media became the alternative for young individuals to maintain their activities, especially school-related ones. They shared virtual classrooms, used the internet for entertainment, and were forced to socialize exclusively in digital environments for months. Connected time increased, and the world witnessed a new phenomenon: hyperconnectivity.

Scientific Educations Among U.S. Judges, Christa J. Laser

American University Law Review

Should more judges have technical and scientific educations than are currently prevalent in the federal judiciary? This empirical study of the educational background of federal judges reports the undergraduate and graduate majors of active U.S. federal Article III judges. Information on the subject area of study is largely not publicly available, especially for judges appointed decades ago. This is the first and only publicly available research study of the subject areas of study of U.S. judges, collected via phone and email surveys to U.S. judges. The results of this study show that only 7.35% of federal judges have majors in …

Fintech And Techno-Solutionism, Hilary J. Allen

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Silicon Valley-style technological innovation is ill-suited to addressing complex problems like financial inclusion, concentrated market power, and privacy harms, yet promises abound that “fintech” can fix them. This oversimplified reduction of complex structural problems into technological puzzles is known as “techno-solutionism,” and it poses real dangers for public policy. When we start with the tech industry’s favored tools and then ask how to solve complex problems using those tools – rather than starting by defining the problem to be solved – it can distract policymakers from supporting real, structural solutions. Techno-solutionism can also deter policymakers from interrogating the limitations, and …

What Is Copywritable In Software?, Charles Duan

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Brief Of Law Scholars As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Appellees And Affirmance, Charles Duan

Amicus Briefs & Court Filings

Amici are law professors and scholars who focus their scholarship and teaching on intellectual property law, property law, regulatory law, and health law.2 They write to address the plaintiff’s, Novo Nordisk Inc., et al. (Novo), overarching contention that the Medicare drug price negotiation program constitutes an unconstitutional price control. Amici submit this brief to provide the Court with the historical and legal background regarding the constitutionality of government price negotiations and price regulations. The amici explain how Courts have historically ruled on these questions, as well as the far-reaching consequences that a ruling in Novo’s favor would have on the …

Protection Of Nuclear Facilities In Warfare Under International Law, Gary Corn, Sean Watts

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Brief Of 15 Scholars Of Law And Medicine As Amici Curiae In Support Of The Petition For Rehearing En Banc, Charles Duan

Amicus Briefs & Court Filings

The panel decision announces an over-expansive, ill-defned doctrine of inducement, in which well-pled allegations may be based on nothing more than ordinary marketing materials and mandatory labeling--even when those materials never recite or describe the claimed invention. This unprecedented and erroneous expansion of inducement liability leaves the law uncertain. It is now unclear, among other things, what statements a generic frm may make about its own product's equivalence and how much of the generic product's labeling information must be revised--assuming that such revisions are even regulatorily allowed--in order to avoid the risk of an inducement lawsuit.

Reinventing Operational Risk Regulation For A World Of Climate Change, Cyberattacks, And Tech Glitches, Hilary J. Allen

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Around 30 years ago, banking regulators began to construct the concept of “operational risk,” and devise rules to manage this newly created risk category. This “invention” of operational risk assembled a grab-bag of otherwise uncategorized risks associated with banking operations; this Article argues that the resulting operational risk regulation framework isn’t very well suited to some of those risks. In particular, this Article demonstrates that the existing operational risk regulation framework is becoming an increasingly inadequate response to banks’ exposure to operational losses following damage to their physical assets and business disruption and system failures. This is so for two …

Content Moderation And The Least Cost Avoider, Paul Rosenzweig

Joint PIJIP/TLS Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Don't Fear The Reaper? How Generative Artificial Intelligence Is Changing The Landscape Of Posthumous Communication Technology, Samuel Hoy Brown Vii

American University Law Review

Death and life. Yin and yang. The beginning and the end. But what if the end was only the beginning for those we leave behind?

Advancements in generative artificial intelligence technology have paved the way for “real” conversations with the people we really love. Companies across the globe are tapping into the $100 billion posthumous communication industry through the development of algorithms, chatbots, and in some instances, fully immersive virtual reality experiences with those no longer with us. As our society grapples with understanding the implications of artificial intelligence both generally and in the bereavement process, what may be seen …

Algorithmic Financial Regulation: Limits Of Computing Complex Adaptive Systems, Shuping Li

American University Business Law Review

This article examines the potential of and limits to the use of machine learning for financial regulation. Ideally, if we could fully understand the financial system and agree on long- and short-term regulatory goals, we would be able to write code that carries out the computation that extracts proper representations from the data and makes correct regulatory decisions. We cannot do this yet because of limited sources of data, the bias brought by human beings and algorithmic models, and the difficulty of improving uninterpretable models. Furthermore, since law is a combination of merits and facts, there are difficulties in establishing …