Science and Technology Law Commons^™

"Do-Not-Track" As Contract, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

Support for enforcement of a do-not-track option in browsers has been gathering steam. Such an option presents a simple method for consumers to protect their privacy. The problem is how to enforce this choice. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) could enforce a do-not-track option in a consumer browser under its section 5 powers. The FTC, however, currently appears to lack the political will to do so. Moreover, the FTC cannot follow the model of its successful do-not-call list since the majority of Internet service providers (ISPs) assign Internet addresses dynamically — telephone numbers do not change, whereas Internet protocol (IP) …

The Challenges To Legal Education In 1973 And 2012: An Introduction To The Anniversary Issue Of The Hofstra Law Review, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

Not available.

Mixed Reality: How The Laws Of Virtual Worlds Govern Everyday Life, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

Just as the Internet linked human knowledge through the simple mechanism of the hyperlink, now reality itself is being hyperlinked, indexed, and augmented with virtual experiences. Imagine being able to check the background of your next date through your cell phone, or experience a hidden world of trolls and goblins while you are out strolling in the park. This is the exploding technology of Mixed Reality, which augments real places, people, and things with rich virtual experiences.

As virtual and real worlds converge, the law that governs virtual experiences will increasingly come to govern everyday life. The problem is that …

Nexus Crystals: Crystallizing Limits On Contractual Control Of Virtual Worlds, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

Can a video game developer or publisher successfully sue a video game player for copyright infringement for not “playing a game nicely,” “cheating,” or “buying software from a third party”? This article suggests a new reason why it cannot.

The founding social contract of the new millennium is the End User License Agreement (EULA), not the U.S. Constitution. Website terms of use (TOU) and software EULAs now have an enormous impact on how citizens must act and how their rights and redresses are defined. EULAs contain not only traditional intellectual property licensing conditions but complicated directives regarding what members of …

Castles In The Air: F. Gregory Lastowka's Virtual Justice, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

This Article argues that informed consent to contract terms is not a good to be maximized, but an information cost that courts should minimize. As a result, courts ought to minimize the cost sum of information costs and contractual surprise. The Article applies information-cost theory to show that information-forcing rules are often inefficient at both the micro- and macroeconomic levels. Such rules also impose greater costs on third parties than the benefits they create for the contracting parties. When one consumer creates an idiosyncratic deal, the information-savings benefits of standardization are reduced for all other potential consumers. The Article demonstrates …

The Life Of The Mind And A Life Of Meaning: Reflections On Fahrenheit 451, Rodney A. Smolla

Scholarly Articles

Not available.

The Magic Circle, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

This Article examines the concept of the "magic circle," the metaphorical barrier that supposedly excludes real-world law from virtual worlds. The Article argues that this metaphor fails because there is no "real" world as distinguished from "virtual" worlds. Instead of a magic circle, this Article advocates a rule of consent: actions in a virtual world give rise to legal liability if they exceed the scope of consent given by other players within the game. The Article concludes that although real-world law cannot reasonably be excluded from virtual worlds, game gods and players can control the interface between law and virtual …

The End Of The (Virtual) World, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

Virtual worlds have been the next big thing for some time now. In 2008, more than 100 public virtual worlds received venture capital funding - a significant increase over previous years. Yet virtual worlds have been going bankrupt faster than ever, including several high-profile firms and worlds. Every technology goes through a shakedown phase, and for virtual worlds the current recession has served as a catalyst for a downturn that, although not unexpected, is nevertheless startling in both numbers and rapidity.

This article examines the intimate relationship between how a virtual world begins life and how it ends. The amount …

Jurisdiction And The Internet: Returning To Traditional Principles To Analyze Network-Mediated Contacts, A. Benjamin Spencer

Scholarly Articles

Courts have been evaluating the issue of personal jurisdiction based on Internet or "network-mediated" contacts for some time. The U.S. Supreme Court has remained silent on this issue, permitting the federal appeals courts to develop standards for determining when personal jurisdiction based on network-mediated contacts is appropriate. Unfortunately, the circuit approaches - which emphasize a website's "interactivity" and "target audience" - are flawed because they are premised on an outdated view of Internet activity as uncontrollably ubiquitous. This view has led courts to depart from traditional jurisdictional analysis and impose elevated and misguided jurisdictional standards. This Article argues that courts …

Cracks In The Foundation: The New Internet Regulation's Hidden Threat To Privacy And Commerce, Joshua A.T. Fairfield

Scholarly Articles

Scholarship to date has focused on the legal significance of the novelty of the Internet. This scholarship does not describe or predict actual Internet legislation. Instead of asking whether the Internet is so new as to merit new law, legislators and academics should re-evaluate the role of government in orchestrating collective action and change the relative weight of enforcement, deterrence, and incentives in Internet regulations.

A perfect example of the need for this new approach is the recent CANSPAM Act of 2003, which was intended to protect personal privacy and legitimate businesses. However, the law threatens both of these interests, …

Ownership Of Human Tissue: A Proposal For Federal Recognition Of Human Research Participants' Property Rights In Their Biological Material, Donna M. Gitter

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Race[,] Science, History, And Law, David S. Caudill

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Financial Conflicts Of Interest In Human Subjects Research: Proposals For A More Effective Regulatory Scheme, Karen A. Jordan

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Usage And Meaning Of "Clinical Significance" In Drug-Related Litigation, Sarah M.R. Cravens

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Medicare Anti-Kickback Statute: In Need Of Reconstructive Surgery For The Digital Age, Michael E. Paulhus

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Using Dna Profiles To Obtain "John Doe" Arrest Warrants And Indictments, Frank B. Ulmer

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Law's Scientific Revolution: Reflections And Ruminations On The Law's Use Of Experts In Year Seven Of The Revolution, David L. Faigman

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defining The."Task At Hand": Non-Science Forensic Science After Kumho Tire Co. V. Carmichael, D. Michael Risinger

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Junk Philosophy Of Science?: The Paradox Of Expertise And Interdisciplinarity In Federal Courts, David S. Caudill, Richard E. Redding

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Implications Of Daubert For Economic Evidence In Antitrust Cases, Roger D. Blair, Jill Boylston Herndon

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Defining Reliable Forensic Economics In The Post-Daubert/Kumho Tire Era: Case Studies From Antitrust, Andrew I. Gavil

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Banishing Ipse Dixit: The Impact Of Kumho Tire On Forensic Identification Science, Michael J. Saks

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Violence Risk Assessment: Scientific Validity And Evidentiary Admissibility, John Monahan

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Doubts About Daubert: Psychiatric Anecdata As A Case Study, Christopher Slobogin

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Liberalism And The Limits Of Procreative Liberty: A Response To My Critics, John A. Robertson

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Symposium, Lindsay B. King

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Products Of The Will: Robertson's Children Of Choice, Gilbert Meilaender

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Children Of Choice: Whose Children? At What Cost?, Laura M. Purdy

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Children Of Choice: A Doctor's Perspective, Howard W. Jones, Jr.

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulating Choice: A Constitutional Law Response To Professor John A. Robertson's Children Of Choice, Ann Maclean Massie

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.