Computer Law Commons^™

We Shall Overcome: The Evolution Of Quotas In The Land Of The Free And The Home Of Samba, Stella Emery Santana

Seattle University Law Review

When were voices given to the voiceless? When will education be permitted to all? When will we need to protest no more? It’s the twenty-first century, and the fight for equity in higher education remains a challenge to peoples all over the world. While students in the United States must deal with the increase in loans, in Brazil, only around 20% of youth between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-four have a higher education degree.

The primary objective of this Article is to conduct an in-depth comparative analysis of the development, implementation, and legal adjudication of educational quota systems within …

Pacific Islands And The U.S. Military: The Legal Borderlands Of The Environmental Movement, Sonia Lei

Seattle University Law Review

Climate change remains an urgent, ongoing global issue that requires critical examination of institutional polluters. This includes the world’s largest institutional consumer of petroleum: the United States military. The Department of Defense (DoD) is a massive institution with little oversight, a carbon footprint spanning the globe, a budget greater than the next ten largest nations combined, and overly generous exemptions to environmental regulations and carbon reduction targets. This Comment examines how this lack of accountability and oversight plays out in the context of three Pacific islands that have hosted U.S. military bases for decades. By considering the environmental impact of …

Meme-Manipulation: Towards Reinvigorating The Regulation Of Speculative Devices, John W. Bagby, Nizan Geslevich Packin

American University Law Review

As DJT shares skyrocket by thirty percent following the assassination attempt on now President Donald Trump, the financial world stands as a testament to how meme stocks and social media-driven speculation can create seismic market shifts, often blurring the lines between organic market activity and coordinated, systematic manipulation. In an era where memes dictate market movements and social media influencers wield unprecedented power, the fusion of meme stocks, SPACs, and cryptocurrency speculation has transformed financial markets into volatile arenas. This Article delves into the electrifying world of speculative trading, where viral online campaigns and cutting-edge technologies create seismic shifts in …

Loot Boxes May Exploit Gamers, But Their Sale Does Not Constitute Unlawful Gambling, John J. Chung

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Foreword: Artificially Intelligent Innovation And Justice, Carla L. Reyes

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

No abstract provided.

Algorithmic Adjudication And Constitutional Ai—The Promise Of A Better Ai Decision Making Future?, April G. Dawson

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Algorithmic governance is when algorithms, often in the form of AI, make decisions, predict outcomes, and manage resources in various aspects of governance. This approach can be applied in areas like public administration, legal systems, policy-making, and urban planning. Algorithmic adjudication involves using AI to assist in or decide legal disputes. This often includes the analysis of legal documents, case precedents, and relevant laws to provide recommendations or even final decisions. The AI models typically used in these emerging decision-making systems use traditionally trained AI systems on large data sets so the system can render a decision or prediction based …

Liability Rules For Automated Vehicles: Definitions And Details, William H. Widen, Philip Koopman

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

This paper explains how the law ought to assign liability for automated vehicle accidents by providing an example of a proposed statute. We advocate for the creation of the legal fiction of a “Computer Driver,” which can have negligence liability, anytime a court or jury determines that the Computer Driver’s behavior failed to imitate or exceed the level of care we would expect of an attentive and unimpaired Human Driver in similar circumstances. We then use this concept to explain how to determine contributory negligence and comparative fault when control of a vehicle is transferred from a Computer Driver to …

Generative Ai In The Attorney-Client Relationship: An Exercise In Critical Revision And Client Management, Michael L. Smith

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Discussions of generative AI in legal practice and education often assert that this technology will lead to a sea change in legal writing, research, and revision. While some of the more breathless proclamations deserve skepticism, there’s little doubt that this technology may generate new forms of headaches for those in the legal field—particularly once it’s in the hands of clients or opposing counsel who wish to use this technology to save the time, money, and effort required for complex legal tasks.

This essay proposes an exercise template for law students that illustrates how generative AI technology may be misused or …

Solar Eclipses And The Law, Chad Marzen, Michael Conklin

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

This Article provides a comprehensive overview of the legal issues that appear with a solar eclipse. These include the sale of defective or fake eclipse glasses, vehicle accidents, liability claims for personal injuries against school districts, as well as questions involving the freedom of religion. Finally, this Article concludes by considering the juxtaposition between a perennial event such as a solar eclipse and the evolving nature of law.

Tailoring Biometric Innovation To Privacy Law In The Retail Industry, Bailey White

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Biometric data technology is trending in retail. Retailers utilize biometric data to improve their bottom line through virtual try-on technology (VTOT), contactless payment methods, fingerprint scanners, and more—albeit at potentially steep prices. Many types of biometric technology used in retail fall under strict U.S. state privacy laws, exposing businesses to serious legal and financial consequences. This Comment provides an analysis of the current state of biometric data privacy law in the U.S., focusing on Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), and more. This Comment also identifies proposed legislation, relevant case law, …

Ethics Of Innovation: A Framework For Responsible Innovation Governance, Nicole Morris

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Over the past several years, startups that once seemed destined for greatness have failed or collapsed because of fraud committed by the founders. Most notable are the Theranos and FTX business collapses, which culminated in the convictions of two infamous entrepreneurs, Elizabeth Holmes and Sam Bankman-Fired, respectively. Startup innovators are not alone when it comes to morally dubious behavior. According to Retraction Watch, nearly 5000 papers published in science & engineering journals were retracted in 2022. Research misconduct allegations eventually led to the resignation of Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne in July 2023. The research scandal at Stanford received lots …

The Game-Changer: Legal Issues Surrounding Wearable Technology In Sports, Jack Vande Berg

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

Athletes and teams are always seeking to gain a competitive edge, and the emergence of wearable technology has provided them with biometric data that provides new insights into performance. The market for wearable technology has been growing at a rapid pace in recent years and is projected to continue on an upward trajectory through the end of the decade. Governing bodies of sport at a professional and amateur level have adapted regulations for the use of this new technology and the data it produces. This article provides an overview of these current regulations, and then discusses three pressing legal issues. …

Neither Here Nor There: Redefining “Presence” For A Virtual Criminal Justice System, Brandon M. Draper

SMU Science and Technology Law Review

The coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic dramatically altered how the criminal justice system operated by adding virtual options to traditionally in-person proceedings. The impact of the criminal justice system’s failure to include virtual jury trials among these options was shocking, but not surprising: jury trial rates across the country dropped close to zero percent and several in-custody defendants died from COVID-19 before a jury could determine their guilt or innocence. After the pandemic, criminal courts across the country made many of these virtual options permanent, but only for non-evidentiary proceedings and other non-jury trial settings. The failure to include criminal jury trials …

Navigating Copyright Law In A Digital World With An Analog Rulebook: Guidance For Visual Artists, Stephanie Moser

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Superpowers With Villainous Objectives: How The Executive Branch’S Immigration Enforcement “Powers” Utilize Technology To Violate Noncitizens’ Privacy, Nina-Simone Edwards

Library Scholarship

The United States border, for noncitizens, has a unique quality to it. Each time a noncitizen crosses that border, they are no longer private individuals. They can no longer choose to give up their information–instead, there is a forced exchange: data for entry. Who they are, what they are, and everything that connects them to the world is given up in exchange for a new life in a new land. Once the border is crossed, noncitizens no longer have the privacy that they may have known before. This Note first builds on scholarship theorizing that noncitizens do have a right …

The Consumer’S Choice To Boycott, Agnes Bresee

Seattle University Law Review

In the wake of employees losing their jobs upon voicing their political opinions concerning Israel, Harvard and Columbia law students’ job offers being rescinded upon expressing support for Palestine, and the names and social media profiles of individuals who support Palestine being collected and listed on Canary Mission, such backlash may leave many Americans wondering what form of resistance to settler-colonialist apartheid is acceptable in the twenty-first century. Recently, the movement to collectively boycott brands like Starbucks, which sued its Worker’s Union for a tweet expressing support for Palestine; Disney, which donated money to Israel; and McDonald’s, where a location …

A Different Approach To Agency Theory And Implications For Esg, Jonathan Bonham, Amoray Riggs-Cragun

Seattle University Law Review

In conventional agency theory, the agent is modeled as exerting unobservable “effort” that influences the distribution over outcomes the principal cares about. Recent papers instead allow the agent to choose the entire distribution, an assumption that better describes the extensive and flexible control that CEOs have over firm outcomes. Under this assumption, the optimal contract rewards the agent directly for outcomes the principal cares about, rather than for what those outcomes reveal about the agent’s effort. This article briefly summarizes this new agency model and discusses its implications for contracting on ESG activities.

Overseeing The Administrative State, Jill E. Fisch

Seattle University Law Review

In a series of recent cases, the Supreme Court has reduced the regulatory power of the Administrative State. Pending cases offer vehicles for the Court to go still further. Although the Court’s skepticism of administrative agencies may be rooted in Constitutional principles or political expediency, this Article explores another possible explanation—a shift in the nature of agencies and their regulatory role. As Pritchard and Thompson detail in their important book, A History of Securities Law in the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court was initially skeptical of agency power, jeopardizing Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)’s ambitious New Deal plan. The Court’s acceptance …

The Sec, The Supreme Court, And The Administrative State, Paul G. Mahoney

Seattle University Law Review

Pritchard and Thompson have given those of us who study the SEC and the securities laws much food for thought. Their methodological focus is on the internal dynamics of the Court’s deliberations, on which they have done detailed and valuable work. The Court did not, however, operate in a vacuum. Intellectual trends in economics and law over the past century can also help us understand the SEC’s fortunes in the federal courts and make predictions about its future.

A Hard Pill To Swallow: The Abysmal Mental Health Standards Of Detained Immigrant Children In The United States, Rama Bankesly

Seattle University Law Review

After setting foot into the U.S., unaccompanied children must learn to navigate academic and legal systems while receiving little support and carrying the heavy burden of effects of trauma on their mental health. They need access to mental health care from qualified professionals, but as this Comment will explain, they systematically fail to receive care, as can be seen in cases like Doe v. Shenandoah Valley Juv. Ctr. Comm’n. In Shenandoah, an unaccompanied child arrived in the U.S. and was placed in a facility that failed to provide remotely adequate mental health care and in fact was subjected …